How To Read Like You Mean It

“We read a lot. I don’t know anyone who’s wise who doesn’t read a lot. But that’s not enough: You have to have a temperament to grab ideas and do sensible things. Most people don’t grab the right ideas or don’t know what to do with them.”

Charlie Munger about himself and Warren Buffett

I love books.

I love reading.

It is my favorite pastime, and I do it whenever I have a moment to spare.

That’s why I ask myself this question:
How do I get more out of the time I spend reading?

In other words: How do I Read Like I Mean It?

In my experience, I get more value out of reading deeply, slowly and repeatedly, as opposed to reading many different books. However, I find tremendous value in reading broadly, so I aim to strike a balance between the two.

Reading Deeply

When I read a book, I deliberately read it slowly and thoroughly. It doesn’t matter to me how many words I read per minute. What matters is what I get out of reading it. The essence of reading deeply, is to make the conscious effort to go back to the same book again and again.

I’ve found that the more times I read something, the better I internalize it. The better I am better able to implement the ideas, and elicit the key message.

Reading Deeply: An Example

The book I’ve read the most in recent years is Warren Buffett’s biography The Snowball by Alice Schroeder. It is far and away my favorite biography. It is likely my favorite book overall. At any rate, I’ve read it 6 times. Twice from cover-to-cover and the remaining four times I’ve skipped directly to the good parts, when Buffett started his partnerships in 1956.

The point of this — other than pure enjoyment — is to internalize the principles that guide Warren Buffetts life. In my previous article on Warren Buffett, I described him as a Master Wizard. A person whose main competitive advantage is his ability to persuade others. This is an ability that I’ve transferred (somewhat) to my own life because I’ve read the book so many times.

If I get one principle or idea out of every book I read, it has been worth it.

Reading The Snowball has been worth it several times over.

Reading The Snowball has been its weight worth in gold.

Reading Deeply: Another Example

Methods of Persuasion by Nick Kolenda is another personal favorite. It is a book that I keep going back to every so often. Sometimes it’s once a week that I’ll go back and re-read a specific section, sometimes it’s longer. But I always find myself coming back for more.

And every time I come back I gain a new insight, a new nuance, or I’m able to view an experience in a new light. A feat that is tremendously valuable in and of itself.

That is my way to grab an idea and do sensible things with it.

This is one way to read like you mean it.

Reading Broadly

I have a pretty narrow sphere of interest. I care about psychology, specifically human behavior, motivation and persuasion. I care about history and finance, and especially the history of finance. This means that some of my favorite books include Black Swan by Nicholas Taleb, Influence by Robert Cialdini and Win Bigly by Scott Adams.

This means I need to make a conscious effort to read books that are outside of my normal sphere of interest. I do this because I find insane value in getting input from other disciplines.

In fact some of the most powerful and inspirational ideas have come from reading books outside my field of interest.

Reading Broadly: An Example

One of the most interesting books I’ve read this year is Sapiens by Yuvel Noah Harari. The book details the history of Homo Sapiens. During this epic journey we gain profound insight into human behavior, societal constructs such as religion and a glimpse of what the future might hold for the human race. It is truly a masterpiece, and the ideas from this book changed the way I view the world.

Reading Broadly: Another Example

Another great example of the value of reading broadly is Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power.

This book literally provides one brilliant idea per chapter.

Initially I picked up this book because it’d been recommended by some of my favorite writers, including Ryan Holiday and Aubrey Marcus.

That, and I thought the title was cool.

When I started reading the book, it took me a while to realize the potency of the message.

The book builds on historical figures, such as Napoleons right-hand man Charles Talleyrand, and a 17th century priest by the name of Baltasar Gracian. My first instinct was to wonder what I could possibly learn from these people.

A whole lot, as it turns out.

One of the messages of the book, is that the world might have changed immensely; The people in 48 Laws of Power didn’t have iPhones, access to air-travel or the imagination to comprehend that humans could walk on the moon — but people haven’t changed one bit.

People in Silicon Valley are driven by the same motives as people in ancient Greece and Louis XIV’s France.

Reading it has been a profound experience, because the book details the underlying principles that guide human behavior.

The value of this is gargantuan.

I have to point out, that the ideas in this book are not easily internalized. Grabbing them and doing sensible things with them, is no easy feat. But my understanding broadens and deepens every time I go back to 48 Laws of Power, and the value of the book keeps increasing for every re-read. That is the tell of a true classic.

Notes, Highlights and more Notes

Whether I read deeply or broadly, a key component of my reading is note-taking and highlighting. Whether I come across a phrase that is meaningful, well-written or just gives me a sense of pleasure, I highlight it. If I need to add a thought to it, I take notes.

Usually, the highlighting is enough.

When I go back to a back to a book, highlighting is invaluable. It lets me know exactly which sections are worth reading, and which I can skip. This helps me focus on what’s most important.

When I come back to what I’ve previously highlighted, I usually find, I’ve come to see what’s been written in a new light. This deepens my understanding of the material and helps me internalize the ideas.

That is powerful.

Highlighting is easiest if you have a Kindle, where you can highlight as you go along. You can also do this if you use the iPhones native book app. I’ve used both to great effect.

No matter you’re preferred method, highlighting is a must if you want the maximum output from the time you spend reading.

And why wouldn’t you?

Read like you mean it

When I was younger I would plow through books as fast as I could. My idea was, that the more I read, the smarter I’d get. Which was true to an extent. But this method didn’t allow me to grab onto ideas, let alone do anything intelligent with them.

When I read deeply, I internalize what I’m reading to a much larger extent than I ever have. Going back to the books I know have value, also allows me to minimize the time I spend searching for new books. I count that as a win.

The hard part is keeping a balance between reading deeply and reading broadly. As long as I keep an open mind for new books and don’t miss out on too many good ones, that’s another win.

The strategy of Reading Like I Mean It, errs on the side of keeping a horizon that is too narrow. But it beats the alternative of reading bad books, by miles.

If you feel you could get more out of the books you read too, I encourage you to Read Like You Mean It, and see the results for yourself.