scott stonehouse

There are a lot of books in the world. More than we can read. Not all of them are good. How can we minimize our time reading lousy books and maximize our time reading good books? Here are some ideas.

Tactic #1: Quit Bad Books

Quitting books used to be difficult for me. I had this strange, irrational belief that if I started a book I had an obligation to finish it. Even if it was bad. I don’t know why. Until I heard (likely re-heard) the simple truth that we have limited time to read and, therefore, shouldn’t waste it on terrible books. The lightbulb turned on and I began quitting lousy books. For your own good, flip this switch in your head: It is OK to quit reading books you don’t like.

Tactic #2: Skim Some Books

Another lesson I learned from someone along the way is that not all books deserve the same amount of attention. Some books deserve a deep, careful read, others deserve to be quit, and there is a spectrum of attention in-between. You can skim books. This is especially helpful for non-fiction books. You can skim the table of contents to see if anything strikes you as interesting. Flip through the pages. Check the headings and highlights. Look at things in bold. Then decide how much attention to give the book.

Tactic #3: Get Book Recommendations

You can look-up lists online or ask friends. I have a group chat with a couple of friends who are readers. We share recommendations with each other. There are some authors and podcasters that send out periodic reading lists. Goodreads is loved by many for this reason. How else do you get recommendations?

Tactic #4: Re-Read Good Books

The best way to make sure you read good books is to re-read books you already know are good! You enjoyed them. You learned from them. You can again.

Rarely do we remember everything we read in a good book. Re-reading a good book reminds you of ideas you have forgotten and, in the case of fiction, allows you to return to stories and universes that you love.

I am not suggesting that the majority of your reading be re-reading. Mine isn’t. However, there are books that are important to me for the lessons they taught me or the stories they created. I re-read these regularly. Here are some examples of books I re-read.

NON-FICTION

How to Win Friends and Influence People
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Atomic Habits
Crucial Conversations
The Emotionally Healthy Leader
Made to Stick
Mere Christianity / The Story of Reality

FICTION

The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Harry Potter series
Ender’s Game
Pilgrim’s Progress (in Today’s English)
World War Z

What are some of your favorite books that you re-read?