Why I Read All The Time And How You Can Too
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I read all the time.
When I wake up, I turn on my computer and check out the new blog posts from my ten favorite blogs. While brushing my teeth I have a book in hand.
I read on the bus. I read at work. And at home, before getting to sleep, I still read a few more lines.
Here’s what I’m reading right now:
- At home, before getting to sleep I’m reading The Undercover Economist
by Tim Harford: An inspiring book that takes an economist’s look at the world and makes you see every day things, such as why different coffee blends have different prices, in a new way.
- In my backpack, I carry two books: The Aladdin Factor
which talks about the power of asking (I just finished this one last week so I’ll have to replace it with something else soon) and Seth Godin’s Small Is the New Big - a book full of new ideas and possibilities to make your business remarkable. Depending on my mood, I pick one of these two, and read a few pages.
- On my computer, I carry a decent collection of e-books: Currently I’m in the middle of reading Collis and Cyan Ta’eed’s How To Be A Rockstar Freelancer.
- On the Internet, I follow blogs. It’s hard to count the number of pages I go through every week, but it’s a lot. I don’t read everything thoroughly, but I skim through tens of blogs every day. And a lot of times, there is something new I can learn from reading what other bloggers have to say.
- At work, I look for practical information. I read about how to do specific things in Ruby on Rails or Java. I look for ways to optimize my code, make it cleaner and more readable, or just for new ways to do things more elegantly. In this Google is my biggest friend, although my large collection of RSS feeds also helps.
- And when I want to relax, I pick up a novel. I just finished Thr3e
by Ted Dekker and about to start reading Darkness, Take My Hand
by Dennis Lehane.
Not to mention the occasional Time or National Geographic I pick from the newsstand when there is something interesting on the cover.
So, I read a lot. I read about many topics, both fact and fiction.
And I read many books at once.
That’s the key for answering both questions: why and how.
I read because I want to learn.
But I don’t want to learn just one thing. I want to learn more about business, psychology, software, people, science, marketing, history. I want to hear the voices of the authors and become a better writer. I want to see how the brightest minds think so that I can improve my own thinking. I want to know about many things so I can combine the knowledge into something new.
But more than anything, I’m curious. When I go to the bookstore, library or BookMooch, I can’t help but pick an interesting book and bring it home.
I read to get new ideas
I love ideas. I love coming up with ideas. But I also love reading about other people’s ideas. That’s what makes Seth Godin’s books such a pleasure to read: they are all about looking at the world with your eyes wide open. Ready to analyze everything. Ready to find new ways to do things.
I believe that reading is a key to creativity. The more you read, the better you realize that there are many different ways of looking at this world. By reading books from different topics you begin to see how things fit together and make new connection between different ideas.
And bang!
All of the sudden, you have a new idea!
I read to keep on reading
If I would only read one book at a time, I would read much less than I do now.
I don’t know about you (but I will soon, after you have written your thoughts in the comments), but depending on my mood I want to read different kinds of text. Sometimes I’m in the mood for something lighter, sometimes I want to read about business, and sometimes I just want to get a quick idea to think about.
If I would have just one book open, I would read it when I’m in the mood for a book of that kind.
And the rest of the time I wouldn’t read anything.
What about you?
My suggestion is to always start a new book when you find something interesting and then read each of them depending on which ones seems to draw your attention the most. But what do you think? Could this approach work for you? How do you approach reading? Do you follow a one book at a time approach or something closer to mine?
Let’s talk about it.
(Photo by spcoon)
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February 2nd, 2008 at 12:25 am
I am highly addictive to books (and the new book smell) and read all the time. Sometimes too much because it DOES give me new ideas and possibilities and then I have more stuff I wanna do and try. My dad was the same way. He had a huge library going on. After he died I found some of his writings and he said the same thing, in addition to his fear of losing his books in a fire. The ironic thing is my mom sold the house several years later and most of the books with it. The house burned down three months after the sale.
Anyways, I’m like you - different books, different areas, and many at one time. It’s my legal crack habit.
