To read or not to read

Have you ever picked up a book because everyone told it’s amazing and the book just doesn't live up to the hype? Or you’ve already read a book that said it better?

I love reading (and now when I’m not reading I’m listening to books), but the more I read, the more discerning I’m becoming with what I read.

Only five years ago I thought it was good to just read everything and anything I could get my hands on. Then I released two things: space is finite (I can’t concentrate with ebooks) and I need to set time aside to write.

…are you going to finish that?

With a several piles of books scattered around the house waiting to be read and a desire to write more, I finally decided to curb my spending, listen to audiobooks on walks instead of music and write more.

After all, you can’t make a reputation for yourself as a writer if you don’t do the writing part.

I've finally reached the point where if I don’t like a book and I’m only reading it because I started: I stop. Life’s too short to read books that don’t interest me.

It’s why I haven’t read much fiction lately and have read a lot of sales/marketing/business books. It’s why I’m reading even more blogs and articles about social media marketing and content marketing and copywriting.

It’s also why I wrote that review of Grant Cardone’s “Sell or be Sold”. As I read that book I had all the reviews and the book trailer in the back of my mind. And then the book felt like a piece of marketing for Cardone’s other sales training stuff — suffice to say I was disappointed with how the book was presented.

I skimmed through the last 30 pages because I wanted to get to the end. Not because the book held my attention, I’ve read a dozen other books which presented what he was saying (and better)— I wanted to finish it because I paid for it.

Why it’s sometimes better to admit defeat

Reading should be enjoyable. Whether you’re reading Jim Collins’ “Good to Great”, Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” or Michael E. Gerber’s “E-Myth Revisited” each of these books can entertain as well as educate.

Learning does not have to be boring. But if it is, you may not be using the right medium to learn from.

There are people (I’m told) who don’t read books. They learn more from videos on YouTube, and they read blogs and articles online.

If you are a book reader, you’ll know that the blurb on some books oversells the book. Or people rave about a book and the book itself can’t survive the hype.

If you don’t have to read a book: don’t. Put it down and read something you’ll find enjoyable. This probably sounds obvious, and yet so many people struggle through a book.

Then they get fed up and don’t read for weeks and weeks because they’re trying to finish a book. It took me two years to read Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time” and I easily read over a hundred books between volume one of “In Search of Lost Time” and volume seven.

And doing that allowed me to get through a series I now count among my favourites.

With all that said…

I know I’m a patient reader. I will give a book a chapter or two to grab me. Whereas many of my friends will discard a book if the first two pages don’t grab them.

As a writer that’s scary. Because it’s pressure. If I don’t nail the beginning no one’s going to see the rest of it.

As a reader, it’s an interesting observation. If not for my persistence I’d never have finished “On the Road”, “Naked Lunch” and my all-time favourite novel “The Name of the Rose”.

Each of these books gave me a reason to plow through the bits that were difficult or awkward to read. And each book rewarded me for it (well, except “Naked Lunch” I’ve reread that a few times now and I’m pretty sure I still have no idea what’s going on…).

So it’s a balancing act. Is the idea or story or lesson of a book worth struggling through the turgid sections in order to arrive at the end and feel as though it was worth it? Or should authors work harder to constantly entertain and educate the reader?

I’m a big fan of writers acknowledging the reader

One of the biggest frustrations as a reader is an author who clearly does not care about his or her audience. They think being clever is more important than being readable.

…They’re also the people who complain that no one reads any more.

Dale Carnegie and Napoleon Hill and Michael E. Gerber are easy to read because the writing is not pretentious: they’re talking to everyday normal people, and they want everyday normal people to understand what they are saying — and why they are saying it.

The benefit of this is that Carnegie and Hill have been read for over 80 years. And Gerber has been read for 40 years. Being readable and writing advice that’s easily accessible for everybody is a great way to ensure you are read by the many instead of a few.

…and my point is

If you’re going to read, even if it’s for education, read something that’ll grab your attention and hold it — for the entire length of the book if possible.

Don’t read a book just because everyone else is. Read what resonates with you. If you don’t think “How to Win Friends and Influence People” is going to help you: do not read it. If you think you’ll learn a lot from Steve Job’s biography and you’re interested in the man’s life read that instead.

Read what you think’ll entertain you as well as educate you. This way you won’t associate reading with hard work but rather as something to do for leisure.

Changing the way you read and why you read may yield beneficial results. And for the busy professional or people with massive stacks of books to be read, I recommend being a discerning reader to read the books that you’ll truly gain value from.

Thank you for reading.