What's your "ritual" for reading a book smoothly? \ stacker news ~BooksAndArticles

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What's your "ritual" for reading a book smoothly?

2012 sats \ 21 comments \ @Fabs 14 Jan BooksAndArticles

I've started reading again after a while and I've noticed something interesting this morning.

After I woke up, I decided to pick up my book and just start reading, which for some reason went much smoother than when I read during the day / evening.

I suppose it's something to do with my mind being all busy from the day itself, which wasn't the case this morning, for I just woke up, picked up the book and went ham.

My question is as simple as it is important;

Do you recognize what I describe above, and what "ritual" do you apply to be able to read that smooth no matter how busy one's day might have been?

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2271 sats \ 5 replies \ @Coyote_Cosmico 14 Jan

1 - "Bookend" the day. Reading first thing in the morning (especially before going online in any fashion) and then reading at night before sleep.

2 - Decide how long you'll read for, set a timer, and read until it beeps. Even if you're getting distracted and feeling the pull to go do something else, looking at the timer and knowing you've got just a few more minutes can help you resist that pull.

When you get used to that you'll also feel less of those little distracting thoughts. You train your mind that it's reading time, and all the things will still be there waiting for you when the timer goes off.

3 - Have multiple books going at once, ideally different genres and topics. I recently started this and it's been fantastic. If you encounter resistance reading something because you're just not in the right mental space, there's no need to force it. Just pop over to another book which feels smoother in that moment.

Also if your day is busy like you mentioned, some books are more suitable for short sessions than others, so it helps to have at least one of those on hand. If you have 5 or 10 minutes to spare you can more easily pop in and out of a fiction book than something like, "Introduction to General Systems Thinking." Doesn't have to be fiction though, some books just lend themselves better to short breaks throughout the day.

4 - Highlighting and rereading. I want to digest the material and maybe hold it up for scrutiny - to decide how, why, if and where it fits in to the knowledge and models in my head. But I don't want to get bogged down every other page in analysis or detailed note taking.

When I find a passage that deserves some attention, I'll just highlight it or take a quick shorthand note and keep moving. Because I've built the habit of circling back to these highlights and doing a deeper read later, I trust that I can safely move on.

151 sats \ 3 replies \ @elvismercury 14 Jan

Highlighting and rereading.

I'm not a believer in highlighting, at least for myself, since what happens when I do it is that I accrue a series of things that I vaguely intend to come back to one day; and yet that day never comes, because there's always more to read.

What works better for me is to "read at the speed of synthesis" where I take a lot of notes in the course of reading, where "notes" really is: my reactions to things, digging into them, asking questions, etc. Then these notes get put into the rotation of things that I review periodically. (I have tools to help with this so the review actually happens.) This is much slower and thus serves as a rate-limiter of what I attempt to read.

The key is to know what it is you're after. I have read thousands of books that now, years later, I have only the illusion-of-knowing about. Since my goal is to engage with the book, and be changed by it, interactions that don't afford that are useless to me. It's just LARPing, bedpost-notching.

Not saying this is right for everyone, just what I do.

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @Coyote_Cosmico 15 Jan

I totally relate to what you wrote here. Started to get frustrated that I couldn't really speak intelligently on most of the books I'd been reading, even though I felt like they impacted me while I read them.

I think in some way they still do leave an imprint, even if I can't remember details, but vague impressions aren't what I'm after either.

I'm still figuring this out and you're right it's really easy to intend to come back and read highlights and never get around to it. What I'm doing now is doing the reread after I finish a chapter, that way it actually happens.

Curious what tools you use for your reviews? I've been using Readwise for a long time and I like it a lot, but what it surfaces is fairly random.

50 sats \ 1 reply \ @elvismercury 15 Jan

Curious what tools you use for your reviews? I've been using Readwise for a long time and I like it a lot, but what it surfaces is fairly random.

It's an ornate and bespoke toolchain, but it basically has Anki at the heart of it. A lot of people obsess over the scheduling algorithm (in fact, some are obsessing about it today) but it's more than good enough for my weird use case.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Coyote_Cosmico 15 Jan

This sounds intriguing. I use Anki for Spanish now but have daydreamed about the power it could have for reading retention. It's always seemed daunting to figure out how to build a system to make this a smooth process but I guess these things are created brick by brick.

