Hi Julien,
Thanks for reading and sharing your experience.
“I’ve been wondering and been frustrated too by the fact of reading about so much stuff. But feeling like I aint able to get better from those reads.”
I share the exact same problem. I guess you have to really think about what it is you WANT from the book before you start it off. I’m going to assume it’s more on the non-fiction side to further your skills or knowledge about a certain skill/industry/etc, since you say you want to “get better from those reads”.
What exactly is better? — is probably my first question. If you want to get better at something you need goals to track the progression. If you never define what better is, you will technically never be “better”.
What do you want to learn? — The book/article promised something that piqued your interest. What do you want to learn? Write down your learning goals as well. If your initial search before starting a new book was “How to lower anxiety and find peace”, and you start reading “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle, you must actively look for the author’s solutions/suggestions.
How can you test that you learned it? — While reading, whenever you think he suggests doing something or taking action, write it down and make sure you try it out for yourself. If you just sit with the knowledge but you act and think exactly as you did before reading the book, of course you’re going to feel like you haven’t changed. You have to put the lessons into action or you will never learn.
This is kind of on the fly so it definitely isn’t structured or as coherent as I’d like it to be.. but I guess it’s a small follow up from my post!
Personally, I used to only read books on my phone because it was so convenient to be able to carry 100s of books that I could just pop open any time without having to carry extra baggage. Now, I have a ton of physical books because I had a few complaints about ebooks:
- Screen brightness hurts my eyes (if it’s too dim, I have to squint)
- Font/screen was too small and have to strain my neck
- Constant distractions on the phone diverts your attention and makes you lose focus
Ebooks may be convenient and many people love them, but nothing beats the feeling of holding a physical book in your hand, flipping pages and seeing how many pages you have left as you continue reading, the little joy of ordering and waiting for a book to come, the excitement you get when you open the package and the anticipation of a potentially great story to read, the fact that the book can make you feel connected with the author and readers, and the smell of a new and old book (both have their charms)
Pick your poison!
