How to Effectively Read and Learn from a Book?
Learning is a continuous process. Process of continuous studying, remembering, applying, and repeating the same on and again. From infancy to old, everyone has to learn in order to live in the world.
The choice and methods of learning may be different but the only thing that matters at last is what we have contributed to society.
Learning is the only thing that has brought mankind to the point it is now. From the discovery of fire to the inventions of supercomputers – everything has been a continuous process of learning. The ones with top knowledge have always led the world and those with no wisdom have fallen behind. All those experiences gained from the continued process of learning are compiled in you know where, in the books.
For thousands of years, books have been important sources of information, enlightenment, and wisdom, and will always be. The process of learning may change from folk tales to printed books and then again to digital/e-books, but the only thing that will stay forever is the essence of learning that comes from words and characters.
Book Reading
Book reading has always been considered an art and those who excel at it, are better learners and ultimately tend to lead their part. In the following article, I shall be outlining some of the tested ideas on reading and understanding books in a better way.
This is a well-researched article and contains opinions and ideas from various resources like top authors, some people I know, research papers, etc. Since it is written with a personal frame of opinion, and after all – is equivalent to a chapter from any book it’s highly suggested to generate ideas after you are finished with it.
Table of Contents
Prerequisites
- Before you begin, make sure that you like reading books. If you don’t, try any other medium of learning. No idea can be forced down on anyone – especially if that is related to learning.
- The book you are going to read is error free. Falsified information, typos and grammatical mistakes can ruin your learning experience. If you are looking to buy a book, even offline, Google about it online – read customer reviews and then decide whether to buy the book or not.
Different books call for different reading styles. In essays, casual hobby readings, or newspaper articles, the singular important thing is the attitude; you must like it in order to want to memorize the key points.
- Again make sure that the book is the best of its class in the market. Compare for different authors/publications if looking for a book on a specific subject/topic – and decide which one is more celebrated. You can again take expert opinions or search for Google.
Let’s read the book. Shall we?
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies,” said Jojen. “The man who never reads lives only one.”
George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons
Open the book and have the belief that you are reading the best book in the world. Now it’s time to get going and nothing is going to stop you from grasping it all inside out. Don’t plan anything yet. Just start reading the book lightheartedly and finish a chapter – whichever you may find comfortable – in one reading. If the chapter is large, try to break that into pieces. Let’s call each piece a section.
Don’t try too hard to remember anything or learn. Just complete the section. Whatever comes instantaneously – let that be soaked in by your brain.
Read again – read better
In order to learn better you will have to read again. But this time you will have to read for real. Take a pen or pencil and a notepad. By using a pen or pencil, you will be underlining important stuff and more – while the notebook will be your guide for your exams or just a common reference. Both are necessary and I highly recommend using both, even if you are reading an ebook. Taking notes is the most important part of any learning, take note of it.
Yes, Pen or Pencil
Using the pen or pencil, underline the only parts that you had trouble understanding on first instance of reading. Do it while reading all the paragraphs. Once it’s done to the end of the chapter, revert back to the beginning and do some note-making. Try making questions from the content in the section/chapter and note those questions in the notepad. List those questions by numbers like 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, …3.7, … etc., where in x.y, x is the Chapter number and y is the question number in the list. Now, using a pencil or pen, write these question numbers next to the paragraph or sentences that answer the question(s) – or in other words, from where the question was derived. Highlighting or annotating the paragraphs in such a way increases your own focus on the content by around ten times.
Symbols of Reading
Next come the symbols of reading. These are very important tools to distinguish what is important and what’s not. Just like indicating questions by 1.1, …, 3.7,…, etc., you can use certain letters or symbols to indicate the importance of any paragraph or sentence. For example, you can use ‘an asterisk’ * to indicate the importance of a paragraph – like * means important, ** means very important, *** means most important, etc. You should use letters like:
- D = Discuss letter
- R = Read again / Repeat
- G = Google it
- Q = Ask teacher/mentor
- Smiley face 🙂 = Interesting
- P = Person to know about, etc.
Once done this, you are logically ready to answer any questions related to that chapter any time. Try to understand the underlined and indicated sentences/paragraphs and also try to understand – again and again till satisfied. Repeat the process for every chapter of the book until the book is completed.
Always have the book near yourself and whenever you get some ‘me-time’ utilize that in the book as well if possible. Skip less important things and don’t think much about unnecessary stuff. The more time you will give to the book – the better and faster you’ll learn. It’s also advised to take the help of other references like similar books, articles, and blogs to feed yourself with more ideas. This will not just strengthen the theory but will also help you feel more confident as you know a little more than the usual book material.
Some people, especially students, like to read aloud. If you are comfortable with reading aloud – use it as an additional step but make sure you are alone while doing that.
Do you know?
That’s why study notes are important. Regularly open your notepad and have a go over it. Revising the notes will help recover the concept by up to 20 times more than usual.
