My Book Summary Publication Explained
A preface to any summary of mine you might read.
I started to read books in 2015 at the ripe age of 22. I was finally out of college and had just returned home after going through the first leg of the evolving storyline that is my first start-up company. The imperative to catch up on my own education was all the more pressing in my mind. Finally, I could decompress from an almost 5 year journey of undergraduate study, and hustling to become, in my eyes, a multi-millionaire by the age of 25 [I am not that, yet] and devote some of my new time to reading. I was mature enough to want to learn and had heard just enough counsel to know that I’d find some of the knowledge I sought in books, particularly ones that have stood the test of time. I began by suggesting that I began to read books for the very first time in my life because, before that, all my reading was forced upon me at times where my mind wanted to be anywhere but between the pages of dull textbooks, barring a few good reads in my economics coursework. The last good book I voluntarily read might have been Harry Potter. But, before I let this dovetail into a rebuke of undergraduate education in America, I’ll stop and spare you.
The Start
I’m not sure how I came to pick up a copy of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, but it was such a good and inspiring read that I zipped through it in what seemed like three weeks. By the end of it, the reading bug had bit me. Of course, it was more likely a combination of circumstances that were being realized at that moment that ultimately created a new hunger for knowledge and the adoption of a new system to attain it. I was in a period of transition, fell short of my own expectations with my start-up, had new time and less obligations than I had over the last 7 months, and had already gone through various failed attempts at reading which left me with useful data on how to not accomplish a sustained reading practice. I also happened to pick up a book that was exactly what I wanted to read, applicable to my life in that moment, and written to be understood simply.
Immediately after finishing TAGR, I turned to a worn copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People, gifted to me by a former boss, that I had then been sitting on for over 2 years. I had previously attempted to seriously read it more than a few times, but inevitably stopped since I hadn’t a sufficiently well thought out reading system or the intrinsic motivation to read it. This time, I read it easily and went on to read about a book a month for the rest of the year…but even as I write this, I come back to the fundamental reason for this post and the reason you’re here.
Facing my Willful Ignorance
Sometimes my head’s in the clouds. When I can’t recall something I’ve read about from memory, I loathe my minimal conscious cognitive abilities. I partly blame an education system that doesn’t adequately teach us how to learn and remember things in the long-term. But most of all, I blame myself. I keep myself willingly ignorant to my monkey-mind that defies my better judgement and not committing to strengthening the synapses that solidify thoughts to memory. Learning has been analyzed to a pretty specific science. Things like spaced repetition and actively recalling information (i.e. quizzing yourself on main topics or facts after reading, say, a chapter) are proven to enhance learning. I have many dog-eared pages in books scattered around my room as well as highlighted passages that are still waiting to be reviewed, as my ability to recall any of it dwindles and I lie to myself by thinking that I can somehow defy science and still remember all that I wanted to. After reading a good book, I try to share with friends the many aspects of things I’ve learned, only to ultimately be unable to recall more than a few central points. It takes discipline to apply things we learn into practice, instead of just thinking “wow, this makes sense” and “oh, this is great”.
So, after two years of a commitment to self-education, I’ve decided to take action and do that which I’ve always thought would help my retention — and write book summaries. I’ve decided to share my summaries online, in part to further refine my thinking, also acknowledging that the work will be public-facing and you might find it useful.
However, this post also serves as a public disclaimer that my book summaries will prove to be, at the start [and perhaps the future as well], inadequate for a large audience since these are mostly things I am transcribing for myself, and at times with shorthand that only I might understand or find relevant based on my own interests or present mental quandaries. If you’re really interested in reading a good book summary, you might be better suited reading the book summaries by Derek Sivers, written for, I believe, the exact same purpose as I’ll be writing for. He is, at this moment, far smarter, accomplished, and a better writer than I.
Nevertheless, I hope that these book summaries are indeed useful to you and that you can extrapolate the good {shit} that I thought to include. If you have any book recommendations (non-fiction for now, please) tweet me:
