I just got back from a work trip to Chicago, and now I’m staring down the barrel of a week’s worth of emails, to-do list items, and chaos. I had a small panic attack this morning until I remembered my thinking ritual. It’s a morning routine that keeps me out of anxiety land. If youContinue reading Create a Thinking Routine
Last night, my son lost the ketchup which taught me a valuable lesson in reading. In his mind, we were out of the red stuff. A few days ago, he made hotdogs and used the last of it. By throwing the bottle away, he created a reality in his head that we were all out.Continue reading The Ketchup Bottle Effect: How Our Biases Shape the Way We Read
My morning started off less than stellar. I had to read a 30-page business contract (stressful), redline it for changes (boring), and then send it back to attorneys for an update. My brain is fried and it’s only 9:30 in the morning (shocker). Reading deeply was not in the cards. Normally I would start myContinue reading Do This Before Reading Deeply
I’m headed to Boston next week for a work conference, and while I’m there, I’m going to visit Walden Pond. I’ve been before and will be making a video/podcast about the trip. I also think it would be fun to visit Salem where the witch trials took place since Halloween is around the corner. ButContinue reading The Ugly Truth About Authors
I’m not a virtuoso reader, but I hope to be one day. I was reading Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi this morning, and on page 25, he explains how virtuosos are made. He says: “Like all virtuosi, he must spend many years learning, and he must keep constantly in training. Being a specialist, he cannot affordContinue reading Become a Virtuoso Reader
I was preparing my notes for Plato’s Republic, and I came across this beautiful little gem on p.269 (536e for those using Stephanus numbers): “A free man ought not to learn anything under duress…compulsory learning never sticks in the mind.” Now, we can open up an entire can of worms here, and start talking aboutContinue reading Being Forced to Read Books
If you look at your bookshelf, do you see a wall of forgotten books? These might be books you’ve read and possibly even loved, but now you can’t remember what they were about. While you may be able to tell someone the general idea of a book, you struggle with the thought of teaching aContinue reading A Wall of Forgotten Books
When you read a book, you can approach it passively, letting the words wash over you without leaving a lasting impression. Alternatively, you can engage actively by starting a note-taking system. The distinction between making notes and taking notes isn’t originally mine, but it’s a concept worth exploring. If you’re new to this idea, here’sContinue reading Making Notes vs. Taking Notes
We often approach reading books like we do riding elevators: we step in, see someone else, avoid eye contact, and wait for it to be over. If there’s conversation, it seldom goes beyond a polite, “How are you?” Now, imagine stepping in and having a real conversation. Who is that other person? What makes themContinue reading Stop Reading on Elevators
I have a short but necessary message for readers today: Every book has a speed limit. Some books can be read at 70 MPH while others start to rumble and shake if you go faster than 10 MPH. To read Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics is very different than to read Dennis Lehane’s Mystic River. So, whenContinue reading This Book Has a Speed Limit