My 5 Tips for Reading Books that Matter
Reading books can be an easy task. Pick up a good-looking book cover or nice titles, and you are set. That won’t work — obviously.
Reading books is a valuable habit. You can get all the information you need from books, especially if you select the books that matter. There are thousands of books out there in libraries and bookstores. This article will touch on how to choose the books that matter the most for you.
How to Choose the Right Book?
Choosing the right book is relatively easy these days. Good books are being promoted on social media, news, and other good books. One great resource for getting the right book for you is Goodreads, where you can find almost any book that you are looking for with readers’ reviews and opinions about the book. Goodreads is also known as the social media of readers, so you can assure that people that take the time to signup on the website are real readers.
#1 Start looking for the content that you want to learn about.
Searching for random books won’t work most of the time. You have to have a field in mind, so when you go on Goodreads, you can browse the categories and select the top-rated books and start reading about the readers’ reviews, and so on.
#2 Look for the authors that people are following
Most authors of best-selling books are popular. Authors like Tim Farriss, Robin Sharma, James Clear, Austin Kleon, and others are already top-selling authors in the market. Start by going through their social accounts and see what they are talking about before buying their books. Read the reviews and become familiar with their fans.
#3 Read more than one book on a particular topic
Don’t just read one book about productivity. There are literally hundreds of books about that topic. The best way to digest a subject is to read multiple books about a topic to compare ideas, thoughts, and opinions. Authors can be biased about what they write, and that is normal. So read more than one source to build your own point of view and get the best out of the best. Maybe someday, you write your own version of that topic.
#4 Share what you read on social media
It is a good idea to share what you are reading on social media. I recommend Twitter, as it is a popular place for writers and readers. Share your thoughts in short sentences and tweets. Be concise and try to ask people their opinion. You will be surprised that there are other readers interested in sharing the same as well. Connect with them and share your thoughts.
#5 Don’t be afraid of abandoning a book
It is ok to let go of a book even if you reached more than 50% of reading — I did that with one of my reads. It is normal that you either feel bored or uninterested anymore. Leave the book, and get another one. Don’t waste your time reading something that you don’t resonate with you. Remember that it is not how many books you read per year that matters, but how many good books you read and got the most information out of.
Final thoughts,
Don’t imagine that you will read the best books on a topic. There will always be better books out there. Books are being published every day, so expect that the next New York best-selling books will come out in the next years. One thing to keep in mind is that the most important thing about reading is not the source of the books, or the authors, or even the ratings. The important thing is that you are reading and continuously learning something new every day.
You can read a book, a blog post, a Medium article, or even a Twitter thread. All that matters is that you take notes of what you read and keep asking the questions and finding new ways each day.
Reading a great book per year and applying what you learn in your daily life is 10 times better than reading 50 books without getting one actionable plan or benefit. Reading is not meant to consume time but to enhance one’s life.
Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed it.
If you did, it would be great to share it.
You can reach me at @alounpro on Twitter.
Have a lovely day!
— Ahmad Aloun
