Reading - How to Read
A lot of you wrote back commenting on my article about reading. Thank you! There was one question that stood out.
If you do, how should you read?
I have assimilated my understanding by learning from others. Here is what I know.
With apology, I use a kindle. I understand the joy of holding a book, but the kindle is more efficient.
I used to be stingy about highlighting. Now I highlight entire pages. Highlights serve as reminders to review the section.
I have set up my kindle in such a way that all my highlights automatically sync to a software called Obsidian.
Obsidian is a wonderful tool for capturing content. In this case, Obsidian syncs all the highlights but also magically creates a reference tag.
I can now reread the highlighted section, capture the essence of what the author is saying in my own words. I can reference the tag so that I know what I am summarizing.
Not to sound too crazy, but my summaries then pop up periodically for me to read.
You see, I recognize that learning is a slow, deliberate process.
I get shocking insights into what I have written that are often very different from what I thought when I first wrote it.
I get new insights or nuances into both my own brain and also the brain of the author when I revisit the highlights.
I recognize when I see a pattern of behavior and realize where I got it from.
If this sounds like a lot of work, remember that most of what I am reading is a 100x beyond my current knowledge or understanding. I would not be reading it if it weren’t.
But by reading, highlighting, summarizing and then rereading it, slowly, I begin to understand some of the essence of what is being said.
Seen from different prisms driven by where my mind is at, I get nuances that I would have missed otherwise.
Learning is a slow, deliberate process.
Yes, I know there is a joy in just reading. But that is for fiction. Complex topics need a process.
Reach out to me on twitter @rbawri Instagram @riteshbawriofficial and YouTube at www.youtube.com/breatheagain
