How To Finish Long Books Quickly - A Tip For Reading More

Summary

In this episode of 'Free Dairy Free Reading Advice,' the host introduces a reading hack to tackle dense literature. The technique involves using an audiobook at 1.5x speed to read along with the text, highlighting key concepts without dwelling, and reviewing highlights later for a deeper understanding. This method caters to auditory learners and aims to increase focus and efficiency in reading complex works like Martin Heidegger's 'Being and Time.' The host also emphasizes the importance of exploring personal learning styles and adapting reading strategies accordingly.

Takeaways

• 📚 The video discusses a reading hack for tackling long and complex books, particularly in the field of philosophy and literature.
• 🎧 The first step of the reading hack is to listen to an audiobook at 1.5 speed while reading along with the text to improve focus and comprehension.
• 🔖 It's suggested to highlight important concepts while reading but not to dwell on them too long, as it can disrupt the flow of understanding the bigger picture.
• 🚫 The speaker emphasizes not to get stuck on individual words or sentences, as it can lead to a lack of understanding of the overall chapter structure.
• 🔁 The importance of reviewing highlights and generating summary notes after reading is highlighted to reinforce learning and understanding.
• 👂 The speaker identifies as an auditory learner, suggesting that learning styles can vary and one should find the method that works best for them.
• 🧠 Listening to an audiobook at a faster speed is recommended to keep the brain engaged and prevent it from wandering in the age of information overload.
• ⏱️ Using the audiobook hack can significantly reduce the time spent reading while increasing the depth of understanding due to the concentrated effort.
• 📝 The script mentions that this technique can help in getting through dense material like Martin Heidegger's 'Being and Time' with greater efficiency.
• 🤔 The video encourages viewers to explore different learning techniques and share their experiences in the comments section.
• 🌐 The video is sponsored by Squarespace, which is promoted as a powerful platform for building blogs, websites, and generating revenue through content creation.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video script?

The main topic of the video script is a reading hack for getting through long and complicated books, specifically focusing on the use of audiobooks at a faster speed to enhance comprehension and efficiency.

What is the first step of the reading hack suggested in the script?

The first step of the reading hack is to put on an audiobook at 1.5 speed and read along with the text of the book while the audio is playing.

Why is it recommended to start with an audiobook recording at the beginning of the reading session?

Starting with an audiobook recording helps to synchronize the reading progress with the listening progress and makes it easier to track where you are in the book.

What should you do when you encounter an important concept while reading along with the audiobook?

When encountering an important concept, you should highlight it but not dwell on it for too long, continuing to listen and read.

Why is it advised to stop the recording after reading a certain amount?

Stopping the recording after reading a certain amount helps to keep track of your reading progress and allows you to know exactly where you started and ended.

What is the purpose of reviewing your highlights after reading through a certain amount of text?

Reviewing your highlights helps to consolidate your understanding and allows you to analyze and summarize the content more effectively.

Why does the script suggest using an audiobook at 1.5 speed instead of a slower speed?

Using an audiobook at 1.5 speed helps to maintain focus and concentration, preventing the mind from drifting off and ensuring that the learning process is active rather than passive.

What is the justification for not dwelling on highlights while reading with an audiobook?

Not dwelling on highlights allows you to get a general understanding of the chapter's structure and content first, making it easier to analyze the details later during a separate review session.

How does the script relate the use of audiobooks to being an auditory learner?

The script suggests that the speaker is predominantly an auditory learner, and using audiobooks helps them learn better by listening, which is a key insight for the effectiveness of the reading hack.

What is the final step mentioned in the script for enhancing reading efficiency?

The final step is to review the highlights and generate summary notes and analyses in your own time, after the initial reading with the audiobook.

What is the role of Squarespace in the video script?

Squarespace is the sponsor of the video, and the script includes a promotion for their platform, which allows users to build websites and blogs.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Overcoming the Challenge of Reading Complex Books

The speaker introduces a reading hack to tackle the challenge of reading dense and lengthy books, often referred to as 'door stoppers.' The hack involves using an audiobook at 1.5 speed to read along with the physical book, placing brackets to mark the start and end of reading sessions, and highlighting important concepts without dwelling on them. The speaker emphasizes the importance of syncing reading and listening progress and promises to justify these instructions in the video's second part. The approach aims to summon the courage to engage with complex literature and improve reading efficiency.

