Wanna Read More Books? parts 31-33

Ryan Holiday, the author of 15 books, including The Obstacle Is the Way, Ego Is the Enemy, The Daily Stoic, Conspiracy and Stillness is the Key, calls himself a professional reader.” That’s really what authors are. A book is made of books.” Some reading rules he has followed over the years:

31) ”Don’t be satisfied just getting the ‘gist’ of things,” is what Marcus Aurelius learned from his philosophy teacher Rusticus. One of the reasons I try to spoil the plot, make my way through the intro and the preface, read reviews and articles about the books I’m reading, watch videos about them, and read other books on the topic is because I want to really understand what I’m dealing with. If I don’t, if I only want a surface take, why read a book at all?

32) When intelligent people read, they ask themselves a simple question: What do I plan to do with this information?

33) My favorite line from Harry Truman is, “not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” When we read, we aren’t learning to impress people, to win some game of mental gymnastics. It’s to get better, to find things you can use in your real life. If you’re looking to expand what you do with the books you’re reading, I highly recommend our Read to Lead course. It’s been taken by over 10,000 people, and is our most popular for a reason.