Reading a lot of books and applying them vs reading a handfull of books and applying

[itachi uchiha]

I resonate with reading a handful of book and really really apply them.what do u prefer

[HypnoticMagician]

Why not both? Reading high quantity of high quality books. Of course, this is a more advanced level even though not the ultimate point you can ever reach.

[itachi uchiha]

If i read a lot of book  and try to apply it then i will be a generalist or mediocre in applying individual books.but reading a lot of books help to find a lot of gold books

[Max_V]

I think trying to have the the mindset of reading as much books as possible without sacrificing quality in reading experience and comprehension is a good way to go about it. Don't make it a soulless rat-race. Try to enjoy the process as opposed to reading for the sake of having read something. 

[Thought Art]

It depends. I think reading a wide variety of books is important for building a larger map of reality. 

However, you can also decide to dive deep and study one subject, like what is aligned with your life purpose. So for me I read a lot about personal finance, cognitive behavioural type things, relationships, fears, business, marketing, human nature etc.

But, now I am focusing on Qigong, breathwork, posture, yoga, meditation, journaling I am focusing on those for the courses I am designing.  I will share a great Vernon Howard story later, maybe monday.

However, for me personally I realize that life is so complex and there are so many areas of my psyche, systems for living, models of reality, spirituality, business, finances etc that I need to read wisely the right books.

Really, what you read is up to you. I do think reading complimentary books is really important. Taking risks to read books you don't feel naturally drawn to is important to because you may discover new things.

Really, reading should be a fun exploration of reality. Your reading can be done in different ways and for different reasons.

Because, it's so easy to think you know, when you really don't. Any area of your life you are struggling in? Book. 

Edited October 15, 2021 by Thought Art

[HypnoticMagician]

@itachi uchiha

"If i read a lot of book  and try to apply it then i will be a generalist or mediocre in applying individual books.but reading a lot of books help to find a lot of gold books"

Well, it depends on your capacity. Don't think other people like yourself. There are people like Leonardo Davinci, Sir isaac Newton and there a lot of mediocre or retarded people who attempt to imitate versatile prodigies with failure. The reason they fail is not because they lack capacity but because they are doing something else wrong they don't know.

[Thought Art]

Code Of The Extraordinary Mind

[Leo Gura]

Application will get you more results.

Reading broadly will get you a big picture understanding, but little else to show for it.

You gotta balance between the two.

I like to first get a big picture understanding, and then use it to inform which narrow things I will focus on applying. Without a big picture it's easy to fall into the trap of applying things which are of little ultimate significance. How do you know what is worth applying if you don't have a big picture?

[Derek White]

I would take Leo's advice with some caveats. Leo is a YouTuber who earns money by presenting spiritual and self-help ideas to people. It makes sense for him to have a conceptual understanding and know about the big picture. He has a bias for conceptual understanding. It may not be necessary for people with normal jobs or people who don't care about teaching to know all this. 

I say you focus on applying what interests you, rather than trying to apply everything. If you give yourself infinite options nothing will ever get done. It can lead to a long rut, distractions and a lack of direction. After you spend some time mastering you narrow domain, you can find ways it relates to your core and segue onto other domains. This is actually an important thing to understand as misunderstanding this can lead to years of wasted time. I will make a post describing this phenomena later on the forum too. I don't think I explained myself properly here.

Even if you take Leo as an example, he has narrowed himself to psychedelics for many years for spiritual growth. And overall he has narrowed himself to self-help and spirituality topics as well. He created a definitive narrow niche for himself. He has a specific style, language, and way of talking. He is not, for instance, a master of yoga or trying to master engineering or law as a career, his core is psychedelics and philosophy, which then opens doors for him to understand other spiritual domains. 

Edited October 15, 2021 by Derek White

[Jacob Morres]

As long as your intent is clear it's chillin. Like whatre you trying to achieve with it 

[hyruga]

Just go to goodreads.com and find books that have ratings of 4.1 and higher with reasonably good number of reviews.

I find that the goodreads' ratings are pretty decent and most of the time, it matches to what I want to rate the book as well. 

Edited October 16, 2021 by hyruga

[Hello from Russia]

90% of books are shit. Go broad to quickly shuffle through them, go deep in 10% golden ones you'll find along the way