How to Read

Intro

Learning how to read is much different in college than it is in elementary and even high school. Especially when you get to grad school, you’re going to have to learn how to really read, and quick. Here I’m collecting tips, and developing a personal framework to improve my reading.

A little about me, I have ADD, and I famously did as little reading as I could get away with in school. We had reading time where we had to sit and read for an hour or so and I frequently put a piece of paper inside of my book, and snuck a crayon into my pocket to draw with. I just find myself getting distracted (or falling asleep) every time I sit down to read. Unfortunately there’s no getting around reading at this point, so now I have to cure my inability to read at lightning pace.

Hopefully my writing is helpful to anyone in the same predicament as me.

Research about Reading

Tips from How to Read a Book in Two Hours or Less:

1. Read book reviews
   1. Specifically reviews from academics. This helps you summarize the book’s argument, understand organization, and give it academic context.
   2. Becoming familiar with the book allows you to absorb it better.
   3. Personally, I like watching videos about books, the only issue here is sometimes I just forget what the book is about. The best way to avoid this is to engage in Learning in Public.
2. Read for argument
   1. Start with the title of the book, back, table of contents, introduction and conclusion.
   2. Reinforces step 1
3. Skip around
   1. Read the most interesting/important chapters, skim the rest.
   2. This can be difficult for stories, but one hack is to read the beginning and end of a chapter, and the first sentence of each paragraph.
4. No more copious notes, instead answer questions.
   1. Helpful list of questions (ChatGPT can probably help with developing a list to use)
      1. What are the author’s main ideas and arguments?
      2. What concepts or theories does the author introduce or utilize?
      3. How is the book structured?
      4. What other major works does the author reference?
      5. What does this book do well?
      6. What critiques do you have?
   2. Quotes and page numbers for important passages, eloquence, or controversy.

The goal: free up more time to read → think about what you have read Keep track of what you read, possibly make a goodreads account, or track it somewhere in your digital garden.

Sink or Skim?: Top Ten Tips for Reading in Grad School

• Read Strategically - “mining the text you are reading for information”
  • dive in, find the information you need, and move on to the next reading
  • Questions to consider as you read strategically:
    • What is the author trying to say?
    • What is motivating the explanation of the topic?
    • What does this research contribute to our body of knowledge or the world?
    • What are the main arguments of the piece?
    • How does this relate to other assigned readings?
• Critical Perspective - helpful for situating what you are reading in a broader context.
  • Question assumptions and values that appear to be implicit in arguments. - instead of taking an argument at face value, examine and challenge them.
  • Questions to consider when reading critically are:
    • Who benefits from particular social structures and who is marginalized?
    • What values underlie the work?
    • What experiences and perspectives do these values privilege?
    • How might focusing on different experiences re-frame the conversation?
  • Read to understand, not memorize. Anything that can be memorized can be looked up immediately at another time.
  • Take breaks, use Pomodoro Method.

Odd, entertaining tips

• Marshall McLuhan has an interesting idea: He only read the right hand page of books, because he thought books were very redundant.
• Google “here in my garage”, you won’t regret it.