Don't Worry about Reading More Books. Focus on Reading Better.

Summary

The speaker discusses their personal practice of maintaining a journal to record every book they read, which has served as an 'intellectual autobiography' over the past five years. They reflect on their reading pace, which has varied from 45 to 76 books per year, and how they've found a natural pace of 52 books annually, equating to about a book a week. This pace allows for deeper engagement with the material rather than a focus on quantity. They argue against the 'toxic productivity culture' that emphasizes reading more over reading better. The speaker advocates for a mindful approach to reading, comparing it to exercising with health goals in mind. They stress the importance of savoring complex works, like Plato's 'Apology' or Dante's 'Divine Comedy,' rather than rushing through them. The video concludes with advice to choose books wisely, engage in thoughtful discussions, and treat books like friends to be revisited, rather than mere numbers on a list.

Takeaways

• 📚 Maintaining a journal of books read creates an intellectual autobiography, showing the evolution of interests over time.
• 🔢 The speaker discovered a personal reading pace of 52 books a year, which allows for depth and enjoyment without feeling pressured.
• 📈 Prioritizing the quality of reading over quantity leads to a more fulfilling and effective engagement with the material.
• 🚫 Resisting the toxic productivity culture is crucial for a healthier and more meaningful reading experience.
• 🧘 Becoming a better reader is more important than reading more, as it involves a deeper understanding and engagement with the text.
• 🏋️‍♂️ An analogy to gym workouts suggests that quality and mindfulness in reading, like in exercising, lead to better outcomes.
• 📚 Reading slowly and thoughtfully, especially with challenging works, contributes to personal and intellectual growth.
• 📚 The speaker emphasizes the importance of savoring books, particularly those from the Western Canon, rather than rushing through them.
• 🤔 Questioning the value of reading a high volume of books quickly, and pondering if it allows for true comprehension and engagement.
• 📖 Selecting books wisely and focusing on those that resonate with you personally leads to a more profound connection with the material.
• 🗣️ Forming discussion groups or book clubs can enhance the reading experience by sharing insights and perspectives with others.
• 📒 Keeping a journal of the books read can be a nice way to reflect on your reading journey, but the number of books should not be the ultimate goal.

Q & A

What is the purpose of maintaining a journal of books read, according to the speaker?

The purpose of maintaining a journal of books read is to create an intellectual autobiography that allows the individual to reflect on their interests over time and observe how they have evolved or persisted.

How does the speaker describe the difference between a commonplace book and their book journal?

The speaker describes a commonplace book as a place to record thoughts about what they are reading, whereas their book journal is simply a list of books they have read, including the title and author, without any accompanying thoughts or commentary.

What is the speaker's reading pace that they have found to be natural for them?

The speaker has found that a pace of reading 52 books a year, which equates to a book a week, is natural for them, allowing for a balance between not pushing themselves too hard and being able to read more deeply.

Why does the speaker argue that reading better is more important than reading more?

The speaker argues that reading better is more important because it leads to a deeper engagement with the material, a better understanding, and ultimately, a more enriching experience. It also helps to avoid the toxic productivity culture that focuses on quantity over quality.

What is the speaker's view on the content found on YouTube about reading more books?

The speaker is critical of the content on YouTube that promotes reading more books quickly and efficiently, as it often contributes to a toxic productivity culture that values quantity over quality and understanding.

How does the speaker use the analogy of going to the gym to discuss the importance of being a better reader?

The speaker uses the gym analogy to illustrate that spending more time does not necessarily equate to better results. Just as someone can spend a lot of time at the gym without doing quality exercise, a reader can read many books without truly engaging with the content. Being a better reader is akin to doing quality exercise with mindfulness and focus.

What does the speaker suggest as an alternative to focusing on the number of books read?

The speaker suggests focusing on the quality of reading and the depth of engagement with the books. They recommend choosing books wisely, savoring them, and revisiting them to gain new insights over time.

