Productivity expert @AliAbdaal has read 1,000+ books. Here are 27...
Alex & Books 📚@AlexAndBooks_
14 views
Mar 31, 2024
~5 min read
Advertisement
1
Productivity expert @AliAbdaal has read 1,000+ books.
Here are 27 tips from him on how to become a better reader:
1) Don’t just pick up the classics because “that’s what clever people do”. Find the books written on topics that fascinate you and by those people you admire most.
2) Just as we can fall in love with exercise by finding the sports we enjoy, we can fall in love with reading by finding the books we enjoy.
3) If you begin reading a book and you aren’t enjoying it, then there’s no obligation to continue. Just stop. We don’t need to finish a book just because we started it.
4) The truth is most books won’t deserve our attention. So find the books you love and discard the rest.
5) Make it as easy as possible to pick up a book and read it.
6) There’s literally no excuse for not reading.
7) Reading is the mentor without the cost, the pain, and the discomfort.
8) The number one influence in my life wouldn’t be people at all. It would be books.
9) By reading lots of books I’ve managed to accumulate decades worth of knowledge and experience from the world’s most incredible minds, with minimal personal effort.
10) The more we read and the better our reading processes are, the more our ideas, beliefs, and opinions begin to develop at an ever-increasing rate.
11) When reading to understand and analyse, we’re going to want to actually carry the book around with us. Even a Kindle would suffice.
12) Throughout the day you’ll find numerous opportunities to spend 5 or 10 minutes reading. So keep a book nearby. You don’t know when the next great reading opportunity will arise.
13) There’s nothing inherently wrong with reading to entertain ourselves.
14) If there’s one piece of advice I’d recommend here, it would be listening to audiobooks – particularly when reading to entertain rather than to understand. Personally, I’ve found audiobooks to be pretty awesome when working out or driving in my car, as this allows me to incorporate ‘reading’ into my life where I’d previously have been “too busy”.
15) Sometimes, a book might be really good, but we’ve just encountered it at the wrong time. That’s okay. We don’t have to read it if we don’t find it interesting right now. We can always come back to it later.
16) Reading to understand requires the greatest cognitive effort. It forces us to challenge our preconceptions, critically analyse the status quo, and directly confront ideas that we may not be immediately comfortable with. This is hard. It can be uncomfortable. But it’s the only way for us to level-up our thinking and personal growth.
17) Only speed read books that you don’t want to understand. Why is that? When reading at speed we’re not going to have the time to think about what is being said or develop the insights necessary for true comprehension. As Woody Allen humorously observed: “I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia.”
18) Reading is hard work, but if we want to rapidly build our knowledge and have high-impact ideas then it’s a crucial skill to learn.
19) By using a site like Goodreads, we can remain accountable and place reasonable pressure on ourself to stay true to our reading goals.
20) No true genius has got to where they were without understanding the importance of effective and efficient reading. It really is the number one factor that will change your life forever. I promise.
21) I stop reading non-fiction books when they stop providing me with significant value. The aim isn’t to finish as many books as possible, it’s to get the biggest possible value out of my reading time.
22) Get a Kindle. It's by far the lowest friction way to read anything, you can carry it anywhere, and it almost looks like you're reading on real.
23) Only buy books you actually want to read. All my friends start reading books they should read (classics, Sapiens etc). This turns reading into a chore, so they feel 'urgh' when they sit down to read, so they don't read.
24) Read a little before bed each night. Turn off your lights, charge your at least 1m away from your bed, and grab the Kindle you've got on your bedside table. Use dark mode + warm light settings, and read whatever you want on there until you find yourself falling asleep. This will give you at least 10-30 minutes of reading time each day.
25) Listen to audiobooks when you're doing boring stuff. Podcasts are great, but audiobooks are better. I always have my AirPods in when I'm doing the laundry, cooking, gym or public transport. I'm also always listening to audiobooks when driving alone, or with friends who like audiobooks. Obviously remember to take some time to smell the roses and be mindful etc too.
26) Learn to listen at 1.5x speed and beyond. Slowly increase your listening speed until you can comfortably listen at higher speeds, while understanding everything you hear. For easier reads (trashy romance), I can listen at 3x speed and enjoy myself. For more challenging reads (eg: the Sovereign Individual) I drop down to 1.5x. And if you're really keen on savouring the experience (eg: in Brandon Sanderson's fantasy books near the climaxes) drop to 1x speed.
