Let’s discuss the difference between shallow reading and deep reading. I picked up these definitions from Cal Newport’s book, Deep Work.
Deep Work: Activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limits. These efforts create new value, improve your skills, and are hard to replicate.
Shallow Work: Noncognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. These efforts tend to not create much new value in the world and are easy to replicate.
I think there’s a place for both shallow and deep reading. The problem, according to little ol’ me, is that if we read at all, it’s always in the pool’s shallow end. We spend our days reading emails and social posts, and if we manage to open a book, it’s usually a genre-focused fictional book. That’s great! All good – but not cognitively demanding.
What if we were to read a challenging book in a state of distraction-free concentration that pushed our cognitive abilities to their limits? Want some examples? Right now, I’m knee-deep in William Shakespeare and a ridiculously beautiful book called A Companion to Phenomenology and Existentialism. Why? Because they’re a blast to try and conquer. And why not?! Set aside some time for Deep Reading and you just might get addicted to it.
Until tomorrow, read slowly – take notes – apply the ideas.
-Eddy
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