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Ways to Read More Books

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Re: Ways to Read More Books

#111

Post by CPUstring »

rdl wrote: post #23

My biggest aids to reading more books have been technical: 1) Goodreads to track books, maintain a to-read queue, share reviews, etc. Plus the "reading challenge" feature, which shows if you're on-track or not (2016: 52 originally, then 68. 2017 goal: 78, but possibly 104.) 2) Kindle -- not having to physically deal with books while traveling, and having access to my entire collection. 3) Audible -- when driving, fly…

I've made the mistakes of reading more scientifically inclined books on Audible, but I've recently realized there are three strong categories (1) history books, (2) history-of-science/scientist type books, and (3) self-help/philosophy books.

Listening to Marcus Aurelius before bed while brushing my teeth turns out to be a good meditation.

Re: Ways to Read More Books

#112

Post by rdl »

CPUstring wrote: post #111
rdl wrote: post #23

My biggest aids to reading more books have been technical: 1) Goodreads to track books, maintain a to-read queue, share reviews, etc. Plus the "reading challenge" feature, which shows if you're on-track or not (2016: 52 originally, then 68. 2017 goal: 78, but possibly 104.) 2) Kindle -- not having to physically deal with books while traveling, and having access to my entire collection. 3) Audible -- when driving, fly…

I've made the mistakes of reading more scientifically inclined books on Audible, but I've recently realized there are three strong categories (1) history books, (2) history-of-science/scientist type books, and (3) self-help/philosophy books. Listening to Marcus Aurelius before bed while brushing my teeth turns out to be a good meditation.

I really like fiction in audiobook format, too. I have been disappointed by the short story collections I've found, but it seems like there could be a great marketplace for short fiction in audio form.

Re: Ways to Read More Books

#113

Post by rdl »

CPUstring wrote: post #111
rdl wrote: post #23

My biggest aids to reading more books have been technical: 1) Goodreads to track books, maintain a to-read queue, share reviews, etc. Plus the "reading challenge" feature, which shows if you're on-track or not (2016: 52 originally, then 68. 2017 goal: 78, but possibly 104.) 2) Kindle -- not having to physically deal with books while traveling, and having access to my entire collection. 3) Audible -- when driving, fly…

I've made the mistakes of reading more scientifically inclined books on Audible, but I've recently realized there are three strong categories (1) history books, (2) history-of-science/scientist type books, and (3) self-help/philosophy books. Listening to Marcus Aurelius before bed while brushing my teeth turns out to be a good meditation.

I really like fiction in audiobook format, too. I have been disappointed by the short story collections I've found, but it seems like there could be a great marketplace for short fiction in audio form.

Re: Ways to Read More Books

#114

Post by therealdrag0 »

inops wrote: post #3

There seems to something of a cargo-cult mentality underlined in this article. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Stephen King and Mark Zuckerberg all read loads of books (that's how they made their money!) Unless you have some set goal to know a certain body of knowledge (as I presume the four above have), reading should be done leisurely -- not a race to read, and half-understand, as many books as possible.

I've come to realize this. I've always been a reader, but after college and after getting into audio-books, I took to it in earnest. I peaked at reading 75 books in 2012 (and BIG ones too, History of Third Reich, Thinking: Fast and Slow, Ulysses, Godel-Escher-Bach etc...).

And after that I was like 'wew. Okay, I enjoyed that and learned a lot and have, but my life isn't THAT much better because of it.' I've definitely traded investing in relationships or other hobbies for it.

So I've since to slowed down to about 27 a year, and have found that's a good pace for me.

Re: Ways to Read More Books

#115

Post by therealdrag0 »

bhargav wrote: post #77

One problem is Dopamine. I have learned to get constant Dopamine hits from Netflix/Youtube/Video Games. When I goto reading a book, it bores the shit out of me. Its unfortunate really. So for last month or so, I cut down all of the aforementioned things. I am now able to read much more than I did before, before feeling sleepy or caving into the aforementioned things. Why cut down on Dopamine? Relating to Digtal Signa…

Books can really vary in their excitement/engagement dimension. I'm currently reading a history of Europe since WW2 and it's quite a bit of work, on the other hand there's other non-fiction like John Krakauer that I've found pretty easy to burn through.

Re: Ways to Read More Books

#116

Post by therealdrag0 »

jmartrican wrote: post #25

This article is geared towards reading more books like its a race. It would seem better to reread a few books to really grasp them. I think there is something to be said for rereading versus reading more new books. How many times were we discussing something we read and all we can really say is "I read a book on it. something to do about blah blah. I forget the details." No real insight or grasping of the material in…

“I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Re: Ways to Read More Books

#117

Post by intrasight »

jmartrican wrote: post #28
intrasight wrote: post #24

I've started "reading" lots of books now that I have Audible. I listen while mowing the lawn, while doing chores, etc. Can easily to a book a week this way.

I love audio books. They have changed my life. Though I find it hard to proselytize friends and family over to the audio side. They all give the same reason, "i tried it and it didn't work" or "i have not tried it and i know it wont work". IMHO, I think more people should give it a shot, a real honest attempt. My first audio book was Ender's Game, so maybe starting off with a bang is the way to go.

What I do is to suggest that they try listening while doing chores that require no hard thinking. Your brain will be happy to have something to engage in. Today while spreading dirt and grass seed, I listened to "Astrophysics for People in a Hurry". Was nice in that it was a one-work-session listen.

Re: Ways to Read More Books

#118

Post by rvern »

adrift wrote: post #95
jonnybgood wrote: post #22

The game changer for me was actually learning how to read a book. I no longer approach books the same way after having read How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler [1]. Once you have a method down, you can go through books rather quickly and retain knowledge. My biggest epiphany is that you don't need to read a book in its entirety to know all that it has to say. [1] https://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Book-Intelligent-Touc…

Could you give a summary of what you learnt from it?

There is a good summary on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Read_a_Book.

Re: Ways to Read More Books

#119

Post by wonderbread23 »

baursak wrote: post #100
tchaffee wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not successful. He just inherited Daddy's money and grew that money at a slower rate than the market.

If you define success solely by the amount of money, sure.

Is that not the definition of success when running a real estate business? Trump himself is always talking about how much money he made. Or is the goal in real estate development not to make a profit?

I get you want to assert your "holier than thou" morals of money, but you gotta pay attention to context.

Re: Ways to Read More Books

#120

Post by anigbrowl »

nfin wrote: post #93
anigbrowl wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get that. Books that are written or edited with a view to maximizing sales rather than reader satisfaction are going to go for the lowest common denominator, and if you're a quick study then over time you'll find more and more books beneath your comprehensive capability and then your boredom threshold. Unfortunately the best books on a given may be too difficult for the general reader, and a bimodal distribution em…

Do you have a list of favorite blogs? Need just to mention the top ones (great would be google+ blogs, so I can register them there, or how do you manage them, if more than a couple?)

Are you sure you addressed your question to the right person? I didn't mention blogs and do not read any consistently, they bore me more often than not. I prefer my social media feed.
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