A 245 Page Book in 90 Minutes
I have been sick for the past week, so I took today to try to kill the cold. I ended up reading a book in 90 minutes.
After sleeping some hours more than usually, I began alternating between reading Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl and watching bookmarked YouTube videos. One video I decided to watch was a fifty minute long webinar on reading faster.
The video, How to Read a Book a Day revealed some interesting practices. I don’t agree with everything said (some things seemed downright contradictory), but the core concepts I absorbed.
The video, if you want a brief synopsis, argues that books contain a lot of fluff, either to appease editors or carry the book along. And not all the information the author deems pertinent is important to you, the actual reader. The video states that books (especially non-fiction) exist to spread ideas, not words. To get the most important ideas doesn’t require reading all the words.
To get the main ideas, you first preview the book. Read the title, about the author, copyright date, table of contents, and most controversially, the first and last paragraphs of the book. This study out of the University of California, San Diego found that spoilers actually improve enjoyment. This generally takes about two minutes.
Second, you skim the book for fiction or read headers for nonfiction. Make sure to read the first and last paragraphs of every chapter as well. You should now have a good idea of what the book is about and the general flow of ideas. This generally takes from five to ten minutes.
Finally, you read the book. Make sure to slow down for the first sentence of each paragraph, but you can fly past passages and pages that don’t have the core concepts or facts you wish to learn. This takes the remaining time.
I took notes as I went through. I felt powerful. I read The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko from 12:30 to 14:00. I will put my notes in a separate post.
Try it, just once, just do it.
(Picture from goodreads).
