How to Read (a guide)

#organizing #HowTo #reading #books #writing

So my friends are often shocked when I tell them I read somewhere in the realm of 50-100 books a year.

a smattering of a few books I’m currently reading

In this short guide, I will share my method for reading any text, but especially challenging ones: academic or domain-specific books and articles.

I did not learn to do this in college, nor at any other point in my career. It’s a set of practices I’ve figured out through a lot of reading trials and tribulations, a lot of years of feeling frustrated and stupid — years which I hope to save you now:

1. Have a conversation with the book.

Don't assume the author is always right: even if you find their thesis convincing, it doesn't mean all of their arguments are sound. Some conversation starters:

I like to annotate directly in the margins of whatever book I'm reading, either in pencil or using the comment feature of most e-readers.

If something really sparks my inspiration, I'll switch to a note app to expand on my thoughts. It’s fun when I jot down a question in the margins, then turn the page to find the author addressing my curiosity! (Though admittedly sometimes it is a frustrating conversation if I have serious ideological clashes with the writer, and they never address any of my objections XD)

2. Put ideas in conversation with each other.

This is a great way of practicing ambivalent thinking.

Whatever your background, you have expert knowledge in your own lived experience. You can and should use this as a way of exploring what you're reading.

As you read critically, you will gain wider background knowledge, which will unlock further understanding and engagement with what you read in the future.

A few of my (nerdy leftist theory) idea conversation starters might be: What would Hannah Arendt think about this? Is this an example of queer use? Is this author ignoring the entirety of indigenous philosophy? Is there a dialectic somewhere in here?

3. Read multiple books in parallel.

You will naturally find ideas that play with each other even on disparate topics, helping you cultivate a richer background knowledge, in turn allowing you to understand more complex ideas and writing.

I like to read across a broad range of genres. My current pie chart looks like this:

I could write whole essays on why I think each of these are important genres, but ultimately there's a core element of personal taste here. I would humbly suggest experimenting with books outside your usual wheelhouse a couple times a year though.

I also make a strong effort to read diverse authors, namely BIPOC and ABCD (Anyone But Cis Dudes) folks. This isn't to win diversity points or feel good about myself; genuinely the breadth and depth of marginalized knowledge blows my mind on a regular basis. Diverse authors just frequently write more interesting, challenging philosophy and fiction than most of what gets written from a dominant position in society.

4. Consider using an external memory aid.

I use the Anki app (free on desktop and Android, paid on iOS) to create flashcards for information I know I want to remember, like new words or historical facts! The app automates flashcard review based on memory research.

It’s super useful when I learn something new to immediately be able to go

“hm, was the printing press already invented when this movement started?” “wasn’t this during the Civil War?”

I spend ~10 minutes a night “studying.” I recommend making your own cards rather than using pre-built decks (which exist on a variety of topics) largely because it forces you to be intentional about what you want to remember.