Why does the speaker believe that certain books should not be read quickly or binge-read?

The speaker believes that certain books, especially those from the Western Canon, should not be read quickly or binge-read because they are meant to be savored and deeply engaged with. These books are considered 'soul food' and contribute to personal growth when given the time and attention they deserve.

How does the speaker describe the experience of reading a book multiple times?

The speaker describes the experience of reading a book multiple times as one that allows for deeper understanding and the discovery of new insights with each reading. It's akin to building a friendship with the book, which requires time, energy, and effort to nurture.

What advice does the speaker give regarding forming communities around reading?

The speaker advises forming book clubs, discussion groups, or local communities with like-minded individuals to discuss the books they read. This shared experience can enhance the understanding and enjoyment of the books and provide a support system for deeper engagement with the material.

How does the speaker feel about the 'toxic productivity culture' and why?

The speaker expresses a strong dislike for the 'toxic productivity culture' because it promotes a focus on metrics and success at the expense of genuine understanding and personal growth. They argue that this culture can lead to a misguided pursuit of reading more books for the sake of numbers rather than for the value and insight they provide.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Personal Reading Journal and Intellectual Autobiography

The speaker discusses maintaining a personal reading journal for the past five years, which serves as an intellectual autobiography. This journal simply lists books read without additional commentary. It allows for tracking interests over time and performing rough metrics on reading habits. The speaker shares their reading statistics from 2018 to 2022, noting a natural reading pace of about 52 books per year, which feels comfortable and allows for deeper engagement with the material. The focus is shifted from reading more to reading better, emphasizing quality over quantity.

05:02

🏋️‍♂️ Prioritizing Quality Over Quantity in Reading

The speaker compares reading to going to the gym, suggesting that being mindful and intentional about reading can be more beneficial than simply reading more. They argue against the toxic productivity culture that encourages reading as many books as possible quickly. Instead, the speaker advocates for a slower, more thoughtful approach, especially for books that are complex and rich in content, like those from the Western Canon. They share their experience with Aristotle's 'Nicomachean Ethics' and how spending an entire semester on it contributed to a deeper understanding. The speaker criticizes the focus on metrics and success in reading, recommending a more meaningful and engaging approach.

10:02

📚 Choosing Books Wisely and Building Lasting Connections

The speaker discusses the importance of choosing books wisely and treating them like friends that require time and effort to build a relationship. They mention their monthly discussions of difficult books from the Western Canon, emphasizing the value of taking time to properly read and absorb these works. The speaker suggests revisiting books to see how one's understanding has evolved and forming book clubs or discussion groups to engage with like-minded individuals. They also recommend keeping a journal to track reading progress but caution against making the number of books read the primary goal. Instead, the focus should be on personal growth and the kind of person one aspires to be.

Keywords

💡Reading Journal

A reading journal is a personal record where individuals log the books they have read. In the context of the video, the speaker uses a reading journal to document their reading journey over the years, noting down every book and author without additional commentary. It serves as an 'intellectual autobiography,' reflecting the speaker's evolving interests and reading habits.

💡Commonplace Book

A commonplace book is a way of compiling knowledge, usually by writing information into a book with one or more topics. Unlike a reading journal, which is a simple list, a commonplace book contains thoughts and reflections on what the reader is reading. The speaker distinguishes their reading journal from a commonplace book by emphasizing the lack of commentary in their journal.

💡Reading Pace

Reading pace refers to the rate at which a person reads books. The speaker discusses finding a natural reading pace that allows for both enjoyment and depth of understanding. They mention that reading 52 books a year, or one book a week, feels right for them, but acknowledge that this pace is individual and may vary from person to person.

💡Reading More vs. Reading Better

This concept contrasts the quantity of books read with the quality of the reading experience. The video emphasizes the importance of reading better, which includes deeper engagement and understanding, over simply reading more books. The speaker argues that focusing on the number of books read can lead to a toxic productivity culture and detract from the value of reading.

