There’s some great conversation happening today in my private Reading Community. We’re talking about how to set up a personal reading strategy and the question was, “Should we stick to specific genres or should we skip around?”
I think it starts with knowing what you want to accomplish. For me, if I’m reading about a core interest like Philosophy, I tend to stick with fewer books and study them well. I like Seneca’s idea in Letters from a Stoic where he said, “Be careful, however, lest this reading of many authors and books of every sort may tend to make you discursive and unsteady. You must linger among a limited number of master-thinkers, and digest their works, if you would derive ideas which shall win firm hold in your mind.”
However, if I’m writing an essay, I want to understand every aspect of an argument. In those instances, I read widely to get all the counter arguments and view points.
It’s really a breadth vs depth question. I’ve realized I can’t read all the books out there. I don’t have the time. So, the concept of building a reading strategy is really smart. What do you all think?
Until tomorrow, read slowly – take notes – apply the ideas.
-Eddy
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