05:02

🎧 The Benefits of Audiobooks for Auditory Learners

The speaker shares personal insights on the effectiveness of audiobooks, particularly for auditory learners. They explain that listening to an audiobook at 1.5 speed while reading helps maintain focus in a world full of distractions. The fast pace prevents the mind from wandering and encourages active engagement with the material. The speaker argues that this method is more efficient than passive listening during mundane tasks, as it promotes deep work and concentration. They also address potential objections to this technique, suggesting that it may not suit everyone but encourages viewers to explore their learning preferences.

10:03

🚀 Maximizing Reading Efficiency with Audiobooks

The final paragraph discusses the justification for not dwelling on highlights while reading with an audiobook. The speaker suggests that getting a general understanding of a chapter's structure is more effective than focusing on minute details initially. They liken the audiobook to a guide that helps readers move past the intricacies and grasp the bigger picture first. The recommendation is to review highlights and generate summary notes later, allowing for a deeper analytical reading in a separate session. The speaker concludes by highlighting the efficiency of this technique, which has significantly reduced their daily reading time while maintaining a high level of comprehension.

Keywords

💡Door stoppers

The term 'door stoppers' refers to books that are so large and heavy they could literally be used to stop a door from closing. In the context of the video, it symbolizes dense, complex, and lengthy books that are often daunting to read. The script mentions this to emphasize the challenge of reading such books and the need for strategies to tackle them.

💡Auditory learner

An 'auditory learner' is someone who absorbs information more effectively by hearing it, as opposed to reading or seeing it. The script introduces this concept when discussing the benefits of using audiobooks, suggesting that the speaker is predominantly an auditory learner and that this learning style has improved their comprehension of complex texts.

💡Being and Time

'Being and Time' is a philosophical work by Martin Heidegger, which is mentioned in the script as an example of a complex and foundational text in the field of phenomenology. The video uses this book to illustrate the kind of challenging material that the reading hack is intended to help with.

💡Highlighting

In the context of the script, 'highlighting' refers to the act of marking important points or concepts in a text while reading. It is presented as a part of the reading hack, where the speaker advises not to dwell on highlights but to review them later for better understanding and retention.

💡1.5 speed

The term '1.5 speed' is used to describe the playback rate of the audiobook that the speaker recommends for their reading hack. It suggests listening to the audiobook at a faster pace than normal to maintain focus and engagement while reading, which is a key part of the strategy for tackling complex texts.

💡Reading hack

A 'reading hack' in the script refers to a specific strategy or technique designed to make reading complex books more manageable and efficient. The video outlines a particular method involving audiobooks and highlighting to improve the reading experience.

💡Phenomenology

Phenomenology is a philosophical movement that investigates the structures of consciousness from the first-person point of view. The script mentions phenomenology in the context of understanding 'Being and Time' and the importance of engaging with foundational texts in the field.

💡Concentration

In the script, 'concentration' refers to the focused mental effort required to understand and process complex information. The reading hack is designed to enhance concentration by combining audio and visual input, which is crucial for comprehending dense texts.

💡Deep work

'Deep work' is a concept that refers to focused, cognitively demanding activities performed in a distraction-free environment. The script suggests that by using the reading hack, one can achieve a state of deep work, leading to more efficient learning and understanding.

💡Squarespace

Squarespace is mentioned in the script as the sponsor of the video. It is an online platform for website building and blogging. The script promotes it as a tool for creating various types of online content, emphasizing its features and benefits.

💡Gated content

In the context of the script, 'gated content' refers to exclusive material that is only accessible to members or subscribers. Squarespace is highlighted as a platform that allows for the creation of such content, which can be a source of revenue for content creators.

Highlights

The introduction of a reading hack to tackle long and complex books, emphasizing the importance of reading them thoroughly rather than just talking about them.

The recommendation to read 'Being and Time' by Martin Heidegger for a foundational understanding of 20th-century philosophy, Continental philosophy, or phenomenology.

A three-step reading method involving audiobooks played at 1.5 speed for simultaneous listening and reading, to track progress and enhance understanding.

The suggestion to highlight important concepts while reading but not to dwell on them, ensuring a general understanding before delving into details.

The importance of stopping the recording after reading a set amount and marking the end to track reading progress effectively.

A justification for using audiobooks, revealing the speaker as an auditory learner and the benefits of learning through listening.

The argument for setting audiobooks to 1.5 speed to maintain focus in a fast-paced, modern world and to prevent the mind from drifting.

