Reading Books Effectively

[Wyatt]

I have about 500 books I want to get to before I die. Unfortunately and fortunately, I have a process for reading books that seems to make reading them extremely effective but takes GOBS of time. I'm OK with only reading a few books a year if I can really understand and integrate the books into my life.

My question is: can you think of anything else that would make reading books more effective for personal development?

Here's my process:

1.  Skim the chapter names, subheadings, pictures, and any bits of information in the book that sticks out to you (maybe the beginning and ending paragraph of each chapter)
2.  Write down the main ideas of the book, and what the book’s goal is (example: teach you about gardening)
3.  Create a contemplation on your ideas of the book. Write down everything that you think you know about that topic(s). Ask questions and answer them with as much accuracy as possible. This will get you thinking about the book and your ideas on it before you even start.
4.  Read the book. Take notes as you read, preferably writing the notes at the end of each chapter. This will force you to recall the information you learned. Only write the important points.
5.  Once finished with the book, go back through your notes and refine and expand them as needed.
6.  Ask yourself these questions: Is the information in the book true? How do you know? How can you find out?
7.  Combine the ideas from your book notes into your contemplation. This will typically expand your contemplation to include more details and more subtle information on the topic, potentially changing everything you thought you knew about the topic.
8.  Take your notes from the book and come up with practical next-steps based on the information. This is the hard part. We’re trying to integrate the knowledge into our life. Come up with specific times during the day, week, month, year, or decade to utilize the information.
9.  Take the important details of the book (as well as other information you contemplated) and put it into a quizlet study guide. This will help you study the information when needed, keeping it top of mind.

[BjarkeT]

read more intense and without distractions. (or just without distractions) 

Explain the idea to see if one understand it.

Have a specific time just for reading. Know for how long you are going to read. Alternative stop using a lot of time online so you have more free time to read(in case you spent a lot of time online)

http://calnewport.com/blog/2014/04/08/work-accomplished-time-spent-x-intensity/

Edited August 30, 2018 by BjarkeT

[Hansu]

Get a very repetitive job ?

Im just bragging with my listening time. Lol

 

[brugluiz]

I have no strategy to read books. I just read them for more than 30 minutes. But I would like to learn more about how to read books effectively. Is there a book that talks about it? Lol.

[DavidK]

Leo's book list includes a video on exactly this. I took his tips on board and modified my reading habbit to include these.