How To Read Books Effectively (7 Stoic Tips)

Summary

In this video, Ryan Holiday emphasizes the importance of reading, particularly Stoic literature, and how it has shaped his life and the lives of historical figures like Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus. He shares strategies for making reading a more impactful part of one's life, highlighting the value of reading quality literature over quantity and the practice of rereading to gain deeper insights. Holiday also stresses the need for a mentor or 'master' in reading and the balance between intellectual pursuits and active engagement with the world.

Takeaways

• 📚 Reading is a fundamental habit for Stoics and can significantly change one's life.
• 🕒 Time for reading is not a matter of availability but a matter of prioritization.
• 📖 The quality of what you read is more important than the quantity.
• 📕 Reading classic, time-tested books is recommended for their enduring relevance.
• 👀 A reading master or mentor can guide and shape one's intellectual journey.
• 🔄 Rereading books allows for continuous learning and growth as one's perspective changes.
• 📚 Reading should not be an escape but a tool to apply wisdom in real-life situations.
• 📖 Stoic philosophy emphasizes the importance of reading and rereading the works of great thinkers.
• 📚 Reading is a practice that can be improved and perfected over time.
• 📧 Joining a reading challenge or community can enhance one's reading habits and understanding.
• 📬 Sharing stoic wisdom through daily emails can inspire and guide others in their reading journey.

Q & A

What is the main message of the video regarding reading habits?

The main message is that reading should not just be a part of life, but one should aim to get the most out of the reading they do, focusing on the quality of the books rather than the quantity.

Who were the Stoics mentioned in the video and how did they view reading?

The Stoics mentioned are Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and Seneca. They were all avid readers and believed that reading was essential to their philosophy and personal growth.

What is Ryan Holiday's personal experience with reading and Stoicism?

Ryan Holiday has been writing and reading about Stoicism for over 15 years. His life was changed by the works of Mark Realists when he was 19, and he believes in the transformative power of books.

What is the significance of reading older books according to the speaker?

The speaker believes that older books, especially those that have stood the test of time, are more likely to hold up in the future and provide value, making them a worthwhile investment of time.

How does the speaker suggest making time for reading?

The speaker suggests that everyone has time for reading; it's about choosing to make time for it, as even busier people like Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus managed to read.

What is the importance of having a 'master' or mentor in reading?

A master or mentor can guide and direct one's reading, introducing them to influential works and shaping their understanding and application of the knowledge gained from books.

Why does the speaker emphasize rereading books?

Rereading allows one to gain new insights each time, as both the reader and their circumstances change, leading to a deeper understanding of the material.

What advice does Marcus Aurelius give about the balance between reading and living?

Marcus Aurelius advises not to get lost in books but to apply the knowledge and philosophy in real life, engaging with the world and its challenges.

What is the story about Truman and his perspective on reading?

Truman was a huge reader and learned about virtues like wisdom, courage, and justice from self-education. He believed in the importance of reading and its connection to leadership.

How does the speaker relate the importance of reading to personal obligation?

The speaker feels a personal obligation to read, honoring those who fought and died for the right to read, and sees reading as a means to control one's mind and resist control by others.

Outlines

00:00

📚 The Importance of Reading in Stoicism

This paragraph discusses the significance of reading in Stoic philosophy, highlighting how Stoic philosophers like Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and Seneca were avid readers. It emphasizes that reading is not just about the quantity of books but the quality and the impact they have on one's life. The speaker, Ryan Holiday, shares his personal journey with Stoicism and encourages viewers to make time for reading, suggesting that everyone can find time if they prioritize it. The paragraph also introduces the Read To Lead Challenge, a guide to Stoic reading practice, and invites viewers to join the challenge at Daily Stoic.

05:01

📖 Reading Mastery and Its Impact

The second paragraph delves into the concept of reading mastery, suggesting that to be a great reader, one needs a mentor or 'master' to guide their reading journey. It references historical figures like Eisenhower and Marcus Aurelius, who were shaped by their mentors' reading recommendations. The paragraph also discusses the importance of rereading books, as it allows for new insights and growth each time. It cautions against excessive reading without applying the learned wisdom in real-life situations, emphasizing the need to balance reading with active engagement in life.

