How to Read Books Most Effectively.

Hi everyone,

Today, I am going to share with you my reading journey and some of the experiences I've accumulated to help make reading more effective. For me, books have always been a great joy in my life. I've been passionate about reading since I was very young. In fact, much of what I have achieved today, in terms of work, knowledge, and even my way of thinking, is largely due to reading books.

Naturally, throughout my reading journey, I've made quite a few mistakes. Today, I'll share them with you in the hope that you can avoid these errors and make your reading more efficient and enjoyable. I've divided my reading journey into several stages.

In the early stages, I would simply pick up any book and read it from cover to cover without doing anything else. At this time, most of the books I read were fiction, such as "Robinson Crusoe" or adventure novels like "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" and "Around the World in Eighty Days." Reading in this way didn't pose any problems.

However, as I grew older, most of the books I read were non-fiction, specializing in various fields and skills. I realized that my method of reading meant I retained very little of the information. Immediately after reading, I would remember quite a bit, but within a few weeks, most of it was forgotten, retaining only about 20-30%. Whenever I encountered a related issue, I could vaguely recall that I had read about it somewhere, but finding the exact information was a problem. This led me to the conclusion that my method wasn't effective.

I then moved to a second stage, where I began taking notes while reading. This method requires just a pen or a highlighter. The advantage of this approach is that when you need to refer back to a book, you can easily find the important parts you highlighted. This method also helps develop the habit of reading with focus, ensuring you pay attention to what you're reading. Since adopting this habit, the amount of information I retain has increased significantly—doubling from 20% to 40%.

However, 40% retention is still quite low. Considering the effort it takes to read a book, retaining only 40% of the knowledge is not very efficient. This realization led me to the third stage of my reading journey.

In this third stage, around 2007-2008, I discovered the Kindle. The Kindle is an e-reader that uses e-ink technology, making it feel like reading on paper without straining your eyes. Highlighting on the Kindle allows you to save all your highlights in one place, making it easy to review them later. This feature, along with my minimalist lifestyle, led me to switch almost entirely to reading on the Kindle, avoiding physical books unless given as gifts or for gifting to others.

Discovering the Kindle introduced me to audiobooks through Audible. Audible allows you to listen to books, which was revolutionary for me as I could now consume books while driving, walking, or even eating. This flexibility made my commute time in Sydney much more productive, as I could listen to books during my daily 20-30 minute train rides.

I then moved to the fourth stage, where I focused on speed reading using Audible's feature to increase playback speed. Starting at 1.3x, and gradually increasing to 1.7x for simpler books, I found I could read much faster without losing comprehension. This method significantly increased my reading speed and knowledge retention.

However, despite the increased quantity of books I consumed, I noticed the depth of understanding was lacking. This led me to the fifth and current stage of my reading journey, where I emphasize quality over quantity. Now, I use Audible to quickly scan books and determine their value before reading them thoroughly on my Kindle. I take detailed notes and sync them to tools like Evernote or Notion for easy review.

One key method I adopted is using mind maps to summarize books. Mind maps help me organize and retain information better. I ensure my notes and mind maps reflect my understanding and opinions, making the content more personal and memorable.

In conclusion, my journey has evolved from reading without taking notes to using advanced tools and techniques to maximize knowledge retention and application. I hope my experiences inspire you to develop your own effective reading habits. Reading is a powerful tool, and with the right methods, it can be even more enriching.

Thank you for reading. If you find my tips helpful, please share them with your friends.