How to Read

Practical approaches to reading efficiently at volume — for research, for retention, for lasting value.

Two short guides (saved by Maggie Appleton): Paul Edwards’ “How to Read a Book” and Chris Kelty’s “How to read a (good) book in one hour.” Both apply to non-fiction for research, and the recommendation notes they work best when paired with an Anti-Library. Source: Two Short, Supremely Useful Pieces… (tweet).

Robert Cottrell’s method (from The Man Who Reads 1,000 Articles a Day): process ~1,000 articles daily with a headline-first filter. He trusts headlines as “loyal allies of the writer, paid to express what’s best in the piece” — a weak headline strongly signals there’s not much inside. If the headline passes, an article must start well: “if a piece does not start well then the chances are vanishingly small that it’s going to improve.” He reads to the end only if hooked at the first paragraph. What he hunts for: pieces that share really interesting ideas, deploy strong arguments, and have particularly fine writing. Source: The Man Who Reads 1,000 Articles a Day.

Where this appears

• Two Short, Supremely Useful Pieces… (tweet)
• The Man Who Reads 1,000 Articles a Day