The Dirty Secret Your Teachers never told you & how it can make you a better reader

I’m really only talking about non-fiction content aka novels, articles, papers, transcripts, etc. Fiction I address at the end.

Many folks inquire about my reading habits, often attributing my ability to cover a lot of content to my raw reading speed. While that certainly plays a role, there are strategies to devour more content while still maintaining the current level of reading speed. However, before we move into the tactical suggestions, there are three key things to consider

Before you begin reading, ask yourself, what are you hoping to learn? What specific answers are you seeking? Knowing your “why” helps you focus like a laser, grabbing only the relevant information and leaving the fluff behind.

Realize many authors are research rockstars but poor writers. The key takeaways are often buried under layers of fluff. The trick is to learn how to find the golden nuggets quickly so you can move on and cover more ground.

Embrace the idea that familiarity breeds efficiency. If you pick up 3 books on a single topic, you will notice the pace pick when you read your second & third book. You’ll breeze past concepts you’ve already encountered, and your brain will be primed to make connections and form the bigger picture. The more comfortable you are with a subject, the easier it becomes to absorb even more nuanced information within that domain.

Now we will move on to more tactical advice, which can hopefully enrich your reading journey.

• Judge books by their introductory appeal; if the first chapter doesn’t captivate, move on. You will be much better of for it. The worst thing you can do is read something you aren’t interested in, as it’ll ruin the overall experience of reading for you.
• Before starting, read reviews from sources like the New York Times Book Review, Amazon, or Goodreads to gauge others’ opinions and see if the material aligns with your interests.
• Read enough to address your initial questions, and continue only if intrigued. What this means is, for articles, check the conclusion first to get a summary of the main points; for novels, skim the ends of chapters for key takeaways. Once that’s done, if you want to read more go ahead and do so.
• There is an app called Blinkist for non-fiction which distills novels down to their key points. Now Chat-GPT more or less does the same thing, but either approach works. There are several excessively long articles which I paste into Chat-GPT to get the key points. A lot of non fiction writing is fluff, with gold nuggets sprinkled around. W
• Repeat authors- Particularly when it comes to the news, there are journalists whose work I like for a variety of reasons ie style, content, accessibility etc. I stick to their work, as I’m almost always guaranteed a good experience, and same goes for writers. If it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it.
• Read 2–3 novels on same subject. Rather than bounce around from topic to topic, I find it much easier to read when I’m dedicated towards a consistent set of topics. Largely its because once you read enough & can make references to other things you have read, you start to see the larger picture. This experience to feel rewarding & boosts the likelihood of you finishing up whatever you are reading.
• Join a book club- If you like to read, chances are you will like talking about what you read, and want to gauge other’s opinions on the matter. Book clubs create great incentives for reading, and by listening to others, you might get more out of reading than if you just read by yourself.
• Use audio-books. I can’t do audiobooks, but they work for a lot of people, and so I encourage people who don’t like to read non-fiction to use audio books and see if it makes the content more enticing and accessible
• Mix in fiction: For me it’s mainly comic books & graphic novels, but a mix of fiction makes non-fiction more appealing to me. Variety is the spice of life, and too much of one thing can dour the experience. There are no tips to reading fiction faster beyond the below.
• Make sure you are having fun when you read or drop the practice & do something else. No point in reading if you aren’t enjoying it and it’s not a sin to not like to read. Your interests are your interests, and that is all that needs to be said.