💡Toxic Productivity Culture

This term describes a societal mindset that values output and efficiency over quality and personal fulfillment. In the video, the speaker criticizes this culture, particularly as it applies to reading, where the focus on reading more books can overshadow the depth of engagement with the material. The speaker advocates for a more mindful and quality-oriented approach to reading.

💡Western Canon

The Western Canon refers to the body of books and works that are considered to be of high artistic merit and intellectual importance in Western culture. The speaker mentions this in relation to their podcast and the type of books they discuss, which are not meant to be read quickly but rather savored and studied in depth.

💡Savoring Books

Savoring books means to read and enjoy them slowly, taking the time to fully appreciate and understand the content. The speaker uses this term to describe their approach to reading significant works, such as Plato's dialogues or Dante's Divine Comedy, which they believe should not be rushed but rather experienced thoughtfully.

💡Book Haul

A book haul is a term used to describe the act of acquiring a large number of books, often with the intent to read them. The video discusses how focusing on the number of books one has (a 'book haul') can detract from the quality of reading, as it becomes more about quantity than the intellectual and emotional engagement with the material.

💡Book Clubs and Discussion Groups

Book clubs and discussion groups are social settings where people gather to talk about books they have read. The speaker suggests that forming or joining such groups can enhance the reading experience by providing a platform for sharing insights, discussing interpretations, and building a community around a shared interest in literature.

💡Intellectual Autobiography

An intellectual autobiography is a personal account of one's intellectual journey, often reflected through the ideas and authors that have influenced them. In the video, the speaker's reading journal serves as their intellectual autobiography, showing the evolution of their reading interests over time.

💡Metrics and Success

Metrics and success refer to the quantifiable measures used to assess achievement or effectiveness. The speaker warns against turning reading into a pursuit of metrics, such as the number of books read, which can lead to a focus on quantity over quality and a misunderstanding of what constitutes true success in reading.

Highlights

The speaker has maintained a journal for five years to document every book they've read, forming an intellectual autobiography.

The journal differs from a commonplace book by only listing books and authors without personal thoughts.

The practice allows for tracking interests over time and performing rough metrics without a spreadsheet.

In 2018, the speaker read 45 books, which was less than desired due to being in graduate school.

The speaker read 60 books in 2019, a year they were finishing their dissertation and got married.

With more time spent indoors in 2020, the speaker read 72 books.

In 2021, the speaker had one of their best years for reading, completing 76 books.

As of the current year (2022), the speaker has read 40 books and anticipates reaching 52 by year's end.

The speaker finds a reading pace of 52 books per year to be natural and satisfying.

The focus should be on reading better, not just more, which is a crucial distinction.

Efficiency in reading is not always beneficial, especially for complex works like Plato's Apology.

The toxic productivity culture is criticized for promoting quantity over quality in reading.

The speaker emphasizes the importance of becoming a better reader over reading more books.

An analogy is made between reading and exercising, where quality and mindfulness are more important than quantity.

The speaker discusses the value of slowly engaging with difficult texts, like Aristotle's Nico McKean Ethics.

The speaker discourages binge reading of important works, advocating for a deeper and slower engagement with texts.

The speaker recommends choosing books wisely and treating them like friends, revisiting them over time.

Maintaining a journal of read books is encouraged, but the speaker warns against making the number of books read a goal.