10:01

🏀 From Survival to the Power of Reading

The final paragraph shares a personal anecdote from the speaker's life, illustrating the transformative power of reading. It recounts the speaker's early life in Washington, DC, where survival was a daily concern, and how receiving a basketball scholarship to Villanova opened up the world of reading. The paragraph reflects on the historical struggle for the right to read and the moral obligation to honor those who fought for this right. It concludes with an invitation for viewers to subscribe to the Daily Stoic email for daily wisdom and a reminder of the broader context of reading beyond entertainment or learning.

Keywords

💡Stoicism

Stoicism is an ancient Greek philosophy that emphasizes self-control, rationality, and resilience in the face of adversity. In the video, Stoicism is central to the discussion about reading and personal growth, with references to Stoic philosophers like Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus. The speaker, Ryan Holiday, shares his own experience with Stoicism and how it has influenced his reading habits and life philosophy.

💡Reading Habits

Reading habits refer to the regular practices or tendencies of engaging with written material. The video emphasizes the importance of cultivating good reading habits, not just for the sake of reading more, but for digesting and understanding the works of master thinkers. Ryan Holiday suggests that the quality of what one reads is more important than the quantity, and he encourages rereading经典 works to gain new insights each time.

💡Time Management

Time management is the process of organizing and planning how to divide your time between specific activities. In the context of the video, it is highlighted that many people claim they don't have time to read, but it's more about choosing not to prioritize it. The speaker encourages viewers to make time for reading, just as busy historical figures like Marcus Aurelius did, by recognizing that time can be found if reading is a priority.

💡Lifelong Learning

Lifelong learning is the continuous, self-motivated pursuit of knowledge for personal or professional reasons. The video underscores the idea that reading should be a lifelong practice, not just a casual activity. It suggests that reading deeply about one's field or interests can lead to a more profound understanding and application of knowledge in real-life situations.

💡Master Thinkers

Master thinkers refer to individuals who have made significant contributions to knowledge or wisdom in their respective fields. In the video, it is suggested that reading the works of master thinkers is more valuable than reading a large number of books. The speaker implies that engaging with the ideas of these thinkers can lead to a deeper understanding and personal growth.

💡Rereading

Rereading is the act of revisiting a book or text multiple times. The video emphasizes the importance of rereading, especially the works of Stoic philosophers, as it allows for the discovery of new insights and a deeper understanding of the material. The speaker suggests that our changing perspectives and life experiences can lead to different interpretations of the same text over time.

💡Practical Application

Practical application refers to the use of knowledge or skills in real-world situations. The video stresses the importance of not just reading philosophical texts but also applying the principles learned from them to one's life. It suggests that true understanding comes from applying these ideas to real-life challenges and interactions.

💡Mentorship

Mentorship is a relationship in which an experienced or more knowledgeable person guides a less experienced one. In the video, the concept of having a 'master' or mentor in reading is discussed, highlighting the role of mentors in shaping one's intellectual journey. The speaker mentions historical figures like Eisenhower and Marcus Aurelius, whose mentors helped shape their reading habits and, consequently, their lives.

💡Reading Mastery

Reading mastery implies a high level of skill and understanding in reading, including comprehension, analysis, and critical thinking. The video suggests that becoming a better reader is a skill that can be developed through practice and guidance, much like any other craft. The Stoics are presented as examples of individuals who were dedicated to mastering the art of reading.

💡Daily Stoic

The Daily Stoic is a resource mentioned in the video that provides guidance on Stoic practices, including reading. It is a platform that offers challenges, live Q&As, and other content to help individuals integrate Stoic principles into their daily lives. The video encourages viewers to sign up for the Daily Stoic's Read To Lead Challenge to improve their reading habits and understand Stoicism better.

💡Historical Context

Historical context refers to the background information about events, conditions, or circumstances that help to understand a particular subject. In the video, the speaker shares a personal story about the historical importance of reading, particularly for African Americans, and how this context has shaped his own reading habits and sense of obligation to honor those who fought for the right to read.

Highlights

The importance of making time for reading, as even busy individuals like Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus found time to read.

The Stoic emphasis on the quality of reading over quantity, focusing on the works of master thinkers.

Ryan Holiday's personal transformation through reading Stoic works at a young age.

The recommendation to read older books that have stood the test of time.

The idea that reading is not just a leisure activity but a practice that can be improved, similar to a job.

The Stoic belief that reading should be a deliberate practice, not just a passive activity.

The importance of having a 'master' or mentor to guide one's reading and learning process.

The concept of rereading books to gain new insights as one's own life circumstances change.