February 2nd, 2008 at 12:45 am
wake up, read your top 10 blogs…my blog better be on that list.
one of my goals is to read more for leisure, i actually just wrote about that. the problem is that i read a lot already, but i am reading for knowledge. what i haven’t done in a long, long time is reading just because i want to relax.
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:29 am
Jarkko, I’m starting to think maybe we were separated at birth. Every time I visit, I read something eerily similar to my own life.
But…to the subject at hand. I’ve always got a paperback in one pocket or another. Right now it’s Seth Godin’s new Meatball Sundae. Actually, I’ve been carrying Seth around for weeks now with Purple Cow and Free Prize Inside. Both brilliant. I read everywhere. At lunch by myself, waiting in line, at red lights, sometimes even walking from place to place.
At my beside I’ve got a whole stack of books I go through every night. There’s a whole range of complexity from Flex & ActionScript programming down to Terry Pratchett. In between are direct marketing, copywriting and Bill Bryson. As I get more and more tired, I retire one for a lighter one until I’m comatose.
Love it, man! Glad to know there are other book freaks out there.
February 2nd, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Damn, I’m jealous on your ability to follow all those subject matters at once!
Me, I wouldn’t be able to read several books in a parallel. One reason for that is that I get extremely obsessed with the book once I start reading it and I have difficulties leaving it until I finish it. And this obsession sometimes goes to the point of reading the night through and not getting a proper sleep. (Of course, this goes for the books I find extremely interesting, but I don’t know if I’m just being lucky or my friends know what to recommend to me, I haven’t held a non-interesting book in my hands for a long time).
Another reason for my ‘one book at a time’ policy, is that I read tons of research papers and articles per week related to my master thesis subject (or to the current research project I’m working on) so one more issue I get obsessed with :)
Plus, I’m continuously holding a newspaper or a magazine in my hand since I need to improve my Slovene as I’m now working and temporarily living in Slovenia. And yeah, I’m lucky they have National Geographic in Slovene from two years ago :)
But, I have a question for you. How does your ‘digestion process’ look like, the day/week/month after finishing the book? I know I’m dying to discuss my thoughts and reflection on the book with someone who has also read it. Sometimes the thrill goes on for couple of months or more, and sometimes I even feel like printing a T-shirt with my favourite quote from the book!
February 2nd, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Hi Dren…
Slovenia must be nice, the only neighboring country I haven’t visited.
I have quite similar approach to yours. When it comes to reading for pleasure… but when it’s for “professional” use, I’m more like Jarkko. Though I don’t read while riding the bus, since I don’t use bus nowadays :-)
When I read for my own joy, I mostly get books that I can’t put down, ending up with not much sleep. I focus every bit of my attention, not realizing the time passing by, the real world starts to be something distant. I might not hear when people call me. I really enjoy these times. Unfortunately I finish these books much faster than I would like to and then I die for the next book from the author to come out.
But with “professional use” I have a pretty different set up. I buy most of my books on amazon, so I do read some reviews and when it arrives I go through the content, pictures, headings, sub headings, italic/bold text. Then I put the book aside. This usually happens before going to sleep.
Next day I phrase some questions… to the book. And then I open it and say the questions aloud and start flipping the pages without reading. I only stop when I have the feeling to stop. Then I read that paragraph or chapter. Then continue flipping… Most of the time the chapters skipped contain information I already know, or that are irrelevant. So I put the book aside again. I return to at another time, with different questions. I trust my mind to distinguish between needed and not needed information.
So I have quite many books laying around me at the same time.
I also like to share my readings, and for the knowledge to settle and stretch, to have a debate or something, to have a feedback loop. To reinforce.
I am quite a visual type, so I like books that have pictures, diagrams, flows, etc… and are written in a suggestopedic way. Or that I have the chance to draw down what I have just read… So bus wouldn’t work for me after all.
How do you make notes?
February 3rd, 2008 at 1:31 pm
I’m a multibook reader too and enjoy it a lot. Currently I’m reading Getting to Yes, Ready for Anything, and Inversions, and a pdf on mindfulness. I also listen to massive amount of science/tech podcasts when walking or waiting in a place where the weather does not allow reading. At home I have RSS feeds, but this week they have mostly just gotten filed, not much read.