The explanation that reading with an audiobook at a faster speed can lead to more efficient learning and a deeper understanding in less time.

The advice against dwelling on highlights immediately, instead suggesting a review after completing a section for a better overview.

The concept of using audiobooks as a guide to move past details and grasp the overall structure of a chapter before deep analysis.

The strategy of reviewing highlights and generating summary notes and analyses in one's own time for a deeper understanding.

The personal testimony of the speaker's success in using this technique to read dense material with a high degree of understanding.

The mention of Squarespace as the sponsor of the episode and its features for building blogs, websites, and generating revenue.

The promotion of Squarespace's templates, gated content, and email newsletter features for direct audience communication.

A special offer for a 10% discount on the first purchase of a domain or website using the code 'RC Walden' on Squarespace.

The conclusion of the episode with an invitation to try the reading hack and a reminder of the sponsor's contribution.

Transcripts

today's episode is brought to you by

Squarespace and welcome back to another

episode of free dairy free

reading advice and let's just jump

straight into it without too much

storytelling so in a vast history of the

humanities of philosophy of literature

of history there are many books that are

considered as door stoppers or a brick

or something that you would hit someone

with so you want to be the kind of

person to get through these kind of

books huh you have the Integrity enough

to actually read the books instead of

just talking about them huh why do I

feel like I'm doing an infomercial then

do I have the solution for you

this is really turning to infomercial

now on social science recently I've been

reading a lot of this Being and Time

stuff by Martin Heidegger because I just

kind of realized if I want to understand

20th century philosophy or Continental

philosophy in general or phenomenology

in general there are certain words that

you simply cannot ignore if you want a

foundational understanding of whatever

field you're into to shun a

responsibility of eventually getting to

somebody's books it's kind of like

saying well I'm content with a partial

understanding of this field and I'm

never ever going to bite the bullet on

this one but assuming you have the

courage enough to dig through some of

these books well do I have a hack and a

trick for you foreign

so here are the instructions for this

reading hack for you to summon up the

courage to get through some of these

long and complicated books and it might

help you it might not help you just keep

it with you keep the tip with you try it

out and get angry at me in the comment

section down below if it doesn't work

for you step number one put an audiobook

on yes I said audiobook at 1.5 speed and

read along this long and complicated

word that you have while you are playing

the audio in your ear and before you

start reading make sure to put another

bracket next to the paragraph where

you've started your recording where

start at the audiobook playback this is

going to make it easier for you to track

where you are in the book and this is

going to make it very easy for your

reading progress to sync up with your

listening progress and the second step

is if you see anything important or a

very important concept highlighted

positive recording but don't dwell in

that highlight for way too long and just

keep listening and keep reading I'm

going to give you the reasons for these

instructions later in the second part of

this video but for now let me just get

through all the instructions first and

number number three stopped her

recording once you've read enough and

put another little bracket at the place

where you've ended your reading and

again this is going to make it very easy

for you to track your reading so you

know exactly where you've started and

where you've ended and after you read

through a certain amount review all of

your highlights and review the things

you've highlighted in a previous video

on analytical reading I can't this act

of highlighting signposting so if you

want to learn how to read analytically

check out that video it's going to pop

up under screen right about now and here

I hear a lot of angry comments coming in

a lot of stuff objections and questions

and stuff stuff like Robin what do you

mean listening to an audiobook while

reading a book at the same time wouldn't

that just jumble up all of my senses and

also what do you mean putting it on 1.5

speed like are you are you insane like I

said we're going to answer all of the

questions here in a justification

section of this video justification one

why audiobooks now when I first got into

audiobooks I've always treated it as a

bit of a cop-out or at least something

to entertain myself with but I think

it's that part of my brain I still lives

in the 20th century I'm just kind of

like audiobooks

alien technology I don't want to touch

that but after I've really embraced this

idea of reading a book with an audiobook

in the background I discovered something

about myself that I just that I wasn't

aware of before I'm actually

predominantly an auditory learner and I

learn way better from a lecture or I

learn way better from listening to a

podcast about something and not even

YouTube videos I don't enjoy learning

from YouTube videos I just enjoy

podcasts and lectures more than anything

else in the world and that little

Discovery led me to the Insight of well

maybe standardized education has just

convinced us that we all basically

learned in the same way if you can't

read if you can't learn through Reading

then you're a dumb person if you can't

learn through this PowerPoint

presentation and you're dumb without