Transcripts

for the past five years I have kept a

journal that is specifically for my

reading I write down every single book

that I read it goes in here I've talked

about commonplace books on this channel

that's where I have thoughts about what

I'm reading this is a little bit

different than a commonplace book for me

this is literally just a list

of books I don't write any thoughts

about them I just list out the book and

the author

it's a really nice little practice to

keep up because it forms a kind of

intellectual autobiography you can see

what was drawing your interest in uh

2018 for instance that's when I started

this practice and you can see how maybe

some of those interests persisted in

2019 or 2020 you know in the years later

and then it also allows you to kind of

do some really rough metrics on it

without having to use something like a

spreadsheet for instance I just count

all of the books that I've read I can

see that in 2018 I read 45 books that's

not a surprising number for me it's a

little bit less than maybe I'd like to

read but I was in graduate school at the

time I was reading a lot of Articles and

I wasn't going to put articles in this

list this is for books where I've read

them from cover to cover

uh in 2019 I was finishing up my uh

dissertation so I was earning my PhD

about halfway through the year it was

also the year I got married so I was a

little busier but I was able to read

just a bit more and it looks like I read

UH 60 books

and then 2020 uh turns out we were all

inside a lot and I was able to read a

lot more and I read 72 books and then in

2021 that was one of my best years for

reading and it looks like I read 76

books last year

and now this year though for 2022 and

you probably can't understand anything

that's written there uh it's all

scribbled but

um I've read 40 books and it looks like

by the end of the year I'll read 52. I

found that 52 is a really natural pace

for me that's a book a week and I am

able to uh not really push myself and

I'm also able to read deeper and in a

way um just feel better about my reading

when I'm reading about 52 books a year

obviously that's a very individual thing

and personalities will differ so there

will be some people who hear that and

think I can read more on other people

are going to say 52 sounds like an

outrageous number for them that's fine

what I'm pointing out is that I have

I've sort of naturally found a pace a

reading pace and now that I've found

that reading Pace I'm able to um just

feel good I feel content and now I'm

able to focus on what I'm gonna say is

about reading better rather than reading

more

and reading better versus reading more

is the crucial distinction that I want

to make in this little video

there is a lot of book content on

YouTube and I have sort of accidentally

found myself entering into this world

talking about notes and books um and I

have this podcast the same name the

classical mind where we talk about books

from the Western Canon

those aren't books that you can read

quickly at least not usually in a

forthcoming episode we're going to be

talking about Plato's apology and that's

not a very long dialogue from Plato and

still it probably took me about three to

four hours to give it a really good read

if I needed to read it faster or if I

really wanted to read all of Plato I

could probably have read it now in an

hour and a half uh maybe even an hour if

I really focused but I don't think it

would have been the best kind of reading

and in fact I would have said that

probably I read it poorly

and when you're thinking to yourself

um why do I want to read more

you really should be asking

if I read more if I try to read more

books will I actually be doing a worse

job as a reader

now this can be kind of generalized so

there's all this content on uh YouTube

on like booktube or whatever uh and

oftentimes it talks about how to read

more or how to remember every single

thing you've read and how to be super

efficient it really quickly gets into

this kind of toxic productivity culture

which is something I think we really

want to resist now I am not against

Reading More in fact I really like to

read but I think that before you

prioritize reading more you should

really prioritize becoming a better

reader and becoming a better reader is I

think more important than becoming a

more efficient reader or someone who

spends more time reading

we can kind of consider an analogy with

going to the gym so someone who goes to

the gym a lot like they spend all of

their time working out

um that's not that isn't always actually

the most conducive to their health

um you can over exert yourself or you'll

just find that you're spending a lot of

time at the gym but you're not actually

finding that you're doing quality

exercise people who are mindful about

the amount of time that they spend at

the gym or you know doing some kind of

physical activity they dedicate

themselves to it might spend less time

at the gym might spend less time

exercising but they're actually getting

more out of it because they have health

goals in mind or they have things that

they're trying to accomplish and so by

being more intentional and more focused

they are actually exercising better

and I want to say that for a lot of the

books that are really worth reading

especially the kind of books that we

would talk about on this channel like we

have a forthcoming video out about

um Plato's apology so a platonic

dialogue these aren't things that you

should try to read quickly and they're

not things that you should try to binge

these are books that you should really