February 3rd, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Hey Dora,
That’s so cool – getting the answers from the book using intuition where to look for! Of, course, skimming through the book does help a lot for the orientation, but still, I find your method really interesting.
Me, I am trying to find a way how not to go through the whole content, since there are chapters that I’m also already familiar with, but I am constantly haunted by this idea that when I assume that “I know something already” I am doomed to stay ignorant. (I’m not sure where exactly did I get it from, but I hate when it makes me be less efficient than I actually can).
So what I do, I put small stickers hanging out of the pages where a new chapter begins, and use stickers in different colour for pages with information I found important during the skim-through phase. In that way I have the whole table of content constantly in front of my eyes which really helps flipping forward and backward when ‘looking for answers’ :)
And very often, even though there are images or graphs included in the text, I draw my own representations of the content. Helps me a lot in the learning process – I’m also a typical visualist I guess :). So, you are right - taking notes is the very same reason why reading professional literature for me is a no-go in bus or away from the desk.
February 4th, 2008 at 4:26 am
I’m an avid or perhaps obsessive reader as well. I typically have multiple books, magazines, journals, and websites going on. I read because I love it, and because its such a great way to pick up information. I have my professional books, my fiction & literature, my non-fiction (recently economics, history, religion, and biographies), then my trash novels. What’s funny is though I’m always fitting in reading here or there—on the bus, in a cab, while on the phone handling a technical support question, while watching TV, in the bathtub, etc.—there are times that seem to call specifically for what I call trash novels or pop-culture fiction. Like when you need to kill an hour or a hour and a half, but you don’t want to get too caught up. Break out the crime novel or the quick romance, maybe a bit of science fiction (but that’s often too dense).
Sometimes I interrupt my reading to read. Once, I was reading two different books on religion—’God Against Gods’ and ‘Lost Christianities’ fairly intensely (meaning most of my time not reading blogs, magazines, or journals was spent going back and forth between these two books). But required a pause. The perfect relaxer, a Patricia Cronwell novel. A good murder mystery soothes the savage beast.
February 4th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Hey guys! It was a busy weekend (Oiva is getting more teeth and couldn’t sleep that well…), so I’m tackling all of your comments at once :)
@James: I feel your pain. But what I do is that I just write down all the ideas, and move on. At some point I then stop and think about each of them to see if there is something worth implementing (that’s the hardest part)
@Michael: You bet! Speaking of which, there hasn’t been any posts from you since Friday?
@Charlie: Hey, it’s great that we finally met, then - brother ;)
And carrying Seth with you definitely is a great habit. When I’m done with Small Is The New Big, I guess I’ll pick some other book from him. Meatball Sundae, maybe?
@Dren: That happens to me a lot as well - getting completely obsessed with a book, I mean. When it happens, I really can’t fight it - I just read until the book’s over. It leads to lack of sleep which is quite for bad for my health, but it’s fun!
About my digestion process: I would love to talk about the book while I’m reading it… It’s weird, I know, but for some reason I have to work hard to stay silent ;)
If the book is really great, I still talk about it weeks after finishing it, but in most cases just few days.
@Dora: You ask questions aloud? That makes you a creative reader, I guess. I have written a guest post for Joshua, coming up this week in which I talk about this subject. I’m sure you’ll have something to share about the topic :)
How do I make notes? I use a lot of space, arrows, and circles. So, my notes are rather messy - and can’t be read as text. More like mind maps, I guess.
Or do you mean how I write notes on the bus? I have a pen and a small notebook in my pocket all the time so that’s not a problem, but naturally the space is limited, so I have to write down just a few key words instead of full blown notes.
@Lynoure: Getting to yes is on my list of books to read as well. How do you like it so far? Would you recommend it?
@Dren: Great to see that there’s some discussion going between readers as well! Love it!
