Read to Remember: How the Right Book can 10x your learning.

“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.” — Charlie Tremendous Jones.

Image by 愚木混株 cdd20

Every good book you spend time with may change your personal or professional life. Each time you pick a good book, you buy a scratch card, so the more books, the more scratch cards.

Why are books best for learning new things?

1. There is much more valuable information inside a book because writing a book is much harder than putting together an online article or recording a YouTube video.
2. You’re less likely to get distracted and more likely to absorb more information and improve your memory.
3. While reading a book, you practice concentration and focus, which leads to better high-quality learning, and improves your ability to learn more complex things and apply what you learned faster.
4. You borrow someone’s brain by reading a book but use your rendering machine.
5. Whatever you’re trying to learn, there is a book for that.

How to pick the right book when learning something new?

1. Compile 3–5 “Best books for” lists from 3–5 sources and look for repetitions in the Top 10.
2. Adjust every book for your skill level and goal.
3. Prioritise books with actionable, practical advice first and theoretical foundation later.
4. Analyse reviews written by people with similar backgrounds or goals as yours.
5. Look for a book that solves your problem.
6. Combine the latest books that resonate with your current situation with evergreens that stood the test of time.
7. Pick a smaller book to carry around and complete it faster.
8. If you just finished a great book, explore the bibliography. Chances are that what made this book remarkable is partially available in others you should also try.

How to remember more from the book when learning something new?

1. Start with a purpose or questions to connect whatever you’re reading about with your life, and as it will be more relatable, make it easier to remember and reflect on.
2. Skim the material before reading and focus on the main points that fulfil your purpose or answer your questions.
3. Look for connections and relations between your reading and what you already know, as associating new knowledge with something you already know does wonders for memorisation.
4. Read in sessions matching your current attention span, energy level, and environment.
5. After every few sentences, paragraphs or pages, reflect on what takeaways you want to remember. If you’re reading about complex topics or the content demands complete focus, take a break every 10–15 minutes.
6. Stop or don’t start reading if you can’t focus or feel bored, and remember that finishing the book is optional.
7. For the most inspiring or eye-opening fragments, leverage the power of repetition, read those multiple times, and (for extra effect) give them a highlight or read aloud once again.
8. Take notes while reading (what resonates), at the end of a chapter (what you want to remember) and once you’ve finished the book (main takeaways). Consider making a separate list for quotes.
9. If you’re time-poor, highlight the most exciting passages, bend page corners, or use index stickers to revisit and reflect on the content without rereading the whole thing.
10. Pictures are easier to remember than words, so try to think in pictures and take a moment to visualise what you just read. It can be challenging, but visualising ideas engages you more with the text and speeds up memorisation.
11. Write reviews and summaries for others, as they force you to reflect on the book’s general ideas, resurface what resonated with you the most, and summarise what you have learned.
12. Explain something you read to someone else, or even better, discuss what you’ve learned if they are familiar with the book or the topic.
13. Put your new knowledge to work and apply what you learned to whatever you are learning about whenever you can. Practical experience is super effective for further association.

Books are the only thing you should not be worried about overspending on.

Trust the process. Reading more expands your overall knowledge and reinforces the super effective loop of:

1. The more you read.
2. The more you know.
3. The more you associate.
4. The more you remember.
5. The more interests you, the cycle repeats and repeats.

Be patient and happy reading.

If you struggle to read as much as you like, try this next to reclaim your reading habit.

Reclaim Your Love for Reading: 22 Simple Tips to Revive Your Lost Reading Habit