I am reading the great H. Spurling books on Matisse, in the back of the book I write down the page numbers of the sections that meant the most to me. When I am done with the book, I will make a mini book of those passages that were most meaningful. I like to read non fiction in the morning and fiction later in the day. In the morning I am "in" Paris with Matisse and in the afternoon I am"in" Paterson, NJ with David Rosenfelt.
I used to get stuck reading non-fiction at night, taking weeks to plough through a book. I switched to reading novels in bed, and non-fiction in the morning. One simple change transformed not only the number of books I read but my enjoyment of them. There is a time and a place for books!
Hey Austin, thank you so much for this post! I just discovered you, and I've been devouring all of your past posts. I have a question about how you recall information using your journaling method. I understand that you have a capture system, logbook, and diary, but how do you organize the information so that you can recall it later?
Together with the joy of discovery (in libraries ou bookstores), we should give ourselves permission to have more books than we can read. It's ok to have loads of unread books in shelves, you never know when you'll pick one up and it will make sense. As for concurrent reading, I love to put a lot of poetry in between. Poetry books are perfect for a quick fix, just open them on a random page.
Thank you so much! I got to this post from your recent "A portal to lost loot" blog. Just lovely. I checked several of your tips, and took note of others. Great stuff in the commentaries as well.
lovely - and reminds me of my love of the "Readers' Bill of Rights" by Daniel Pennac. He has written entire books on reading ("Better than Life") but this list is the thing I return to again and again. https://www.crcpl.org/you-have-the-right-to-a-good-book/
I recently gave away ten boxes of books. They had been sitting in the garage for five years and not once did I feel compelled to go search for any one of them in those ten boxes. We're short on space, so... Only now do I realize the difference between searching and browsing.Being able to browse a bookshelf of books you deemed worthy to purchase at one point can bring a lot of pleasure — and worthwhile ideas. Then again, as I said, we don't have much space...
I am still kicking myself for not moseying up to Austin (I'm in San Antonio) for Indie Bookstore Day. Wanted to snag a physical copy of this article and also meet ya! Oh well, I did go to Nowhere Bookshop and it was wonderful as well! Thanks for sharing this!
Any tips on how to read the book efficiently? I just recently started doing marginalia and highlighting the bits that I find interesting but sometimes it is easy to get the whole page highlighted LOL
I guess it takes time to learn how to highlight the book efficiently. One tip I read somewhere was to write “the why” you are reading that book in the first page then do all the marginalia and highlights accordingly.
Also audiobooks or podcast don’t work for me unless I can take notes. I can’t take notes while driving, for example.. I considered buying the apple watch to be able to do quick recording as notes. Does it work for anyone?
I'm thinking about this ears vs. eyes debate: i.e. listening to a book vs. reading one. Ah! Two pleasures: aural--listening to a great story (and stories are meant to be told); visual--admiring the scaffolding of a great sentence. Nancy Harris McLelland Welcome to the GrrEighties coming soon.
Umm audiobooks seem to having a moment. Hearing isn’t my best sense—I wear hearing aids not completely deaf—but may have to give audio a try. After all I listen to music streamed through my hearing aids!
I am reading the great H. Spurling books on Matisse, in the back of the book I write down the page numbers of the sections that meant the most to me. When I am done with the book, I will make a mini book of those passages that were most meaningful. I like to read non fiction in the morning and fiction later in the day. In the morning I am "in" Paris with Matisse and in the afternoon I am"in" Paterson, NJ with David Rosenfelt.
I’m reading a book my mom gave me after reading which is a nice way of connecting:)
Everyone’s talk of free libraries reminded me of this site:
https://www.bookcrossing.com
Leave a book somewhere & maybe get to see where it ends up.
Love this. So good 😊
Wow Austin ! Another great post! Thank you!
I used to get stuck reading non-fiction at night, taking weeks to plough through a book. I switched to reading novels in bed, and non-fiction in the morning. One simple change transformed not only the number of books I read but my enjoyment of them. There is a time and a place for books!
Hey Austin, thank you so much for this post! I just discovered you, and I've been devouring all of your past posts. I have a question about how you recall information using your journaling method. I understand that you have a capture system, logbook, and diary, but how do you organize the information so that you can recall it later?
Together with the joy of discovery (in libraries ou bookstores), we should give ourselves permission to have more books than we can read. It's ok to have loads of unread books in shelves, you never know when you'll pick one up and it will make sense. As for concurrent reading, I love to put a lot of poetry in between. Poetry books are perfect for a quick fix, just open them on a random page.
Thank you so much! I got to this post from your recent "A portal to lost loot" blog. Just lovely. I checked several of your tips, and took note of others. Great stuff in the commentaries as well.
Oh! And Billy Collins has an awesome poem on marginalia: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=39493
Love this... absolution for so many of my behaviors! I sent to the English Dept of the High School O work in!
lovely - and reminds me of my love of the "Readers' Bill of Rights" by Daniel Pennac. He has written entire books on reading ("Better than Life") but this list is the thing I return to again and again. https://www.crcpl.org/you-have-the-right-to-a-good-book/
I recently gave away ten boxes of books. They had been sitting in the garage for five years and not once did I feel compelled to go search for any one of them in those ten boxes. We're short on space, so... Only now do I realize the difference between searching and browsing.Being able to browse a bookshelf of books you deemed worthy to purchase at one point can bring a lot of pleasure — and worthwhile ideas. Then again, as I said, we don't have much space...
I love this! Would you please consider another printing and selling it on your site? I’m deep into your audiobook and taking copious notes👍🏻
I am still kicking myself for not moseying up to Austin (I'm in San Antonio) for Indie Bookstore Day. Wanted to snag a physical copy of this article and also meet ya! Oh well, I did go to Nowhere Bookshop and it was wonderful as well! Thanks for sharing this!
Any tips on how to read the book efficiently? I just recently started doing marginalia and highlighting the bits that I find interesting but sometimes it is easy to get the whole page highlighted LOL
I guess it takes time to learn how to highlight the book efficiently. One tip I read somewhere was to write “the why” you are reading that book in the first page then do all the marginalia and highlights accordingly.
Also audiobooks or podcast don’t work for me unless I can take notes. I can’t take notes while driving, for example.. I considered buying the apple watch to be able to do quick recording as notes. Does it work for anyone?
I'm thinking about this ears vs. eyes debate: i.e. listening to a book vs. reading one. Ah! Two pleasures: aural--listening to a great story (and stories are meant to be told); visual--admiring the scaffolding of a great sentence. Nancy Harris McLelland Welcome to the GrrEighties coming soon.
Umm audiobooks seem to having a moment. Hearing isn’t my best sense—I wear hearing aids not completely deaf—but may have to give audio a try. After all I listen to music streamed through my hearing aids!