239. How to Read a Book

Reading nonfiction can be an enjoyable, leisurely hobby, but sometimes you just need to ASSIMILATE KNOWLEDGE.

Thanks to Patron subscriber Peterson Roberto da Silva for their support - sorry I omitted you from the credits!

- Links for the Curious-

[DanHowardMtl]

Good timing! I'm 1/2 way through that giant audible on The Dawn Of Everything. ;)

[ToriKo_]

Wow this was really interesting on multiple levels. Also it never really occurred to me the depth and breadth of information and research you do for every video, not to even mention that you do this outside of your work, which must also take a huge amount of your energy

[skybluskyblueify]

I guess *that* book has been making the rounds for various YTers. Your technique sounds like it would be worth it to use for my copy of it. Since I liked it that much, going through it again will be worth it. Thanks for the advice.

[somecuriosities]

Great vid. But I wonder if such an approach is like taking vitamins vs eating a healthy diet and whether we risk inadvertently losing something in trying to "hack" the system.

For example, when it comes to academic writing, a lot of my videas for essays etc. come from wading through books in (excrutiating) detail in a way that is totally a loggerheads to such a rationalististic surgical laser focused approach.

It's like part of the critical thinking and creative/original argumentation process uses reading not as an "idea extraction" tool but as a vehicle for engaging with the subject and cultivating thought in it.

[TheGemsbok]

My method is simply to read fewer books, at a slower pace, and come to know them intimately well.

If anything resembling the methods described in this video comes in at any stage of the process, it's only at the initial stage of research to carefully select which books to read. Maybe the books still occasionally aren't what I expect them to be; that's alright. I long ago came to terms with the fact that no individual human being can read even a small fraction of the world's worthwhile intellectual work in their lifetime. So I just try to learn some things that interest me as well as I possibly can, and reshape my projects to interact better with what I'm learning rather than the other way around.

[PetersonSilva]

Ok, now that I got the "first" comment out of my system (always dreamed of leaving one in this channel, haha), I loved this video for lots of reasons... Loved the book used as an example. I never thought of indexes that way either. I'm still resistant to the idea of writing on book pages - I'll vigorously write somewhere else though. And I found it interesting that you didn't mention how much more useful PDFs are for finding information given the search function - and also that while it's true that information is harder to find in videos, Youtube's "show transcript" is a LIFE SAVER in that regard.

[Infantry]

Great stuff, thanks for the video!

I've never been terribly sentimental, so I took to writing in books early. Its of course different it its a book on loan, libraries have to buy new copies for damage in that case, but it helps me parse whats being said. One trick i like is to highlight evocative words out of a sentence or paragraph to essentially rewrite an abridged version of it, like blackout poetry kinda.

[DinaBelenko]

I was fighting for my habit to write in my books! Glad to know I'm in a good company))

[StephaneBura]

Looking forward to your video on The Dawn of Everything!

[anakimluke]

I'd read Newton's autobiography and take notes while at it 🐾

[ferulebezel]

WRITING IN THE BOOK!!! The guy is a Visigoth. I think maybe literally, since post-its, or whatever the generic term is, have been around for a while. You can also stick them out and choose different colors if you're more diligent than I ever was.

[jadaallen]

Thank you. I will definitely apply this to reading political theory.

[Xob_Driesestig]

For youtube videos you can use a transcriber. Otherwise you can watch the first part of a video chapter then skip to the last part to still get some of that hourglass benefit.

[sean..L]

I'm about to read The Rings Of Saturn by W.G Sebald. I saw the documentary about it and it really sold it to me and with that in mind this seems like the perfect book to put this to the test. It's essentially a book that was meant to be meandered through.

[luisrios]

This video reminds me of a book called “How to read a book: the practical guide to intelligent reading” by Mortimer J. Adler.

I highly recommend it if you want to find put more about this subject.

[anieldayyanelday]

Use sticky notes if you're anxious about writing on the book

[kredit]

Might not have discovered certain valuable sections without reading cover to cover, but maybe the trade off is worth it

[stevensantos]

My approach has always been to read for the thesis statement, if I know that info, to skip over it and if I don't, to read to understand and highlight along the way. Since I use e-readers, I re-read the highlighted text (and now) put the key points into Obsidian and then re-read my notes later. I get the same three readings but in a different way.

Good stuff, though.

[userMB]

Do people, other than boomers, still read books instead of ebooks? I buy my ebooks from the Play store and what frustrates me to no end is that some publishers don't allow to automate highlighted and annotated text to Google Drive. So you have to manually copy paste them like a caveman

[aBigBadWolf]

You should use gpt-4 to get an idea of a subject. It will make your exploration more efficient (but it won't replace it)