Summary of Atomic Habits
chrisbehan.ca
Summary of Atomic Habits
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Re: Summary of Atomic Habits
#2Somewhat related but I find many nonfiction books could easily be condensed down an immense amount (talking 20 to 50% here). I don't know if it's me getting older or simply not wanting to put up with filler content anymore.
A book that does this terribly is the "The Checklist Manifesto." ~250 pages of filler when the original article was 20 pages, the exact same information but distilled down to its essence:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/12/10/the-checklist
I haven't read Atomic Habits, but I did get the audio book but after reading this summary (which is very good, and much appreciated) I probably won't give it a listen.
I'm curious if people feel the same way about other books?
Re: Summary of Atomic Habits
#3Somewhat related but I find many nonfiction books could easily be condensed down an immense amount (talking 20 to 50% here). I don't know if it's me getting older or simply not wanting to put up with filler content anymore. A book that does this terribly is the "The Checklist Manifesto." ~250 pages of filler when the original article was 20 pages, the exact same information but distilled down to its essence: https://…
> I'm curious if people feel the same way about other books?
Yes, most business book fit this pattern. There are services like https://www.summary.com/ that provide similar summaries for business books.
Re: Summary of Atomic Habits
#4Somewhat related but I find many nonfiction books could easily be condensed down an immense amount (talking 20 to 50% here). I don't know if it's me getting older or simply not wanting to put up with filler content anymore. A book that does this terribly is the "The Checklist Manifesto." ~250 pages of filler when the original article was 20 pages, the exact same information but distilled down to its essence: https://…
Depends on the nonfiction but lately I’ve been gearing towards audio format for these kinds of books rather than reading a physical copy. Since a lot of the material follows a repetitive format with lots of examples, getting the main idea across doesn’t require hard focus studying mode. Of course it depends heavily on the book. I wouldn’t listen to Kant’s Critique on an audiobook personally.
Re: Summary of Atomic Habits
#5Somewhat related but I find many nonfiction books could easily be condensed down an immense amount (talking 20 to 50% here). I don't know if it's me getting older or simply not wanting to put up with filler content anymore. A book that does this terribly is the "The Checklist Manifesto." ~250 pages of filler when the original article was 20 pages, the exact same information but distilled down to its essence: https://…
There are wiki summaries of most self-help books that have basically the same amount of information. The only issue is a moral one - you're not compensating the author for their advice.
Re: Summary of Atomic Habits
#6Somewhat related but I find many nonfiction books could easily be condensed down an immense amount (talking 20 to 50% here). I don't know if it's me getting older or simply not wanting to put up with filler content anymore. A book that does this terribly is the "The Checklist Manifesto." ~250 pages of filler when the original article was 20 pages, the exact same information but distilled down to its essence: https://…
Yes absolutely, I find even the best non fiction books tend to be about 10% core ideas and insights and 90% allegory and metaphor reinforcing those ideas. Bad non fiction is more of a 1/99 split aha.
Re: Summary of Atomic Habits
#7Somewhat related but I find many nonfiction books could easily be condensed down an immense amount (talking 20 to 50% here). I don't know if it's me getting older or simply not wanting to put up with filler content anymore. A book that does this terribly is the "The Checklist Manifesto." ~250 pages of filler when the original article was 20 pages, the exact same information but distilled down to its essence: https://…
Different people learn differently, maybe? The great truths in life boil down to a few sentences (ex: "just do it"). If someone writes a book about that truth, are they wasting your time? Maybe. But there are other people who need to hear the story to learn from that grain of truth.
I've definitely read books that were way too long and full of filler content. But I've also scrolled through tweet-sized brilliant insights that I forgot the next minute.
In my opinion, Atomic Habits was not a filler book (I also listened to it on audiobook), but as always, YMMV.
Re: Summary of Atomic Habits
#8Somewhat related but I find many nonfiction books could easily be condensed down an immense amount (talking 20 to 50% here). I don't know if it's me getting older or simply not wanting to put up with filler content anymore. A book that does this terribly is the "The Checklist Manifesto." ~250 pages of filler when the original article was 20 pages, the exact same information but distilled down to its essence: https://…
Many nonfiction books could be shorter.
Re: Summary of Atomic Habits
#9Somewhat related but I find many nonfiction books could easily be condensed down an immense amount (talking 20 to 50% here). I don't know if it's me getting older or simply not wanting to put up with filler content anymore. A book that does this terribly is the "The Checklist Manifesto." ~250 pages of filler when the original article was 20 pages, the exact same information but distilled down to its essence: https://…
I actually feel the same, but I didn’t feel like that with Atomic Habits. The way the author introduces the concepts step by step is pretty interesting and the personal story was kind of motivating for me. I actually went through the audio book first and then bought a physical copy. But I guess that is totally up to personal taste, you definitely won’t miss any crucial information by relying on summaries.
For many non fiction titles Blinkst (or similar services) offer a perfectly good summary of the important content. I get that some people have moral issues since the author is not compensated for his work, but I think buying copies of books where you found the summary helpful is a gold compromise.
Re: Summary of Atomic Habits
#10Somewhat related but I find many nonfiction books could easily be condensed down an immense amount (talking 20 to 50% here). I don't know if it's me getting older or simply not wanting to put up with filler content anymore. A book that does this terribly is the "The Checklist Manifesto." ~250 pages of filler when the original article was 20 pages, the exact same information but distilled down to its essence: https://…
Different people learn differently, maybe? The great truths in life boil down to a few sentences (ex: "just do it"). If someone writes a book about that truth, are they wasting your time? Maybe. But there are other people who need to hear the story to learn from that grain of truth. I've definitely read books that were way too long and full of filler content. But I've also scrolled through tweet-sized brilliant insig…
If you've scrolled through tweet-sized brilliant insights and forgot them the next minute then maybe they weren't that brilliant to begin with? Or maybe you have a habit of mindlessly scrolling which you need to get out of. In any case, I find it hard to believe that people would prefer to read 200 pages which could be condensed down to a single sentence.