I read ~3 books 📚 a month, and here’s what has worked for me 👇
- [ 2 days ] I am very choosy with my book selection
- [ 30 mins ] I skim the entire book once, then
- [ 4 days ] I read the book line-by-line skipping repetitive sections, then
- [ 1 day ] I re-read the books to solidify my understanding, then
- I highlight the key ideas/points using a standard highlighter, then
- I dump my highlights and notes in my second brain (Obsidian)
I prefer reading e-books because paperbacks make me sleepy. Skimming helps me create central ideas (dots) of the book and its agenda 🟠🟢🔵🟡
The first read allows me to form granular dots and connections between them. The second read is the most important one - it helps me solidify my understanding and connect the dots that I might have missed 🟣🟤
Using a standard PDF highlighter helps me extract the key ideas in a plain text format allowing me to search when needed 🔍
Note: I do not read exclusively, I interleave it with my other work (day job, teaching, course, mentorship, and coding).