Ezra Klein has commented several times that it is the time in which you engage with a book that has a profound impact over what you gain from it.
There are books I've blazed through. There are books I've spent years, occasionally decades, working through. There are books I've read once. There are book I read again and again, gaining new insights each time.
If I could offer advice:
- Choose the books you read with care. There is an effectively unlimited supply, but good and relevant books can still be scarce.
- Let your curiosity (for nonfiction) or engagement (for fiction) guide you. Finding an author, or topic, or genre of interest, and then exploring through that literature (by way of citations, references, or recommendations / shared heritages of authors) has been highly fruitful for me.
- Mortimer Adler's How to Read a Book is severely underrated.
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[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 14.7 ms ] threadThere are books I've blazed through. There are books I've spent years, occasionally decades, working through. There are books I've read once. There are book I read again and again, gaining new insights each time.
If I could offer advice:
- Choose the books you read with care. There is an effectively unlimited supply, but good and relevant books can still be scarce.
- Let your curiosity (for nonfiction) or engagement (for fiction) guide you. Finding an author, or topic, or genre of interest, and then exploring through that literature (by way of citations, references, or recommendations / shared heritages of authors) has been highly fruitful for me.
- Mortimer Adler's How to Read a Book is severely underrated.