How to read books in 2024
Getting Knowledge from non-fiction
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Friends,
My reading habit has changed significantly over the last 10 years. It’s a sign of the times: more Kindle, more dispersion of content, more media - and less time. So, keeping up with the latest ideas people have spent time putting together becomes a maze. While I have some workflows that have worked for topical content, I haven’t quite wrestled down how to read a book in earnest for this age. So I have a plan for 2024. In addition to curating for here, I want to understand how I can best read long-form non-fiction self-help business books efficiently.
What prompted me to think of this was a recent article: Why Read Books When You Can Use Chatbots to Talk to Them Instead? - if reading is going to become a chatbot type experience, I really need to own my workflow.
It feels crazy that we need to think differently about books. But the world we live in is about knowledge extraction from a medium which we sometimes find a luxury - because we have very little time. And it’s this return on time investment that I think about when I look to read.
Here’s my gameplan to up my reading in 2024:
Ignore the hype until a book is proven out e.g. good reviews, made it to the lists
Choose the right books that are a funnel to the knowledge that you need
Check the index (or TOC) to see if this is going to up your game. See which areas get a lot of coverage and do you need to know about them
If unsure, download the first chapter for free on Kindle. (Usually, this is the best chapter) - If you don’t like the style at this stage, you’re not going to last the book and so add it to your summary knowledge strategy.
Finally - do you care? If you have limited time to devote to upskilling, is this a good use of time?
Decide which books to buy. Using wishlists to tell Amazon which books it needs to discount to me. And then deciding when you really need to purchase the book. But be careful, you may end up with tsundoku.
Should it be read? Can this idea be better served quicker by the author’s interview about the book or a keynote? e.g. Ray Dalio
Figure out a category system
Is this book so important that you actually need to read the book cover to cover
Or is this a book that you need to commit to skim?
Or listen to at 1.8x speed on Audio - now that Spotify Premium includes Audiobooks
Or Summary read (or listen) [summary knowledge strategy] using Blinkist, Headway, Shortform, Mentorist to get the gist of an idea. Twice in a month if good.
Live by non-fiction rules:
Commit to skim first, before starting to read
Be discriminatory about books that don’t make the bar.
Don’t feel a book needs to be finished, especially if you have already squeezed out the idea juice.
Highlight for notes
Chill - Take a break, step back, breathe - and perhaps consider some fiction for fun.
Linkage - decide how to go full zettelkasten
Repeat.
Remember, life is faster than it was ten years ago, even five years ago. The format of the book as an information source was founded centuries ago - but knowledge and ideas come from different sources these days. Books are still important - but articles and good journalism are equally important in shaping your thought process. Just remember there is limited time in your day. Time is short.
Stay Curious - and don’t forget to be amazing,
Key ideas from bestselling non-fiction books, distilled by experts into bitesize text and audio. Explore our vast library of over 5,500 titles and stay up-to-date with 40 new titles that are added each month. Join the reading revolution!
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