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Me (who was supposed to read books now) watching a video on how to read more books instead of reading more books that I was supposed to read.

I love how you mentioned “bad reading advice” and showed a clip from Ali Abdaal. Completely agree by the way.

I'm a 27 year old dude who has never read (just played video games) and what fixed it for me was getting a Kindle. No distractions, no app notifications, just pure book. Because I never read there's lots of words I don't know, but I can hover over them on Kindle and get quick dictionary meanings which has been helping tremendously for me. Reading Bram Stoker's original "Dracula" right now!

Best way to read more books is to delete KZfaq app

My take is that much of the value you get from "reading the book" doesn't actually come from "reading" per se, but rather from the "pausing and thinking" that occurs between those of reading. It's like listening to piano pieces, where you appreciate both the musical notes and the silences in between. You may speed through the music as fast as you wish, but it won't be the same.

I agree, reading book summaries and only sections of a book doesn’t count as reading. There are lots of big KZfaqrs who advocate for only reading parts of a book. Great advice, Jared; thank you.

My Reading Advice: I have ADHD by the way. I read 10 pages a day at minimum. 30 pages at maximum. I read 5 pages in the span of 30 minutes, take a break, whether it be 1 hour or wait till the evening if you like, then come back to your book 📖 and read another 5 pages within a 30 minute timespan. I've been doing this for a couple of months and it's less stressful, unless you procrastinate 🙃 which I do. I don't read multiple books at a time. It will mess me up.

A different perspective but personally, I tried to focus on reading less and being more selective with what I read. I would do these GoodReads challenges where I would try and read 100 books a year, only to look back and realize 90% of those books were a waste of my attention but I chose them because I knew I would get through them. Reading something like Plato/Aristotle/Kant seemed like a bad bet to maximize reading quantity. Once I became more selective, I moved on to advice like reading at least one hour a day. Better to be reading quality than quantity. I still read about 60-70 books last year anyway.

Note-taking is time-consuming, but it helps me retain and think critically about the information I've read. I have been trying to be more concise and succinct with my note-taking though.

I agree with what you are saying. This year I started reading more and my goal is to read 13 books. I have completed 5 already. I have been reading multiple books. None of them are related. It works for me and I am enjoying it which is the point.

I’ve found that breaking up my reading in a day (like 4 different 15-minute sessions) helps me to fit it in when days are chaotic and messy.

I appreciate this advice. It's simple and honest. No cheats. Good advice. Thanks

Jared, I have to thank you. It’s your videos that got me reading again and to also start the habit of journaling. I understand that these are not solely the reasons for the improvement of my mental health, but it’s these habits that have turned me into a far more perceptive and thoughtful person. I regularly have gotten people comment on how much more articulate with my thoughts i am. I’m coming up on my first year of consistent journaling and it’s been so satisfying to see those pages fill. 🙏🙏

Thank you very much for this video. For many years I was under the impression that I had to use speed reading tactics and all that to be a better and a productive reader. However I've been very much suspicious of the speed reading stuff recently since that never made me enjoy reading; worse yet, I couldn't retain much info. After seeing your video on becoming a better reader and reading normally for a few days, I understood the actual fun of reading good books. My reading speed has also increased slightly along with my comprehension. I also highly appreciate the suggestion of reading multiple books at once, since Im someone with slight attention issues, switching between different 2-4 books would help my brain stay fresh. Once again, I thank you for your work. May you and your family be well.

Recently discovered your channel and really enjoy it. Especially the point about building the “muscle” of reading. Was making me think of how overtraining applies as well. I’m getting back into regular reading after a few years of very little reading - after I finished my PhD (reading like 1000 pages a week for years) I just couldn’t get my mind to re-engage in books unless it was for work. I was still learning things in that time in but in different formats. I’ve just started to enjoy it again in the last 6 months or so. As much as I was frustratED, looking back I needed that rest from prolonged over-engagement. Thinking about rebuilding my reading as retraining an atrophied skill is quite helpful!

Great video as always. I’ve found myself developing these same habits on my own after deciding to read more again. Having a lighter book for lunch breaks has been a game changer.

Great Advice. When I first started to challenge myself to read more books I definitely struggled to keep my attention on the book I was reading, I had to start leaving my phone out of reach until I got into the habit of reading. Now I force myself to read at least 1 page a night, even if I don't feel like reading, 1 page is not a daunting task, and it almost always gets me in the mood and I end up reading for the full hour. I think its important to let yourself know that you can quit a book you aren't enjoying as well, I don't count them on my books read lists, but knowing that if I'm not enjoying it I can just quit it does make picking up the book to begin with less daunting.

Great tips. And actually practical ones. Great video!!

