Until last year, I rarely read any books beyond textbooks. I had never been a good reader. Whenever I started reading a book, I would try to recall what I had read in the previous chapters, but I remembered almost nothing. So, I would start over. This cycle continued, and I never managed to finish a single book.
Then, in March of this year, I found myself in a small town called Saint-Valery-sur-Somme in nothern France. I had nothing but a book. I had nothing to do but read. So I did.
With no plans, I worked my way through Brief History of Time in just two days. No re-readings. I didn't expect to remember much, and I did not. Yet slowly, I felt a small "knack" for reading beginning to grow within me.
In the past eight months, I've read nearly ten other books. Surprisingly, just doing this has improved many things. I remember content and ideas much easily now, even books I had read before this journey began.
Before, it was extremely hard to retain anything I read. Now, it just happens naturally. It's almost as if my brain has been rewired. I used to struggle to find an extract in a book, but I now have a soft of "map" of the book that makes it smoother. It feels like I was living in a Plato's Cavo, and I'm now seeing a light I had never noticed before (see, I remember what I read in Sophie's World)
I now realize I was wrong to think I was not a good reader. I simply hadn't practiced reading effectively. I've also come to believe that reading many (not too many) can be more beneficial than focusing on one, specially when the books are loosely related. For me, it was E-Myth Revisited and Lean Startup, two business books. They touch similar concepts, but from different perspectives. Experiencing so many "aha" moments in quick succession made the ideas stick in a way I hadn't imagined.
One year ago, I hated books. Now, I can't imagine life without them. It might not be too far fetched to tell I live for them.
Some notes:
I found this short book, Mindfulness in Reading by Ella Berthoud, in a small shop in London. It gave me some motivation to keep reading. I don’t forget, when I started I did not know a such beautiful thing can happen - so some motivation is good to have.
I wrote short book reviews of Sophie’s World and Brief History of Time. I have also created a /books page to list the books I read.
I wonder, why does reading make you learn faster and enjoy more than other media? Is there an evolutionary reason? Is it about focus?
Some photos of Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, where all of this started:
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