There was a time when I dove head first into the world of non-fiction books, particularly of the personal growth variety. I read hundreds of books over a period of a few years. One year, I read about 80 books.
I learned a lot from reading all of those books. But you know what? I forgot probably 99% of what I read.
I take a slower approach now. If only 1% of what I read will change my life, it should be 1% of the only the best books. I should be reading fewer books, but better books.
But what if I took it to the other extreme and based all of my knowledge on only one book? Yes, people have done this in the past. Back when books were rare, many literate people only read their main religious texts, like the Bible or Koran.
If you only read one book over and over again, I suspect you would still only retain about 1% of what you read, but over time and many readings, perhaps you would retain a significant percentage of a book.
By “retain,” I mean not only remembering what was said, but also understanding the deepest meaning of the words and integrating the wisdom into your own thinking and life.
By limiting yourself to only one book, you’re living within the constraints of that one book. You’re closing yourself off from the ideas of the thousands or millions of authors who did not write the one book you’re reading.
I think there is a sweet spot for knowledge acquisition. On one hand, you want to cast the widest net possible and read a wide variety of books. On the other hand, you want to read beyond the superficial aspects of each book, find its deepest meanings, and integrate them into your life.
For me, it means no longer counting and taking pride in how many books I read in a year. It means being extremely picky about each book I start reading, yet not closing my mind to certain topics or authors who I might disagree with. It means and taking my time in reading each book; quality, not quantity. It means reading each book as if it were a workbook, and integrating the enlightening parts of the book into my life immediately, while I’m still enlightened, and so that it doesn’t slip away into the 99% of what I forget.
Read slowly. Give yourself time to digest what you read.
Don’t be afraid to read something more than once. Also don’t be afraid to skip something that isn’t resonating with you.
When you read something is almost as important as what you read. You will learn different lessons from the same book in different seasons of your life. A book that resonates now may be meaningless to you in the future, and vice versa.
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