Hey Jared! Thank You for the helpful tips and ideas. Have a good day☀️😁

I've been making more of a conscious effort over the last few months to improve my reading habit and one thing was to become aware of the times where I'd reach for my phone or typically opt for some other form of screen time. When it's lights out settling the kids down, I used to scroll through my phone. I now have a small, portable reading light so I can now read in a dark room without disturbing anyone. Most evenings instead of watching a film, I now choose to sit and read (and also draw but that's off topic). Every day at lunch, I now read, when I make a cup of tea, I read a page or two... Finding time is easy when you look for those little pockets throughout your day. I also find pausing notifications and putting on headphones really helps me focus too - Spotify have some great playlists: Ambient Relaxation or Floating Through Space are my go-tos.

Honestly, pretty solid advice! Great video

Definitely reading multiple books at the same time. For a lot of non-fiction books, I like to read a full chapter at a time, because usually a chapter contains a single idea or theme. When I’m on the bus or taking a break in work, I can’t be sure I’ll be able to get a chapter done, so I read a page turner.

this is legitimately the single most helpful video on yt on reading more. We just have to admit that our attention spans are untrained and we have to put in the work to counteract that.

Book clubs can help with accountability and support. Picking a theme or topic area can help refine discussion. There are more benefits than just reading as well.

5:33 I also read 3 books, but I generally keeo it as one physical book, one ebook, and one audiobook since I generally use each in a different context

thank you, this video was very helpful 😊

This is such a good video. I think people (me) typically go into a book after not reading for a while thinking, “I’m gonna read this entire thing and start reading for 2 hours every day.” This is a much more realistic way of doing things. Thank you for this!

Right on, Jared. Reading is a specialized skill and that skill can be developed; so, get reading everyone. 🙂

Great information 👏🏻🧿

Hugely off topic but I love how your glasses fit your face excellently 😊

Thank you man fr.

On that note: Cornwells Warlord Chronicles is so awesome. Finished Excalibur yesterday and … well. Cried alot.

This is good advice! It’s sincere and honest, and reading isn’t about the numbers. Any advice though how to navigate through books that aren’t good, or perhaps not what you thought it was supposed to be (aka disappointment)? Should we just drop the book or finish reading it anyways? Also, watched your vid on losing your job. You make great videos! I’m sure you will blow up this year!

I think a lot really depends what we mean by “book”. A lot of the KZfaq advice out there is for people reading non-fiction self-help or pop science books which are easier to dip in and out of, or that have something useful to say but also contain a lot of waffle. That’s quite different to reading novels and philosophical works that are densely written and where every word counts, which require even more concentration and focus (and why I subscribe to both your channel and Ali Abdaal’s 😁). Thank you for the great tips as always

This is a lot of good advice in such a short video. I also have several books on the go at one time. One trick there is I keep it to only one fiction book (story), and any other can be technical, historical, philosophy sort of non-fiction. You did give it a mention, but I think it's important to emphasize that having a comfortable chair or place to read is going to make a big difference.

I think I need to try this thing of having many options to read at once. The last years of school forced me to hurry in the library, so usually picked an uninteresting book to simply write a summary that was a little longer than an usual summary with almost never a chance of pointing out things that made me think or stuff I liked/disliked about them. My class was basically reading for the sake of saying we read without it being a lie. We didn't read for enjoyment and not even for learning from analyzing. The maximum of analysis we did was "write a part of the book that shows traits of romantic literature/write about the psychological traits of the character". We could at least get a question like "what questions does the book Frankenstein raises on the ethical of manipulation of life?" My teacher complained if a student said something bad about a book even if the student's critic fits the questions raised by a later literary movements we studied. Reading was neither fun or something I learned from and I simply lost the love for books. I'm trying to recover it.

Fantastic tips.

Thank you! I needed this! It is great to see someone actually giving feasible advice.

the Pomodoro technique is great for reading

"You might not think you have an hour to read but since your watching a video on You Tube I think you probably do" Such a solid burn and actually very motivating for me :)

Hello! I love your videos so much. I was wondering on something. I just began reading philosophy with Nicomachean Ethics and I am hooked! I am just wondering if you have any recommendation of philosophy books on Ethics and morality?

I like to read along with an audiobook. I have ADHD and I read slow and often get distracted. However by accident discovered that if am reading a book and I follow along with the audiobook it keeps me engaged and reading at a good pace so I am able to finish quicker than if I was just reading on my own.

Thank you for focusing on reading well rather than speed reading and book summaries. We’ve gotten ourselves into an efficiency culture and it’s made reading less fulfilling. Well done, Jared.

