How to Stop Buying Books and Start Reading Them
5 Easy tips on effective buying and reading so you don’t get overloaded.
Books! I just love books!
Actually, I do. I really love books.
For years, when someone said, “Stever, there’s this great book you have to read!” I dropped everything, ran to the bookstore, and bought it. On my way home, I’d pass a stranger, who would see me with my new book. They’d say, “If you like that book, you’ll love this other book.” I’d turn around, run back to the store, and buy the other book, too. On my way home, if the stranger looked ready to recommend a third book, I’d look them straight in the eye and say, “Could you spare some change? I just spent my last dime on a book.” They’d back off.
Once home, my two new acquisitions would go lovingly at the end of my backlog, a backlog that would be empty sometime in the mid-22nd century if I kept on adding to it at my current pace. And by the way, my sincere intention was to read these books, to learn and use the knowledge. It wasn’t just about being able to say “My book backlog is bigger than yours!” (Though that does feel nice.)
So I found better ways to deal with books. Come join me in my quest to read with these 5 Quick and Dirty tips!
Tip #1: Create a “Books To Read” List
When someone suggests a book to you, don’t run right out and buy it. And don’t go straight to your favorite online book-seller either. Instead, create a “Books to Read” list and add their recommendation to the list. This introduces a little delay in the process. You may also want to note who gave you the recommendation. That way, you can punish them later if they have bad taste.
When you want to buy a new book, scan your “Books to Read” list. You’ll find that once the heat of the moment has passed, you can be more thoughtful about what you want to read. You will also see the recommendations side-by-side with the other books you’re thinking of reading. While it seemed like a great idea when you wrote it down, The 20th Century’s Favorite Lolly-Pop Flavors suddenly seems much less urgent when you consider it next to Get-it-Done Guy’s 9 Steps to Work Less and Do More. (Subtle, right?)
Tip #2: Only Buy Books You’ll Read in the Next Week
Since you’re accumulating books into your list, you don’t need to buy the actual book until you’re ready to read it. This is where I fall off the wagon; sometimes I buy books just to make sure it will be there when I’m ready…and I end up with 20 books on my shelf waiting to be read. Do as I say, not as I do! If you won’t read a book in the next 7 days, don’t buy it, yet. Now that we’ve invented cars and can drive quickly to bookstores, you can wait until you’re almost done with your current book before starting the next one.
Tip #3: Read One Book at a Time
This one’s hard, I know. It’s tempting to buy every book that sounds interesting and start reading them – all at once. But then you risk not finishing, and missing the special offer on page 297. If only you read that far, you could have won your very own pony! A live one, this time. But you’ll never get to page 297 if you stop reading at page 53 because you got distracted by another book.
Read one book. When you’re done, read another. You can modify this a bit by having two books going at once, as long as they’re different styles, so you can switch off when you’re in different moods. The two styles that work best for me are pure escapist fiction (Harry Potter, yay!) and deep, substantive non-fiction (A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking). When I’m in the mood for wizards who can change the universe by waving a wand, I read Rowling. When I’m in the mood for scientists who understand the universe by waving an eraser, I read Hawking.
Tip #4: Take Notes With Your Smartphone
In each book, use a piece of paper folded in half as a bookmark. As you read, jot down important ideas and thoughts on the piece of paper. The mere act of jotting will help you remember and understand the material better.
Once I’ve finished a book, I’ll often type my idea paper into the memo pad on my computer and synchronize it with my iPod Touch or my Blackberry. Then when someone at a cocktail party says something that reminds me of the book, I can look it up, review the content, and then impress everyone around with my unbelievable brilliance and awesomely geeky habit of typing in book summaries.
I use a Mac program called Notational Velocity to type my notes. It synchronizes to the web and to my iPod Touch using the website SimpleNoteApp.com.
Tip #5: Keep a “Books I’ve Read” List
Now that you’re reading books, finishing them, and summarizing them, start keeping a list of books you’ve read. Since you’ll be reading 10-15 books a day (naturally), you may actually forget what you’ve read. So when your Aunt Sadie proclaims, “You simply must buy Miss Conduct’s latest book, Mind Over Manners!” You check your “Books I’ve Read” list. “Why, Aunt Sadie,” you’ll proclaim, “I’ve already read that one!” You quickly call up your book notes on your smart phone, and bond with your Aunt over the proper fork to use for the duck pate.
So in short: Keep a “Books to Read” list. Don’t buy physical books until you’re ready to read them. Summarize and take notes on the page you use for bookmarks. Type the notes into your smartphone when you’re done. Finally, keep a “Books I’ve Read” list, so when you’re learning, you’re actually retaining something new.
This is Stever Robbins. I’m an executive advisor who helps entrepreneurs find strategic opportunities to help them grow. If you want to know more, visit SteverRobbins.
Work Less, Do More, and have a Great Life!
RESOURCES
https://www.simplenoteapp.com – SimpleNote, the web-based notes app that syncs to everything
notational net – Notational Velocity, the Mac program for rapid note-taking
https://SteverRobbins.com/r/book-briefhistory – A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
https://SteverRobbins.com/r/book-harrypotter – Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
https://SteverRobbins.com/r/book-mindmanners – Mind Over Manners by Miss Conduct
Man Reading image courtesy of Shutterstock
About the Author
Stever Robbins was the host of the podcast Get-it-Done Guy from 2007 to 2019. He is a graduate of W. Edward Deming’s Total Quality Management training program and a Certified Master Trainer Elite of NLP. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BS in Computer Sciences from MIT.
