Hardly anyone will argue with the assertion that it is books that play a leading role in acquiring knowledge. Reading is the easiest and most accessible way of self-development. Any literature we read adds to our educational baggage. But in order for books to bring intellectual benefits to the maximum, they must be read correctly. After all, the content of even the most exciting and interesting volume is often forgotten after some time. It turns out that it is not enough to just read a book from beginning to end. For new information to be deposited in your head for a long time, it is important to learn to read effectively. There are a number of techniques that can improve the quality of reading and help to increase the educational impact of this process. We will talk about them today.
Make lists.
Making a list of recommended books is a great way to navigate a huge range of books. Try to analyze your own preferences and sketch out a rough list of the material that you would like to master in the near future. This will save you from unnecessary financial and time spending. Give preference to quality literature that really benefits the mind and soul.
Use modern devices.
Many people still cherish and cherish the myth that an e-book can never replace the printed version. However, modern reality proves the opposite: convenient and easy-to-use gadgets are gradually replacing the classic book. However, this does not mean that we are calling for a complete abandonment of the good old print format. You can open your favorite volume at any time and enjoy it, as you enjoy the recordings of jazz musicians with a glass of good wine. But nevertheless, for everyday reading, the e-book option is certainly more convenient and, no less important, more economical, because it allows you to have unlimited access to the entire wealth of world literature. Many books are available in electronic format for free, while others will cost you significantly less than a hefty volume in a bookstore. As they say, the difference is obvious.
Read every day.
leaves a little time for leisure. Therefore, it is very important to learn how to rationally use non-working hours. Analyze how much time and in what period you can devote to reading each day and strictly follow the established routine. Try to spend at least half an hour reading a book every day so that the process is continuous and of high quality.
You can also go the other way, making it a goal to read a certain number of pages each day. This approach motivates well, especially for those people who are accustomed to strictly keeping the promise made to themselves.
Don't forget about alternative formats.
If you don't have enough time to read, you can always turn to an alternative format. Audiobooks are a good way to get acquainted with the best works when it can be difficult to find a window for full reading. The audio format makes it possible to immerse yourself in the world of literature anywhere. For example, you can listen to your favorite books on the way to work.
Mix genres.
Try to read diverse literature. Changing genres allows you to broaden your horizons and prevents reading from becoming a boring routine. People who prefer to read only books of one direction, over time, face oversaturation and cease to perceive the process with their former enthusiasm. Literary cocktail - works much more efficiently, giving an opportunity to gain new knowledge in various fields.
Read with a notepad.
It is very important to take notes and write down key points as you read. This way you can make the process as informative and meaningful as possible. This does not mean that you should completely take notes on what you read. It is about the ability to highlight the most important and useful information and thoughts for oneself. Over time, you can easily return to the contents of the book by simply running your eyes over your notes.
Look for more information.
Reading is a kind of exploration. Acquaintance with a book implies not only reading it directly, but also collecting related information that helps to better understand the material. Any work requires certain knowledge from you, which sometimes needs to be obtained additionally. Therefore, do not be lazy to look for information about the author, the process of creating the book, the historical era that is being described. Fortunately, today it is enough to simply open a search engine on the Internet.
Keep blog entries.
Today, many have a personal blog or have a page on one of the social networks. Share your impressions of the literature you have read with your friends. Small notes provide a platform for exchange of views and constructive dialogues. In addition, such notes will allow you to re-read what you have written at any time in order to recall your initial impressions of the book again.
Everyone knows about the benefits of reading. The more we read, the more we expand our vocabulary, erudition, writing skills and the ability to speak correctly. And there is no limit to perfection. One Habit Per Week provides tips on how to read more effectively.
Set a goal for yourself
Set a goal for yourself to read a certain number of books in a specific period of time. For example, two books a month or twenty-four a year. Whatever your quantified goal is, it must be realistic so you don't lose the joy of reading. You should be willing to read, not fearful of reading. You can create a diary and record in it the reading of each book and the thoughts that come to your mind. Taking notes will give you a sense of completeness from your reading.
Plan your reading time appropriately
Determine for yourself the most suitable part of the day when you can devote at least 20 minutes to reading. The more time you can devote to reading, the better for you. Reading before bed usually relieves the stress of the day and promotes nervous relief.
The path to success: read at least 20 minutes a day
Keep books nearby
To develop a habit of constant reading, you should always keep books near you. Carry them in your bag or briefcase. Keep in the car. If you have 5-10 minutes of free time (at least in the doctor's office), you can devote it to reading. Quite often, in such situations, an e-book or a corresponding application on a smartphone helps out.
Develop your literary tastes
If you read exclusively business literature, then get acquainted with the novelties of the fiction genre. Not only will you become familiar with new ideas, information and literary styles, but you may also find new interests for yourself.
Be open to new literary adventures.
Also study other people. This will give you ideas for more productive reading and will also help you find interesting books.