Consider doing a write up here on your system sometime? I'm sure many could get a ton of value from it.

Actually maybe I'll do a bounty post about this and try to crowdsource the methods stackers use for knowledge management. Seems like the problem of our time, how to best use the ridiculous amount of information we're all exposed to now.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Fabs OP 14 Jan freebie

Yeah, i'll definitely start reading in the morning and evening on a steady basis, I won't, however, start reading multiple books at once.

I like to focus on one book at a time, and sometimes read it a second time while making notes and working said notes out with further research.

Fine comment though.

123 sats \ 1 reply \ @petertodd 14 Jan

Book a plane flight. 😂

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Fabs OP 14 Jan

Meh, too many noises.

31 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 14 Jan

For as long as I can remember I always read before going to sleep. As I age my sessions get shorter and I wake up with the book or kindle on my chest. I can't address smoother. Reading has always felt smooth and relaxing, regardless of when or where.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryotosensei 15 Jan

Oh fun topic. Here is my reading routine:

begin with the end in mind. After i finish reading a book, i will donate it to the paper recycling machine near my house. It earns me less than a cent, but it makes me feel great that I’m in control of the possessions in my house. Also, any withdrawal i get from the recycling app goes straight to my son’s college fund. So I’m motivated to read a lot.
carry a book everywhere i go. I’m trying to curb my use of Social Mecia, so i bring a book around, hoping that my instinct is to open it up rather than scroll through my Facebook feed. Sometimes it works; other times, it doesn’t. But I always find that i will be so proud of myself if I manage to resist the lure of my phone. I just finished reading a chapter during my lunch period. (Yes, I’m the kind who can’t just concentrate on my food.)
read multiple books at a time. My ENFP mind won’t allow me to focus on just one book, so i read several books at one go so that I can match a book with the mood I’m feeling at this point in time. So, definitely some light-hearted fiction during my lunch period.
do book reviews. I find that i tend to forget what i read, so in order to strengthen my learning derived from reading, i take to Instagram and post my review. So more than one friend have commented on the usefulness of my reviews - I find that this ego boost keeps me going.
highlight important parts or make dog-ears. Because i read several books at once, i highlight the words and sentences that cause pause for reflection so that i can just scan through them the next time i read the book and bring myself up to speed. I try to draw connections between the author’s thoughts and my own life so that i can incorporate new habits into my life.

That’s my reading ritual in a nutshell. But you do you.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Fabs OP 15 Jan

Yeah, I also really believe that point 4 works wonders. Writing a summary about a book (or parts thereof) can also be very beneficial in order to catch up on the matter faster than re-reading the whole book.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @OriginalSize 15 Jan

My best streaks were a certain number of pages or amount of time per day. Morning is best for rituals but I never placed such priority on reading. Worth a shot though so thanks for posting this idea.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @cleaningup12 14 Jan

Must be why most people read 'on holiday'

Sat by the pool, without the daily grind taking it's toll, people feel psychologically free to do as they please

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Fabs OP 15 Jan

Most definitely.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 14 Jan

I similarly just started reading regularly recently after a substantial break. It was interesting how it felt a little unnatural at first.

I basically can't read if there's any noise going on around me, so after everyone's asleep at night is the best. It's a great buffer between the days activities and going to sleep for me: keeps me from thinking about work while I'm trying to sleep.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @riberet19 14 Jan

I like to read when I have the day totally free and especially in the morning, because that is when I am more lucid and active and I will retain the information better, at least in my case, I also like to read with a good posture since this will make me read longer and not get so tired, also another ritual is to read a number of pages each session, that makes me have a small pre-established goal that motivates me to finish the session.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Fabs OP 14 Jan

What posture do you read in?

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @WeAreAllSatoshi 14 Jan

I don't have one, and perhaps that's why I rarely finish reading a book. This post is inspiring!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Fabs OP 14 Jan

😆

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @OT 14 Jan

I notice more about my interest in the material. Seems like it matters more than the time or place.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Malachi17 14 Jan

It's simply a discipline and you might find your retention is better at some points than others even though the reading felt more fluid.