A few nonobvious thoughts on reading
after 10+ years and 300+ books
There’s an amazing new product that has just come on the market.
The product is designed to be better than any smartphone or anything that one could use a smartphone for, including the Internet, social media, and selfies.
Here are some of its selling points: It requires no batteries or chargers; no software update is needed; it is lightweight, recyclable, and biodegradable; it is easily portable and will go with you on buses, trains, cars, airplanes, and even to bed; it is completely silent, does not chirp, buzz or beep; no passwords, fingerprints, or face ID are needed to log in; it does not need Bluetooth or Wifi, nor does it emit harmful EMFs; one has unlimited use of it for the price of about three coffees; no 78 page contract of corporate-lawyer-yippity-yap requiring one to sign their soul away; the best ones get better with time; and last but not least, the product does not in any way contribute to the banks accounts of Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg.
The product is called a book.
School did a fine job of teaching us how to read but did a horrible job of teaching us how to read effectively or why to read.
So here’s my attempt to do both with 9 nonobvious approaches.
Read what you love until you love to read…
I stole this from Naval Ravikant and put it first because it may be the most important of all (and I know most people don’t make it to the end of listicles).
Many of us associate reading with pain, suffering, and boredom thanks to the horrible literature we were assigned to read as little school girls and boys. And we’ve been told by well-meaning people that certain books are required reading.
Nonsense.
Read the trashy romance novel, the corny self-help book, or even sift through the filth on Reddit (if you dare). Read whatever you’d be ashamed to admit to others. You don’t have to justify what you read to anyone.
Eventually you’ll get tired of the mental junk food and feel the need for some more nutritious stuff.
You’ll develop an unbreakable reading habit as soon as you start reading what you love. And what do ya know? Now you love to read.
Fall down your favorite writer’s rabbit hole…
It may take a while but you’ll eventually find an author who deeply resonates with you.
When that happens, embrace it and become obsessed.
I read “Amusing ourselves to death” by Neil Postman a few years ago and became enthralled. I was ecstatic to find out he had written 19 other books. So I picked up the first book he ever wrote and started reading the rest in order of publication date.
It’s fascinating to see how an author evolves with each subsequent book. You develop a familiarity with them after spending so much time inside their minds to the point of feeling like best buds.
I’ve also done this with Derek Sivers and Nassim Taleb. My wife has done it with Sarah J. Mass. We can’t wait to find more.
Ignore the worst AND best reviews…
I stole this from Tim Ferriss when exploring what to read next.
One star reviews are useless. It usually means the book simply wasn’t meant for them.
And oftentimes, people will give a one star rating because of silly reasons that have nothing to do with the contents of the book itself. I’ve seen one star reviews for things like: “the book arrived late”, “the font was too small”, or “there was a coffee stain on page 27”…
Five star reviews aren’t much better. It may just mean the reader blindly accepts and agrees with everything the author said.
And oftentimes, people will give a five star rating because of equally silly reasons that again have nothing to do with the contents of the book itself. I’ve seen five star reviews for things like: “it arrived early”, “the font was perfect”, or “it was free of coffee stains”…
Two, three, and four star reviews are where to focus.
These often include well thought out takes on the actual contents of the book. Go figure. They may point out areas where the author contradicts themselves. They may mention certain must-read chapters and ones that can be skipped. Or they may point out the one main idea that often gets overlooked but deserves more attention.
The older the better…
I stole this from The Cultural Tutor who doesn’t read anything published within the past fifty years.
I’m not that extreme but it’s a useful heuristic.
Someone said, “To think differently you need to read differently.”
Many of the best books out there will never show up on the New York Times bestseller list simply because they aren’t new. And just because a new book is selling like hotcakes doesn’t mean it will continue to do so a year from now. Much less a hundred years from now.
If you find a book that was written five hundred years ago and is still relevant today, chances are it’ll remain relevant five hundred years from now.
Time is the ultimate judge.
Mix and match…
I stole this from Austin Kleon.
I used to think there was some ironclad law stating you could only read one book at a time.
Ridiculous.
As soon as you feel your interest waning, drop it and pick up another one.
Bonus points if it has nothing to do with what you were just reading.
These days, I’m reading at least three different books at any given time.
Recently, one was on mimetic desire, one was on the American education system, and another was a collection of short children’s stories.
The mind has an uncanny ability to combine seemingly unrelated ideas in unbelievable ways that can lead to new ideas and insights.
Let curiosity be your guide.
6. Rereading > reading…
Early on, you won’t be able to distinguish good writing from bad writing. So you just gotta read it all.
But at some point, you’ll develop a keen eye that can distinguish the gems from the junk. This was around the 100 book mark for me.
That’s where rereading comes in.
I don’t want to read all the books, I just want to reread my personal top ten books over and over again.
Heraclitus said, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” Same goes for books.
Read decent books once. Reread good books twice. Reread great books over and over and over again.
Quit more books…
This has been, and still remains, a challenge for me.
I can still hear Mrs. Terry (my 8th grade language arts teacher) tell me, “You must finish this book because I said so.”
Eek. Still gives me the heebie-jeebies.
She’s wrong. Just don’t tell her I said so.
I quite like the 100 page rule which I stole from Shane Parish.
Subtract your current age from 100 and only commit to reading that many pages before deciding to stick with it or drop it.
I’m 32 so that’s 68 pages for me.
If I’m not dying to keep going at that point, I give up and move on.
The page count you commit to decreases as you age because the older you are the less time you have for bad, or worse, boring books.
Starting a new book is great. Quitting a bad book is like crack.
Kindle is a cheat code…
I used to scoff at books that were more than a few hundred pages.
That was a mistake.
Now thanks to my Kindle I don’t even realize how long a book is because they all look the same.
I’m currently reading a 597 page behemoth on my Kindle that I would’ve never touched if I saw the physical copy due to the sheer weight of it. I would’ve convinced myself the back pain wasn’t worth it.
Reading is kindling…
I stole this from Naval Ravikant on why to read in the first place. He said, “Reading isn’t about putting information in your mind. Reading is about sparking a fire in your mind.”
Reading was never about becoming more informed about what others think. Reading was always about tapping into what you think.
Each book you read is like placing a piece of firewood into a bonfire.
If you read one book and ask, “Why is this fire so pitiful?” you missed the point.
If you read a hundred books you can’t help but ask, “Oh shit. How the hell am I going to contain this bad boy?”
You can’t.
That was the point all along.
If none of this has convinced you to read more, then ignore it all. And dutifully go back to your regularly scheduled nonstop scrolling.
PS - What did I miss?
Your thoughts? Criticisms? Complaints? Please leave a comment below.
Love all of these, especially number 9. Thanks. 🧡
I enjoyed this piece, Arman. Lots of good ideas here.