The balance between reading and applying knowledge in real-life situations, as advised by Marcus Aurelius.

The historical context of the struggle for the right to read and the moral obligation to honor those who fought for it.

The transformative power of reading and how it can separate individuals from their peers.

The Read To Lead Challenge as a guide to Stoic reading practice.

The value of reading not just for knowledge but for the wisdom to apply philosophy in real life.

The Daily Stoic email subscription as a way to engage with a community of Stoic practitioners.

The encouragement to sign up for the Daily Stoic email for daily wisdom.

Transcripts

You say you don't have time to read, but you're watching this video.

You do have time. You're just choosing not to make time.

All of the Stoics were readers that there is no philosopher was not obsessed

with books. Marcus Aurelius is introduced to the works of,

of Epictetus through his tutor.

Epictetus falls in love with reading and books and,

and claws his way out of slavery.

Seneca falls in love with reading and reading is what sustains him in, in exile.

When he's convalescing in Egypt, far from home,

all of the Stoics loved books, it went to the core of who they were.

I'm Ryan holiday. I've been writing and reading about Stoicism myself now for more than 15 years, I was introduced to the works of mark realists.

When I was 19 years old,

and my life was changed in the way that only a book can change your life.

This pickup marks release and it feels like a pile of bricks tumbling down on

me. It shakes me to my very core,

but the Stokes said that it wasn't just that you read it was how you read.

So in today's episode,

I wanna give you a bunch of secrets and strategies and habits to make reading,

not just a part of your life,

but to get the most out of the reading that you're already doing.

Epictetus says, who cares that you read what matters is what you read.

Seneca talks about how it's not about how many books you read in your life.

It's whether you're digesting the works of the master thinkers.

So it's good that you want to be a reader and you should read,

and you should spend a lot of time reading, but it's not about quantity.

It's about quality read great writers.

My rule is I want to read books that have changed people's lives one and two.

Those tend to be older books, right? Books that have stood the test of time.

And I know this is crazy as someone who puts out new books,

but I have a bias towards old books,

books that have stood the test of time that were relevant a hundred years ago,

a thousand years ago,

books that have stood the test of time are likely going to hold up in the future

and you won't have wasted your time reading them so that you wanna read is

great, but it matters what you read and how you

Say you don't have time to read, but you're watching this video.

You do have time. You're just choosing not to make time.

There are people way busier than you. Marcus Aurelius made time to read.

Epictetus was a slave. He managed to read. You have time to read.

You just have to make time to read. I read a lot.

I promise I am almost certainly busier than you. I make time for it.

If you wanna read, you have to make time for it.

It's not that we have a little bit of time.

Seneca says it's that we waste a lot of it and you're wasting it right now.

Put the phone down and go read. If you want to read,

then do it make the time. I've always seen reading as my job.

And if something's gonna be my job, I wanna figure out how to get good at it.

I'm gonna figure out how to improve it. And the Stoic obviously talk about this.

Reading was a practice. That was something they tried to be very good at.

And if you wanna learn everything,

the Stoics can teach you about how to be a better reader.

I recommend the Read To Lead Challenge that we built here at Daily Stoic.

It's a guide to a Stoic reading practice.

How to read like Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus, and yes, a little bit like me.

You can sign up right now by going to dailystoic.com/reading.

It's all the best stoic practices for reading.

It's live Q&As and a with me and a bunch of other awesome stuff.

I'd love for you to sign up.

It's the most popular challenge we've done here at daily stoic where 10,000

people have signed up since we launched it a couple years ago.

I'd love to have you join us. Join me. We'll become better readers together.

You can sign up at dailystoic.com/reading or click the link below

In Meditations

Marcus says that just as reading and writing require a master.

So does life. Now. That's obviously true, but let's go to the first part.

He's saying like to be a great reader, you have to have a master.

Someone who tutors you, who advises you for Eisenhower as a young,

a military officer, a Fox Connor,

his mentor begins to pick out and direct a course of reading shapes his life.

That makes him one of the great generals and presidents of all time.

Marcus realist himself is introduced to the works of Epictetus.

Theus his life is changed by this reading master.

This person who's instructing him in reading. And I actually,

some of the only letters we have from mark come from his rhetoric teacher,

Franta, who also directs course of reading.

So the question is who is leading you, who is teaching you,

who is introducing you to new books? Who is your master in reading and writing.

