Reading isn’t a competition.It’s not a work project or a side hustle.It’s not a race to hit 100 pages a day or 200 books a year.It’s not a bragging right.It’s not something you do for your boss.It’s not a way to look smarter or impress your friends.It’s not a measure of your worth. Reading isContinue reading Dear Reader, Slow Down
Let’s tackle a fun question: How do I read philosophy without going insane? Let’s be honest—philosophy is tough. It’s not structured like a non-fiction book with a clear outline, and it’s not like fiction, which gives you a narrative to follow. Instead, a philosophy book is more like a conversation with someone explaining vague and amorphousContinue reading How to Read Philosophy (Without Going Insane)
Flow is a fancy way of saying Optimal Experience. You know what it feels like because you’ve been in flow many times. It’s when you’re unstoppable, everything works, and your focus and skill are laser tight. Let’s talk about how to get into reading flow, or how to have an optimal reading experience. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of FLOWContinue reading How to Get Into Reading Flow
When you look at your home library, do you see books that you’ve read, loved, and COMPLETELY forgotten? I’m talking about the life-changing books that filled you with ideas and are now collecting dust on your shelf. What happened? When I forget books, it’s because I stayed at level 1 of reading comprehension – aContinue reading Do You Forget Books? Try This When You Read.
You really are what you read. Let’s explore… If you only read poetry, you’ll probably dabble in poetic verse yourself. You may walk a little slower, smell the flowers, and write about them before you go to bed tonight. If you only read cookbooks, you’ll spend most of your time in the kitchen throwing doughContinue reading You Are What You Read
There’s never enough time to read. That’s the point. Reading is an activity of expansion. It adds to your life and makes it better, rather than something that must be done to avoid pain. It falls in the category of “should” tasks. I should go to the gym. I should call my mother. I shouldContinue reading Do You Need More Time to Read?
I’m reading about the philosopher Simone du Beauvoir who struggled at the beginning of her career to get her thoughts in order. “One day, somewhere around the time of the 1948 Berlin trip, Beauvoir was sitting with pen in hand, staring at a sheet of paper. Alberto Giacometti said to her, ‘How wild you look!’Continue reading Not Sure What to Read? Try a Steamy Romance.
I got my first film camera in 1998 for $400. It was chunky, gray, and too heavy in my hands. I bought a roll of Kodak film, asked the store owner to load it into the back panel, and then rolled the dial forward to the first frame. “You have 24 frames,” the clerk said.Continue reading Read Like a Film Photographer
I like reading in 30-minute increments for several reasons. First, I get sore if I sit too long holding a book. Getting up and stretching after a 30-minute session makes it possible to keep reading. Otherwise, I end up thinking more about the pain in my neck than the story in my hands. Second, I’mContinue reading The World Can Change in 30 Minutes
Robert Greene, author of Mastery and other psychologically juicy books, shares a powerful tip for achieving a higher level of skill in any field — and it’s connected to how you read. Before I share his secret, let’s figure out WHAT you should master in your life. In the first section of his book, Greene suggests thatContinue reading The Art of Mastery (For Book Lovers)