allowing us the liberty to explore

different alternative ways of learning

without even like proposing something

like hey you know audiobooks might be

really great for you which is also why

today's tip might not work for you you

might not be an auditory learner and

this video's entire purpose is to

encourage you to explore whatever

technique that might work for you and in

fact if you found something really

interesting leave it down in the comment

section down below I'd love to hear it

bottom line leaning to her strength this

audiobook thing is working really well

for me so I'm gonna keep doing it and

you might learn better from like a

YouTube lecture you might learn better

from even just talking to people about

it you might learn better through

reading so in that case don't do an

audiobook but here's where the second

justification comes in for audiobooks

which is why you should put the

audiobook on 1.5 speed when you're

reading with it so when I'm going

through a long and very complicated book

the first instinct is to put it on a

very low speed so you can you know smell

the scent of every word so you can you

know read the same paragraph 20 times

and you know really basking your

philosophical imagination that is a very

terrible idea in my book if you are in

this modern distracted world that we

live in I don't know if you've noticed

but our brains right now are operating

at such a high capacity or such a fast

speed I mean the amount of of

information that's coming your way it's

it's incredible and for me it's a total

wonder of the human brain that it is

able to adapt to a stage where it can

stay basically functional in this hyper

distracted World which means that the

days of reading War and Peace while

smelling the scent of each and every

single little word while mauling over

the same dialogue twenty thousand times

our brains are no longer for that

anymore so in a sense to focus very

deliberately you need to give your brain

an incentive to focus and putting the

audiobook on 1.5 speed even though it

could be a very long and hard and

complicated word it would actually

prevent you from drifting off into outer

space because conventionally audiobooks

when you play them back at a normal

speed it's designed for you to listen to

when you're washing the dishes taking

your dog out for a and then I don't

know probably doing laundry and the

point that's that entire learning

process is passive is not active you're

not actively concentrating on what

you've read you're not actively thinking

about the thing that you've read because

you're not really a inclined that much

focused or recording because the speed

of the information you can take is too

damn slow your brain is not stimulated

enough to fall into paragraphs whereas

if you actually just sit down on your

chair set 20 minutes aside put it on 1.5

speed and just follow along with like a

thousand percent concentration you would

learn a lot more in 20 minutes compared

to you listening to being in time on

your car on your way back home from work

for four hours straight bottom line

reading and audiobook alongside a book

at 1.5 speed or even the experts among

you can do it at 2x speed is going to

cut down drastically cut down the amount

of time that you spend on reading and

that amount of time is going to be so

concentrated with focus and so

concentrated with well deep work or deep

rating that you're really getting 80

percent of progress with 20 of effort

which leads us to justification number

three about the highlighting stuff why

you shouldn't dwell on your highlights

now I've addressed this elsewhere

especially in my video how to read

analytically which you should check out

it's actually a companion video for this

video you know and to summarize it

before you can truly understand the

nitty-gritties of a chapter where the

nitty-gritties of an author's contention

you need to get a general landscape of

how the entire chapter functions or a

general overview of the chapter

otherwise if you just focus on a

nitty-gritties from a very get-go it's

going to be so difficult for you to

piece together the entirety of the

chapter or the overall structure of the

chapter or where the author is getting

at and the strength of an audio book is

that it actually functions kind of like

a cowboy hiring to hurt a lot so the

audiobook is hiring you along to move

past the nitty-gritty details for you to

move along the chapter so you can have a

very brief impression of the whole

chapter first when you're reading it

together with the audiobook because

while pausing it takes some effort and

you don't want to pause it all the time

so you your only choice is to read

through the whole chapter with however

pausing you're always going to have time

to review them later you're always going

to have time to read into it

analytically and yes and again I've

addressed analytical reading in another

video so I'm not gonna repeat myself

here and in your own time review to

highlights and generate summary notes

and generate whatever your analyzes are

and to sort of read a little deeper on

your second reading without the

audiobook and when you put all that

together you're basically going to be a

reading ninja this technique allowed me

to get through maybe 30 to 40 pages of

something as dense as Martin Heidegger's

being in time with a very adequate

degree of understanding and to be honest

it drastically slashed down the amount

of time that I put towards reading on a

daily basis so I can free my time up to

do other things like walking around like

drinking tea like chatting with my

friends nevertheless that concludes this

episode of free dairy free

reading advice if you've enjoyed today's

video make sure to check out today's

video sponsor Squarespace who made this

entire thing possible a short

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take care and goodbye

[Music]