Hey Jared, great video as always! Could you make a video elaborating on the very last point "takes notes sparingly"? This is something I think about a lot. I take extensive notes on philosophy at least and some type of notes on a lot of what I read. After I finish the book I consolidate and type them onto Obsidian. I'm undoubtedly got a lot of value out of this - it increases my retention at the time, helps me have new ideas and connect to other texts, and gives me something to come back to. However, as you mentioned, this takes a lot of time and effort and sometimes it can feel like too much work or too tedious. I'm trying to balance some note taking because I know how good it is with also trying to make it more parsimonious so I don't get bogged down in it. Could you talk about what books you would take notes on more extensively, and sort of "bare minimum" value type notes? Thanks.

Thanks!

One thing I’ve found very helpful which might be a bit strange is that I listen to the audiobook of what I’m reading while I’m reading it. I put the audiobook on at X2 and follow along with the physical book. Just so I don’t buy the book twice I usually just find the audiobook on KZfaq (the audio quality isn’t that important since it’s only support really). I find this makes it easier for me to read for some reason and I get through things easier, quicker and with less strain. Does anyone else do this?

Hello Jared. Nice tips. What do you think about audio books?

I'd love to hear your reaction to the book "How to talk about books you haven't read" by Pierre Bayard, specifically with respect to ideas presented in this video. Generally I have always been a stringent completionist with books, but Bayard presents a strong epistemological case for skimming being okay because our differences as humans cause us to effectively read a different book even when its the same title. He even makes an argument that skimming books allows one to get a better look at the shape of the literary lanscape. I have found that with very concrete nonfiction (like much of what Ali Abdaal reads), skimming strategically in the latter portions of the book (at which point you've already grasped the main point(s)) feels pretty alright. For the vast majority of what you recommend, though, completionism makes a lot more sense. In any case, Jared, I have immensely enjoyed your book recommendations and they have produced something of a reading renaissance for me. In the last months I have thoroughly enjoyed these recs from you: Mortimer Adler, Matthew Crawford, Wendell Berry.

thanks bro

Personally, to me regular meditation practice has helped enormously with concentration, which helped me read and understand books better.

I reverted to Catholicism not long ago. And now I'm obsessed with books about Catholicism and philosophy. I guess that is the point of reading books. Read what you are passionate about.

the best video I have found on this topic thank you

6:55 When I get the felling to stop reading, I just read more. That's how I finished Animal Farm, AFTER 1 YEAR OF PROCRASTINATION. Now, I’m reading Arsène Lupin Maurice Leblanc. Recommend

Moby Dick was assigned in four different courses for my undergrad....I read it three of those four times. But, after multiple reads, I really enjoy it. It subtly crept into the candy category. It became more engaging and I realized that it's a very funny book throughout much of it. I've read it two more times since undergrad. It's a good'un.

I admire your intelligence. Thanks for the advices

1:53 You could share your plan with CB2 they’ll create a design of your liking for free (we did 3 rooms with them for free). They share with you the 3D representation of your actual room.

What would have been lowkey meta is if your ad was for blinkist... I think Ray Bradbury would have something to say about that... Feel like that is a growing trend in the Booktube space.

i have a rather specific video request; what is your setup for reading AT NIGHT specifically? i have a hard time reading at night because i don't have an appropriate setup. thanks for the great videos always xx

I'm a PhD student in history whose 2024 will be entirely devoted to reading around 200 books for the comprehensive exam. I am simultaneously excited and a bit scared of this experience. Thank you for the video, that was really helpful!

Speed-reading advice has always annoyed me. Very glad to hear you say that its necessary to spend more time reading if you want to read more.

This was god advice as usual 🤝

The last tip is liberating. I thought It is weird to read multiple books at a same time.

How do you context switch when reading multiple books? I usually find that very difficult.

I agree, if you want to really absorb a book, don't speed read. I have speed read books before, only to find I needed to go back and properly read them because I didn't really absorb what was being read.

I've just started my reading routine, I'm trying to be a good reader

I can tell by the experience of an ADD person that speed-reading is the way to go: I cannot concentrate on anything longer than a second before my attention turns to somewhere else. My head is a storm. I loved reading as a child but it became more and more difficult to me during the years since I was 15 years old. I read a page in an hour and remembered nothing. Soon I just browsed non-fiction and stopped reading fiction altogether. This destroyed my joy of reading and learning for over a decade and damaged my university studies, and it deepened my depression. Then I learnt how to speed-read. It was a way to force me to stay in the text and read mindfully. It helped me to acquire the substance beyond the Wall of Text. I began to comprehend, remember, learn, and get immersed more. I began to speed-read in 2019, and I have since read probably more than ever before that, and that is what I do most of my time. I wish I had learnt it sooner. I am quite confident that I recall the stuff that I read a year ago better than someone who reads 'normally'. I hate it when people misrepresent speed-reading as mindless skimming. It is insulting to us who have concentration difficulties.