If you don't have one, you should get one

General. James Mattis says that if you haven't read hundreds of books,

you're functionally illiterate, which I think is a great way to think about.

It's not just that you've read some stuff. It's not just that you can read,

but have you read very,

very deeply about what it is that you do for a living about who it is that

you're trying to be? It's not one book. It's not two books. It's that 10 books.

It's hundreds of books. If you haven't read hundreds of books,

you may well be literate, but you are functionally illiterate.

And that's what really matters.

You shouldn't just read. You should always be rereading the stoic.

Say we never step in the same river twice, cuz we change.

And the river is always changing. But this is, this is true for books too. Yes.

The words on the page are the same,

but the circumstances in which you are reading them,

who you are when you're reading them, that's changed. So don't just read,

reread and reread. Again.

Seneca says that we linger on the works of the master thinkers.

We read them over and over and over again and,

and we get something new out of it every time,

especially when you reread meditations, Seneca, Epictetus,

don't just read the Stoics, but reread the Stoics, and grow each time you do.

Maybe you're reading too much. I, I know that sounds crazy.

Obviously one of the virtues of stoicism is, is the virtue of wisdom.

But multiple times in Meditations,

Marcus tells himself to throw away his books get active in life's purpose

while he can. And I think that's advice. That's advice. I try to give myself,

I love reading. I love retreating to the world of ideas,

but Marcus's mentor fronto. He says against your will.

You must put on the purple cloak of the emperor,

meaning you can't stay here with your books.

You can't retreat to the ivory tower. You have to go out in the world and live.

These ideas, apply. These ideas, struggle with difficult people,

struggle with difficult challenges, apply this stuff in the imperfect world.

Marcus says,

don't go around expecting Plato's Republic cuz you live here in the real world.

And that's where we apply the philosophy.

We stop arguing about what good people are.

And we try to be when we try to apply the philosopher in real life where it

belongs.

One of the things that actually ties into what I wanted to ask you next is that

Truman was a huge reader. You know, he was obsessed with Marcus.

A really he writes in, in one of his letters, you know,

those sort of virtues of wisdom and courage and justice and temperance.

You know, he learned that from the sort of the education that he gave himself.

He's one of the last presidents to not go to college.

And so I wondered what you thought of that famous quote from Truman. You know,

he said, uh, not all leaders are leaders, but all leaders are leaders.

And that strikes me as something very true about your life as well.

The value quotion of reading for me was probably different in Truman's,

but in the moments are quiet during the day.

When I think back about my life and reading and, and so forth,

I find the early origin of about reading came from my grandma.

When I was a little boy,

my grandma used to make me sit and watch her cook in the kitchen.

My grandma never got past eighth grade, but she had common sense.

And so she would make me sit there and watch her cook.

And so it turned out, as I realized in my adult life,

it was a classroom. She was teaching me how to cook by observation.

And then she would have conversations with me, why I was sitting there.

And so one time she said to me, she said, George,

she said no. Back in the days of, of slavery,

the plantation owners used to hide their money in books.

And I said, grandma, why'd they do that?

She said, because they knew the slaves couldn't read.

So they would never take the books down to me.

The moral of that story was as long as someone can control

your mind, they can control your body.

And so I think that was the early, uh,

revelation to me.

Books had to be more relevant in my life. And,

and then I started to realize you've got a moral obligation to read

that people die to get you the write to read.

If you remember your history, George,

there was a time in America when it was illegal

for a person to teach a black person how to read.

There was a time in America when a black person could not get a library

card, the libraries were segregated.

People died to get me the right to read.

Am I gonna dishonor their desk? I not reading.

I see it in a broader context than just reading to learn or reading for

entertainment.

I feel personally I have an obligation to honor those people's death.

They died so that I, I could have the opportunity to read.

And people asked me when you were growing up, did you read a lot? Hell no.

The only books I saw in my young life were

school books that were the only books I knew when I was growing up as a young

kid in Washington, DC, 7, 8, 9,

10 years old every day was about survival.

When you got up in the morning,

you were happy that you survived for another day.

And so you get up in the morning and you look out the window in a tip toe stance

and you say, I made it. I made it another day, but it's all about survival.

And so along the way I continued to,

to progress to where I finally get a basketball scholarship to

Villanova. It really wasn't until I got to Villanova that I started to realize

the wonder of reading it and how it could separate you from other

people.

I hope you like this video. I hope you subscribe.

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