These 38 Reading Rules Changed My Life

It’s a weird thing to say, but I guess I’m a professional reader. That’s really what authors are. A book is made of books. “The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading; a man will turn over half a library to make one book,” Samuel Johnson said. I’ve <a href="https://click.convertkit-mail4.com/r8unp6lemgsoh2x7r0va2hxkp3n66/dpheh0h0mwo0dksm/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudGhlcGFpbnRlZHBvcmNoLmNvbS9jb2xsZWN0aW9ucy9yeWFuLWhvbGlkYXk=" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">written 15 books now</a>, which has meant reading many thousands of books in the process. Once a month for the last 15 years, I’ve recommended many of those books in the Reading List Email (<a href="https://click.convertkit-mail4.com/r8unp6lemgsoh2x7r0va2hxkp3n66/l2hehmh3zvn3q0a6/aHR0cHM6Ly9yeWFuaG9saWRheS5uZXQvcmVhZGluZy1saXN0Lw==" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">which you can sign up for here</a>!). And in 2021, <a href="https://click.convertkit-mail4.com/r8unp6lemgsoh2x7r0va2hxkp3n66/7qh7h8homp6odmcz/aHR0cHM6Ly9yeWFuaG9saWRheS5uZXQvMi15ZWFycy1vZi1sZXNzb25zLWZyb20tcnVubmluZy1teS1vd24tYm9va3N0b3JlLw==" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">I opened my own bookstore</a> filled with my all-time favorites. So the question I am asked most often is: How do you read so much? What’s the secret? The answer is not “I’m a speedreader.” As I’ve written before, <a href="https://click.convertkit-mail4.com/r8unp6lemgsoh2x7r0va2hxkp3n66/owhkhqhr7l6rx8fv/aHR0cHM6Ly9yeWFuaG9saWRheS5uZXQvcmVhZGluZy1pc250LWEtcmFjZS1ob3ctc3BlZWQtcmVhZGluZy1hbmQtc3ByaXR6LWNvbXBsZXRseS1taXNzLXRoZS1wb2ludC8=" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">speed reading is a scam</a>. The answer is that I have a system, a process that helps me be a productive reader. It’s not my system exactly, as I’ve taken many strategies from history’s greatest readers. Nor is this a system designed around speed or quantity. Reading is wonderful in and of itself, why would I try to rush through it? No, I try to do it well. I try to enjoy it. In this email, I thought I would detail some of the rules I’ve come to follow over the years. They don’t all make me faster, but they do make me better. <ol> <li>Do it all the time. Bring a book with you everywhere. I’ve read at the Grammy’s and in the moments before going under for a surgery. I’ve read on planes and beaches, in cars and in cars while I waited for a tow truck. You take the pockets of time you can get.</li> <li>Physical books only.</li> <li>It’s not that I have a problem with audiobooks–if it gets you reading, I’m all for it. I just think there’s something very special about the physical form. I just read a great book about this actually called Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf.</li> </ol> <a href="https://ryanholiday.medium.com/these-38-reading-rules-changed-my-life-cddd493a0e62">Visit Now</a>