Savor that you should spend a lot of

time with and thus you want to read them

actually rather slowly

in graduate school I had a seminar on

the Nick McKean ethics which is one of

the best works of Aristotle in my

opinion

and we spent the entire semester reading

the Nico McKean ethics I think the

translation read is about 300 Pages now

we read other articles and we read other

Scholars commentaries on the nick of

McKean ethics but our primary text was

reading the nicomician ethics I spent a

semester of my life reading that book

I still don't think I fully understand

it I've now read it probably five times

that is not an efficient way to read

that is not a kind of reading that is

conducive to amassing a really big book

list it's not the kind of reading that

makes you fill up your shelves with your

book haul

but it's a kind of reading that I think

will make you a deeper thinker will make

you a better human being actually in the

long run because you are properly

training the intellect and it's the kind

of reading that allows you to more

deeply engage with the Western Canon

which is really kind of the focus of

this channel talking about the great

books that have been produced out of the

western tradition

there's so much of this toxic

productivity culture out there it's a

kind of culture that says that we need

to do more and we always need to be

doing better and we need to produce more

and we can do this by establishing

metrics and measurements and once we've

adequately uh and once we've adequately

measured things then we'll be able to

look back and say finally I feel good

about what I've done

I hate this culture I hate this way of

looking at things and I hate the fact

that even myself I have sometimes fallen

into this when I think about reading so

I've taken something that I absolutely

love I've taken something that I really

actually like adore that it's a huge

part of my life and I've turned it into

this pursuit of metrics and success

and that is the completely wrong

attitude that is absolutely no way that

is bad don't do it I'm sure that right

now if you went to the YouTube search

bar and you typed in how to read more

books

you would find thousands of videos some

of them would have millions of views and

everyone would be ready to give you

quick tips and they would say

follow these three tips and you'll be

able to read a hundred books in a year

but honestly ask yourself if you read a

hundred books in a year would you be

able to retain the information that was

there

would you be able to deeply engage with

the thought behind the book right with

the thought of the author if it's a

fiction work or if the poet or of the

philosopher of the historian would you

be able to really engage with them if

you read them that quickly

and three would you be able to choose

the kinds of books that really are worth

reading

so right here here is the Divine Comedy

it's Dante

it's three volumes so it's three books

I think if you add this all together

we're looking at close to two thousand

pages

now they are verse so it's a little bit

easier to read you know each page and

there's lots of notes in these editions

so maybe you don't have to read all of

it let's cut it down and say there's a

thousand pages instead of two thousand

that's still a lot and I would say that

to read The Divine Comedy is in some

sense better than to read easier works

they are better in the same way that

eating kinds of certain kinds of foods

are better for your body and doing

certain kinds of activities are better

for your physical health these books are

soul food they are the kinds of books

that can make you a better person

we don't get their benefits however if

we try to binge them we don't get their

benefits if we don't slow down and Savor

them

and so all I want to say in this video

with all of the other content that might

come out you know my co-host and I do

monthly discussions of difficult books

from the Western Canon some being in

some small

we chose that monthly Pace actually on

purpose we chose it because

to read one of those books in a month

that's doable because you can read it

properly in a month

but to read it one a week

that's hard

and you really don't ever want to get to

that point where you are just binging on

these things to be able to say that you

have read them you want to be able to

absorb them you want to be able to spend

time with them you want to actually turn

these books into old friends that you

revisit that you miss when you haven't

read in a while those kinds of

friendships just as with human beings

take time and energy and effort to build

and to nurture and sustain

so if you want to treat your books as

friends and you want to get the most out

of them that you can

you really just got to give up on

reading more

choose your books wisely

find a good list or better yet find one

work that really speaks to you and then

start going from there follow a natural

progression

revisit those works from time to time

see how you have changed see what you

missed in your previous readings

find good people to talk to uh find good

people either online or better yet in

person to talk to about those books form

book clubs form discussion groups form

little local communities where you can

find like-minded individuals who want to

read these great books

and

while I do think it's nice to keep your

a little Journal

uh keep a journal like I do so that way

you can look at it and say yes I've read

this many books this year

don't turn the number into the goal

really think about yourself

and the kind of person you want to be

make that the goal