Join a book club
Why don't you join or create your own? Belonging to a club will allow you to develop intellectually, because at its meetings you will participate in the discussion of interesting and unfamiliar works. This will motivate you to read effectively.
Most people have a strange mixture of greed and apathy about books. We love to buy books, save them, but we don't always read. The voluminous list of unread is demotivating.
Don't buy books for future use. One or two is enough for you. All the rest will wait in the wings on the reading list. And try to buy fewer expensive illustrated editions - this is a good gift, but not to yourself.
2. The 50-page rule
Life is too short to be wasted on uninteresting books.
Try to quickly weed out the boring and useless. To do this, it is enough to read the first 50 pages of the book. If she captivates for 50 pages, then she will not disappoint to the last. If not, ce la vie.
Try not to give bad books a second chance. Every year hundreds, thousands of new and interesting ones are published around you.
3. Who writes and what
Before reading, familiarize yourself with the book: read about the author and the book, study the content. This will set the correct direction for your reading.
Also, before reading, ask yourself: what do you want to know about the book, what problems will it help you solve? This will help you to catch on to topics that are useful to you while reading.
4. Alternative formats
On the books, the world did not converge like a wedge. In the modern world, there are enough formats: articles, audiobooks and podcasts, and longreads, digests and mailings.
If books seem long and boring to you, then they are. Switch to other formats, find yours.
5. Read with a pencil
Never read a book without a pencil. If there is no way to make a note or highlight a quote, then reading is useless.
A book is just a mountain of verbal ore from which you need to extract grains of meaning. If there is no way to separate the rock from the nuggets, then why read?
Feel free to underline, highlight, write your thoughts and ideas in notes. Transform your book into more than a stack of bound paper. After such a meaningful reading, the book becomes truly yours.
6. At least 30 pages per day
All people have their own reading rhythm. "Marathon runners" are read for a month, pinching off a crumb from the edition. Sprinters run through the entire book in a couple of days. However, there is a simple and universal reading formula. It will help you read and read to the end before interest and strength leave you.
7. Mixing genres
Everyone has their favorite genres. However, if you delve too deeply into detective novels or business literature, then there will be oversaturation. Even great books will cease to please.
In this case, it is helpful to change the genre. Stir the books like cocktail ingredients. After non-fiction, read a volume of Russian classics. After that - fiction, and then a book on negotiations.
The ability to alternate literary genres is a great way to stay in good shape and develop your reading horizons.
8. Write about what you read
If you read effectively, you will accumulate quotes, passages and thoughts about what you read. This is valuable information, a real book concentrate. It's a shame to keep this in the chest.
Start your own bookstore. Write reviews on what you read, share quotes. Publish your reading list, scold bad publications, and praise good ones. Even Facebook is fine for this, no special writing skills are required.
This will give you a place to store quotes and passages, and your friends will have a couple of reasons to love you even more.
9. Reread your notes
Get in the habit of rereading your book notes. If you "squeeze" a book into several pages, then half an hour of time will be enough for you to sort through your book stocks.
Knowledge loves repetition. This way, key ideas will always be at hand from their practical application.
10. Read presentation
In order not to forget what you read in the book, tell your friends about it.
Many Smart Reading clients run in-house seminars where employees share book finds and tell stories. Similar workshops can be held among your friends or even family members.
So, if you write a small summari for our advice, you get the following:
- Do not save up books, read them daily for at least 30 pages.
- Judge a book by the first 50 pages.
- Feel free to try different genres and alternative formats.
- Be sure to write out quotes and take notes.
- Share them on the blog and make presentations to colleagues and friends.
Start with the images directly outlined in the text, and then move on to the ideas and meaning they convey - from form to content. Imagine that your brain is a movie camera, capturing everything in the form of visual images. The text of the book becomes, as it were, a script with a description of the scenery, with characters, the deployment of intrigue, a plan of action and a sequential change of scenes.
1. Transform the text into mental images as you read it. More precisely, record in your mind the specific situations, emotions and mood that they evoke in you. These specific images will be living illustrations of the ideas they represent.
2. Pay attention to the sequence of pictures that appear when reading and to their cohesion. Visually reproduce them in your mind in the order in which they appear in the text. Think about the ideas they illustrate.
3. Organize ideas into a coherent structure based on the sequence of images. Each of them carries one or more ideas. To extract the idea embodied in the image, it is enough to formulate it in one phrase (often the main idea is expressed by the title of the passage). Explore the transitions from one idea to another.
4. Comment on the images that appear while reading and the ideas embodied in them. Such images reflect the author's style and personal mentality. Think about how original the author is, formulate your own opinion about the plot of the work and the manner of writing. (This way you "write" the text into the emotional and intellectual memory registers at the same time, which is most effective.)
Effective reading
This is a very simple technique that will help you capture the basic ideas of all kinds of texts, films, plays, etc.For effective reading, try to answer six simple questions: Who does what, when, why, where, and how? This method is used in journalism courses in the United States to make sure that not a single aspect of an event escapes the attention of students. You can use it when taking a comprehensive look at any conversation, radio broadcast, message, or public speaking. This method is ideal for reading newspaper articles.