@allgood2: Hehe, good to hear that you have this “trash novel” thing as well. Makes me feel better about my occasional urge to read cartoons ;)
February 4th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
dammit i was hoping nobody would notice. here’s the deal i came down with the flu, then i started to get better and anthony (the 2 year old came down with the flu) so i have decided to take shane’s advice and post 4 times a week.
February 4th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. I try to do three posts a week, and even that keeps me busy. :)
I hope Anthony is feeling better. There’s nothing more painful than watching your kid being sick..
February 5th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Yes, I like Getting to Yes, but I’m not very far in it yet, only at about 50 pages.If you don’t have a copy of your own yet, can happily lend mine to you once I’m done with it :)
February 5th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Sounds good, and thanks for the offer - I might well take it :)
February 7th, 2008 at 6:18 am
For the next 40 days or so, I’m cutting myself off from the news world and entering a world of silence (as much as possible). I feel this opportunity will get me back into reading more. What would you like to do or give up for Lent? Read my thoughts at peoplepowergranny.blogspot.com. You can also vote in my poll.
February 8th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Hey Granny, that sounds like an interesting experiment! I’m off to check out your blog right now :)
February 12th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Interesting.
I have to admit that I didn’t even read this blog entry. Or, to be honest, I read the topic and some lines here and there. That brings me to the point: I’m not so into reading. “How you can too” was the thing that I was looking after (but obviously I missed that, too).
I remember reading some books while travelling to work. It was back then, when I used subway to get to work and back home. Nowadays when I drive by car, I think I could listen audio books, but I’m too lazy to get them on CD’s so that I actually could use them in my car.
Since reading is so difficult I have to learn by doing and learn by experience instead of reading. Perhaps in the future we all can learn by doing nothing.
February 21st, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Arr, I’m pretty envious for you being able to have multiple books unfinished at the same time. Or is it just the genre of the books that helps there (ie. They seem to be books with tips and guidance and perhaps more suitable for bite-sized reading sessions)?
I’m constantly reading biographies, history or fiction - I get so involved with those that I don’t want to drop the ball on what it’s telling about. Therefore, I’m pretty hesitant on having even two books unfinished at the same time.
With guidance etc. books I guess it’s easier since you can just read a “thought for a day” -type of thing, think on it and move on. It doesn’t necessarily have to connect with “what happened before” in that particular book. Somewhat like reading parts from Art of War from here and there.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:34 pm
@McJones: Haha… I guess the bottom line here is that if you can’t read just one blog post, there is no way you could learn to read all the time.
Nah, just kidding.
For me the “how” part is pretty much the fact that I read all kinds of stuff, and many books at once. That way if I get stuck in some book, I can switch to another for a while - and so on.
But if you’re not interested in reading in the traditional sense, I think you’re right - audio books would be a good idea.
There’s nothing wrong in learning by doing - except that you can’t learn everything that way. It works really well for practical stuff like coding, but not that well when it comes to understanding how the world functions - topics like philosophy, economics etc.
@Reko: Yeah, books that are divided to clear tips or lessons are easier to leave aside for a while, and while I am reading many kinds of books at once (including novels and also some biographies every now and then) not all books are quite as easy to leave to rest…
When I get started on a really good novel, the other books often have to wait until I’m finished with the novel. But not always… :)
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:14 am
@Jarkko: There’s nothing wrong in learning by doing - except that you can’t learn everything that way. It works really well for practical stuff like coding, but not that well when it comes to understanding how the world functions - topics like philosophy, economics etc.
Coding is too close to reading. I’ve tried several times, don’t work for me. On the otherhand, making fancy Powerpoint slides with pictures and stuff works fine :)
March 26th, 2008 at 2:00 am
Hi! I just stumbled upon your site today and really enjoy it! I also am interested in just about everything and love reading. I’m trying to cut down on all the blog reading, but I keep finding such good material that it is hard to keep it short.
Thanks for all the great content you have here!
Groove Momma’s last blog post: 15 Minutes a Day
March 29th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
@Groove Momma: Great to meet another person insanely interested in everything :)
Yep, blogs are highly addictive, and the amount of content just keeps growing. I was away for a week, and now my feed reader is filled with over 1000 posts waiting for me…