How to read a book, pt. 2

September 30, 2007 3:02 PM

(For part one in this series, click here!)

1. First of all. Never “read” any book. Study it.

2. Value. A book is an investment in yourself. It’s yours. So, don’t lend it out to ANYBODY. Not even your mom.

3. Personalize. Write, highlight, annotate and mark up that book like you were studying for med school finals. When you personalize a book, it becomes priceless. Even if it’s just one key phrase. This also makes it easier to recopy your notes later. What’s more, writing stuff and underlining and keys ideas increases retention.

4. Memories. When you return to your book a week, a month or a year later, you will thank yourself for circling key points. Almost like creating your own cliff notes! And don’t just underline or circle a passage – comment and explain WHY you picked that particular phrase, i.e., “Great point! Just like my friend Bobby!” This becomes a fascinating window into your thinking patterns at the time.

5. Creativity. While reading, other ideas WILL come to you. And, since ideas are you major source of income, you need to capture them! Either in the margins or on a separate sheet of paper, WRITE-YOUR-NEW-IDEAS-DOWN. Because if you don’t write them down, they never happened.

6. Recopy. Reading the book is only half the battle. The second step is to go back through your book and recopy the key ideas or phrases onto a Summary Document. Save these notes into a folder called “Book Notes” and keep it handy. This creates an accessible reference to be used forever!

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How do you read a book?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
Share your tips here!

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Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag

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