Loved the subtle Ali Abdaal slander lol

Don't believe some content creators (not Jared but others) who claim to read 500 books a year. I choose 2 books per month and read 10 pages in the morning of one and 10 pages of the other in the evening. This allows me to read (at minimum) 2, 300-page books per month, 24 in a year, 125 in 5 years. In some months I can read 3 or 4, but overall this is a realistic goal that works well for busy people who want to read.

@_jared could you post the link to your video on taking notes? I did not see it in the list of links...? Thanks for this!

Can I ask. How do YOU read? Like just with your eyes? Do you use a finger or pen to guide your eyes along or any methods like that? (Kind of a speed reading technique but depends on your use).

As an avid reader, you are absolutely right! Reading summeries miss the whole planet of taking your own perspective on a book. Great content! Thank you

Glad that you have pointed out two bad but frequently given advice on reading books: reading parts of a book or book summaries. That never has helped me understand any topic in depth. And, I don't see the value in speedreading. If reading 2 or 3 times faster is a tradeoff for understanding the material properly, of what use is that technique?

Hey, what's the book that keeps showing in the top left corner of the screen? The one on the cover of the video

@mikesbookbarn brought me here. Happy Reading! 😎📚👍

I had to stop speedreading because I was cheating. I still read quickly at times, but it's nothing like my old habits. And it took a good philosophy book that I cared about, Emil Cioran's Trouble with Being Born, to stop and actually treat a book like a fine meal. To digest a book, especially someone who cares so much about each word like Cioran, you cannot cheat or go fast. And so many philosophy books from existentialism/pessimism are not kind to speedreaders by the way: Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Camus and Peter Wessel Zeppfe will make zero sense (or worse, you'll misunderstand!) if you skip or quickly go through anything they wrote. Thank you Jared!

i read for my commute. and in airports. i find it hard to find the time to read otherwise. i feel restless when i can do anything i want... so i end up doing nothing. my commute is captive time.. so reading is just about the only thing i can do there.

You have to read more than one book at a time. This is counter-intuitive to most people so they don't give it a try. My sweet spot is 4-6 books. I usually designate one for work, one for the weekends, one non-fiction, one nighttime, etc. I've increased my average of just around 20/year to 40-60/year using this method.

Pro tips before sleep is best time to read or early morning. This two time are most important in human life so avoid any tech device and be more classical

What makes books necessarily better for learning than other forms of media?

Can you activate the Arabic translation feature?

I was going to say "when do I do it", them I realized I was watching KZfaq lol. Then you said the same. Yeah, I have the time, I'm just finding excuses like people who don't want to do work out

What were the other books featured in this video off to the sides? @5:40 for example…

Putting in that Discord Notif sound at 3:54 is just cruel 😩... yes I checked my Discord.

What about listening to audiobooks?

very fast but clear english from japan

My sister would skim books and then say she read them. She "read" Ulysses by James Joyce this way just to give an example.

get a kinlde and read before bed. helped me a ton.

what about audiobook?

❤❤❤

Does anyone else just watch a bunch of videos about reading books instead of actually reading books....

Yes , for me who not like reading book, this is so accurate lmaoo

So many people treat reading books like the goal is to have a trophy case at the end of the year. "I read 185 books this year!" The goal is READ books, not FINISH A LOT of books. Read them, absorb them, enjoy them, glean from them. You can read 55 books in a year, but it doesn't mean anything if you don't actually retain anything from them or even remember what 90% of them were about.

Kindle or physical?

I've managed to get back in the habit of reading, but now my thesis is getting in the way of this habit. I read so much scientific literature, that my brain just kind of burns out, and I can't bring myself to read more, even if it's for fun.

Sinopse if you don't want to waste time watching the all video and avoid ads: 1. Take time to read, 2. Read during more time, 3. Avoid distractions. Final note: don't take notes unless you really need to.

The problem I have is I start to read a 600 page book, and 10% of the way I go "I could read 3 200 page books in the time span it gets me to read this", so I'm constantly jumping through different books and only finishing a few of them

Yes but does this only apply to fiction? Reading non fiction requires purposely including breaks to digest the info deeper than reading a story

Step One: Read more books. You can do whatever you put your mind to, watching KZfaq videos about how to do something isn't the same as just doing the thing. We're talking about literally just reading, not building an investment portfolio.

You're a certainty, Jared! I was worried this was a video about fast reading or things like that, but this video is about simple quality time advice. Quality over quantity is always the best way to live and enjoy things!