27) Treat books and audiobooks like blog posts. Abandon them if you're not finding them interesting. There's no moral value you get from 'finishing' a book that you 'should" read. It's okay to abandon a book.
Here are 27 tips from him on how to become a better reader:
1) Don’t just pick up the classics because “that’s what clever people do”. Find the books written on topics that fascinate you and by those people you admire most.
2) Just as we can fall in love with exercise by finding the sports we enjoy, we can fall in love with reading by finding the books we enjoy.
3) If you begin reading a book and you aren’t enjoying it, then there’s no obligation to continue. Just stop. We don’t need to finish a book just because we started it.
4) The truth is most books won’t deserve our attention. So find the books you love and discard the rest.
5) Make it as easy as possible to pick up a book and read it.
6) There’s literally no excuse for not reading.
7) Reading is the mentor without the cost, the pain, and the discomfort.
8) The number one influence in my life wouldn’t be people at all. It would be books.
9) By reading lots of books I’ve managed to accumulate decades worth of knowledge and experience from the world’s most incredible minds, with minimal personal effort.
10) The more we read and the better our reading processes are, the more our ideas, beliefs, and opinions begin to develop at an ever-increasing rate.
11) When reading to understand and analyse, we’re going to want to actually carry the book around with us. Even a Kindle would suffice.
12) Throughout the day you’ll find numerous opportunities to spend 5 or 10 minutes reading. So keep a book nearby. You don’t know when the next great reading opportunity will arise.
13) There’s nothing inherently wrong with reading to entertain ourselves.
14) If there’s one piece of advice I’d recommend here, it would be listening to audiobooks – particularly when reading to entertain rather than to understand. Personally, I’ve found audiobooks to be pretty awesome when working out or driving in my car, as this allows me to incorporate ‘reading’ into my life where I’d previously have been “too busy”.
15) Sometimes, a book might be really good, but we’ve just encountered it at the wrong time. That’s okay. We don’t have to read it if we don’t find it interesting right now. We can always come back to it later.
16) Reading to understand requires the greatest cognitive effort. It forces us to challenge our preconceptions, critically analyse the status quo, and directly confront ideas that we may not be immediately comfortable with. This is hard. It can be uncomfortable. But it’s the only way for us to level-up our thinking and personal growth.
17) Only speed read books that you don’t want to understand. Why is that? When reading at speed we’re not going to have the time to think about what is being said or develop the insights necessary for true comprehension. As Woody Allen humorously observed: “I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia.”
18) Reading is hard work, but if we want to rapidly build our knowledge and have high-impact ideas then it’s a crucial skill to learn.
19) By using a site like Goodreads, we can remain accountable and place reasonable pressure on ourself to stay true to our reading goals.
20) No true genius has got to where they were without understanding the importance of effective and efficient reading. It really is the number one factor that will change your life forever. I promise.
21) I stop reading non-fiction books when they stop providing me with significant value. The aim isn’t to finish as many books as possible, it’s to get the biggest possible value out of my reading time.
22) Get a Kindle. It's by far the lowest friction way to read anything, you can carry it anywhere, and it almost looks like you're reading on real.
23) Only buy books you actually want to read. All my friends start reading books they should read (classics, Sapiens etc). This turns reading into a chore, so they feel 'urgh' when they sit down to read, so they don't read.
24) Read a little before bed each night. Turn off your lights, charge your at least 1m away from your bed, and grab the Kindle you've got on your bedside table. Use dark mode + warm light settings, and read whatever you want on there until you find yourself falling asleep. This will give you at least 10-30 minutes of reading time each day.
25) Listen to audiobooks when you're doing boring stuff. Podcasts are great, but audiobooks are better. I always have my AirPods in when I'm doing the laundry, cooking, gym or public transport. I'm also always listening to audiobooks when driving alone, or with friends who like audiobooks. Obviously remember to take some time to smell the roses and be mindful etc too.
26) Learn to listen at 1.5x speed and beyond. Slowly increase your listening speed until you can comfortably listen at higher speeds, while understanding everything you hear. For easier reads (trashy romance), I can listen at 3x speed and enjoy myself. For more challenging reads (eg: the Sovereign Individual) I drop down to 1.5x. And if you're really keen on savouring the experience (eg: in Brandon Sanderson's fantasy books near the climaxes) drop to 1x speed.
27) Treat books and audiobooks like blog posts. Abandon them if you're not finding them interesting. There's no moral value you get from 'finishing' a book that you 'should" read. It's okay to abandon a book.