After reading the text, keep in mind six questions: Who are the protagonists? What exactly is going on? When and where does the action take place? Why and how? Stop and answer these questions from time to time.
Effective reading strategy
During the Second World War, this method was used to rapidly develop learning abilities. Its goal is "to enable people to learn better, faster, and more effectively."The method proved to be so useful that it entered the curricula of many colleges and universities in the United States. It is said to give 80% recall after 8 hours versus the usual 20% on average. This method counteracts forgetting by focusing your attention on what is being studied so that you immediately highlight the main ideas and have structural composition in mind when you revisit the text. It is based on the principles mentioned earlier, but in the course of reading you need to: skim the text, ask the mentioned questions, make notes, retell what you read, re-view the text.
Memorization technology
Choose a text or book that interests you. It is important that your motives for reading are like. as much as possible - for greater concentration of attention. Apply the method as described below.Skim the text to identify its main point.
Ask questions, i.e. reformulate the subheadings by converting them into questions, and then look for answers as you read the text.
Make notes in the text that reveal its structural composition, while trying to find the main ideas that will answer your questions.
Retell these ideas one by one to yourself, stopping at the end of long paragraphs. Take short notes.
Review the text immediately again, focusing again on the main ideas and the order in which they are presented, i.e. on the internal structure of the text. You should have an overall profile that needs to be supplemented with essential details. Take a quick glance at your notes in order to check them in general terms with the text and thereby consolidate its assimilation. Pay attention to what you forgot and what you remember.
Finally (very important!), Add your own comments and criticisms. Did you manage to find the answers to all the questions posed? Make sure you understand the author's point of view. Evaluate the author's position based on his own context, try to see this position in perspective and see how everything agrees with each other. Look for objections, bad data, mistakes, contradictions, prejudices, and gimmicks.
If you wish, given the purpose of your reading, you can simplify the method by omitting the “retelling” step. A quick glance at newspapers, illustrated and scientific and technical journals, reports and books will save you time and effort by focusing on what interests you most. You will realize how important it is to immediately look again at the text you just read: you can reinforce what you have learned only by commenting and discussing it immediately after reading it. To let the ideas settle in your head, take some time for this while the text is still fresh in your memory - then you will learn more. Don't just agree or disagree with the author. Try to express in words why your opinion is that way, and describe exactly what you like and what you don't. In this way, you will develop your critical sense and become a sophisticated reader. If you discuss what you have read with friends, then keep it in the active zone of your memory for a longer time.
Improving reading efficiency
Here are the basic techniques for reading business literature effectively:
1. Plan to introduce at least three of the guidelines in this book into your life.
2. Create to-do lists as you read, instead of notes.
3. When you have read the book, give it away - let someone else be enriched with knowledge, and you will remember the material better if you know that it is not at hand.
And here are some more tips:
Use the index card as a bookmark. Thus, you always have at hand a mini-journal where you can write down theses, conclusions and ideas that have arisen. You can also write them on sticks and hang them in a prominent place.
Set yourself a goal. Think about what exactly you want to get, why you are reading this book.
Start a Reader's Diary. After finishing this or that book, write down a short summary, main quotes, main idea in it. Alternatively, post your findings and short descriptions on a blog or wiki.
Tell us about it. This is the best way to articulate what you have read to yourself. Talk about the book with friends or colleagues on the Internet. By reproducing the content, we are finally aware of it.
Teach it. Nothing helps to thoroughly study a subject like teaching it. You don't have to become a professor to do this - arrange a seminar at work or a lecture in your library.
Structure. This puts thoughts in order. Bring out several concepts and decompose them in the form of sequential theses - this will be well remembered.
Use the Internet. Enter the basic concepts or the title of the book into a search engine - with the development of the Internet, many authors began to post, over time, additions or corrections to the book. Go to the official website of the writer - if you want to start a constructive conversation, are knowledgeable or ask for help, the author will not refuse to communicate with you.
Get distracted. The need to read quickly dictates the acceleration of life itself. Fast reading courses are incredibly popular right now, but they will not explain the main thing to you - in order to understand what you just read about, you need to stop. Even if your reading time is limited, remember to take your mind off each chapter and reflect on what you read for at least five minutes.
Ask questions. Of course, this is bold, but think - is everything that is written in the book true? Try to explore a few more points of view on this issue - then you have a complete picture.
Make a list. All books you come across on the Internet, in the books themselves and in conversations, put on the must-read list. Provided, of course, that you are interested in them. Do not forget about this, otherwise the name will surely fall out of my head later. And it's better to always have it with you - suddenly you stumble upon a new bookstore or a sale.
Change. From time to time, try reading something completely unfamiliar to you. Buy a book by an unknown author or unfamiliar topic - you may be pleasantly surprised later.
