A problem I used to have after reading books, especially useful non-fiction, was that I’d pretty much forget all of the information soon after finishing it. That is, until I devised (drumroll) the best way to read a book.
1. Dog ear particularly insightful, useful, or beautiful (fiction) passages by bringing the line of the dog ear right to the first sentence you want to mark, like this:
or
2. Finish the book, marking passages all along.
3. Go to your folder, journal, notepad, or wherever you want to keep these passages saved. I have a “Book Notes” folder in Evernote, which is one of the best, most useful pieces of software in existence.
4. Go through the finished book and transcribe each of the marked passages in your “Book Notes” folder/journal/notepad.
This is what my book notes for The War of Art look like:
That’s it. It’s simple, doesn’t take much time, isn’t too distracting while you’re actually reading the book, and now you have a little mini resource you can consult quickly any time you want. By going back to your book notes, you refresh the entire book’s information in your mind and you’ll absorb and recall the information much better, you get more bang for your buck when you purchase books, and you will be a smarter, more knowledgeable person.
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4 responses to “The Best Way to Read a Book”
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[…] Edit: I just found a website that has the entire book published online. You can read it here, although I still recommend you purchase your own physical copy here in order to read it in the best possible way to read a book. […]
[…] reading it last week and just today finished transcribing the passages I doggy eared while using the best way to read a book. It took me several hours to take notes, which are mostly verbatim transcriptions of what I found […]
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