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How to Read a 240-Page Book in 2 Hours

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Reading is the best thing I’ve done to help myself progress professionally.

From working as a retail store manager and in a call center, to working as a senior marketing manager for one of the world’s largest publishing companies to a senior content marketer for an online and mobile giving provider, reading has been the most influential catalyst in my professional development.

But trying to read more books can be frustrating.

There’s work, family, demands, lack of time, and BIG books.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, you’re not alone.

How to Read a 240-Page Book in 2 Hours

Like most professionals and students, you have a list of books you want to read the length of your arm. A list of books you’d like to finish by the end of this year.

Here’s the deal:

You can read more books without learning how to speed read.

In this post, I’m going to show you how to read more books in less time.

We’re going to cover the following topics:

Alright, happy reading!

[Read more…]

Do You Want to Be a (Great) Writer? Then Start Reading Like One

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There are no shortcuts you can take to become a better writer.

Sure, you can learn different hacks, tips, and tricks to improve your prose. But the process of developing your ability as a writer is a marathon—not a sprint.

Do You Want to Be a (Great) Writer? Then Start Reading Like One

Now, I don’t claim to be a master of the English language, and I don’t possess a degree in literature. If anything, I have a difficult time parsing sentences, and I don’t know a lot of technical jargon, like, “What is a predicate?”

Shoot.

I have a tremendous fear of writing. I have to punch fear in the face every time I sit down to write anything, and I mean anything—including a tweet. But over the years, I’ve been able to slowly improve my writing by accidentally embracing Stephen King’s advice, “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”

So, here’s the deal: If you want to become a better writer, you need to become a voracious reader. You see, attempting to write without avidly reading is like trying to pull water from a dried-up well. There’s nothing there.

If you want to write anything—whether it’s a Facebook update, blog post, or book—you need to have a storehouse of words to pull from. You need to have in your possession a robust vocabulary, stories to help you illustrate your point, and the only way you can build such a repertoire is by reading.

Filling yourself up with words is the best way for you to fuel your writing. From books, magazines, long-form journalism, blog posts, and everything in between, reading will help you develop your skills as a writer.

Before you go off and pick up a random book from your shelf or Kindle, there’s a method you need to go about your reading. Reading, in general, is helpful, but if you want to become the best possible writer you can, you want to have a plan in place. Here are five steps to help you get started.

[Read more…]

Can’t Find a Mentor? Then Read a Book

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Finding the right mentor is easier said than done. To connect with someone who can provide you with direction, encourage you when you’re down, or push you when you need to be challenged is difficult.

Or is it?

You actually don’t have to look far (or hard) to find the best mentors. You can learn from the most successful people throughout history without even knowing them personally.

How?

By reading their books.

Can't Find a Mentor? Then Read a Book

I understand reading isn’t the same as having a face-to-face conversation with someone you want to learn from, but hear me out.

For any book, a great author will spend hours researching their topic, clarifying their thoughts, and writing his or her ideas on a page. Their writing will be reviewed by peers and placed through a grueling editing process, which will further enhance their arguments. By the time their book is published, it will contain some of the best advice they have to offer. So, if you need to solve a problem, answer a question, or learn a new skill, there’s a good chance you can find what you’re looking for in a book.

To absorb the lessons you are learning into your bloodstream; then you need to treat the book you are reading like you are having a conversation with the author. When this happens, the author becomes the mentor, and you become the mentee. But this just doesn’t happen by accident.

When it comes to reading, you can choose to glance through a book, scribble down a few notes, or read the cliff notes, but this passivity will not yield the results you’re looking for.

To really get everything out of the book you are reading; you need to treat like having a one-on-one conversation with the author. Think about it this way.

If you were meeting with someone you are interested in learning from, then you wouldn’t rush your conversation. You would take your time. You would ask questions. And you would listen to what they have to say. So why would you treat their book than anything less than an opportunity to hear their best advice?

In this post, I want to share with you the 4-steps you need to take to have a conversation with an author, their book and to digest the lessons they have to offer. This is a process that should be done entirety and in the order below to grasp the material you are reading.

Read the entire article on Observer.

The Easiest Way to Read More Books

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The first book I remember reading was in the summer of 2001.

Read more books

I was 20 years old, and up until that point in my life I’d felt no interest in reading.

You see, I come from a stereotypical West Virginia family, complete with a coal-miner dad and a stay-at-home mom. Apart from a few fleeting moments of academic interests, reading and education weren’t a personal interest and weren’t emphasized at home. Playing sports and having a good time with friends were all that mattered.

But things changed for me that summer. In two really big ways.

I had just met a girl (who is now my wife), and she liked to read. After our first conversation, I felt intimidated. She was intelligent, witty, and always kept up with current events. As for me, I was the proverbial meathead in college. I was playing football, and anything that whiffed of academics repulsed me.

Well, I wanted to see her again but knew I needed something intelligent to talk about the next time I saw her. So, I visited a Waldenbooks store over the weekend, browsed the aisles, and bought a copy of The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

I can’t recall why I picked up this specific book. But knowing who I was back then, I would wager it had something to do with the word war in the title.

After getting home, I sat down and read the book. While I found the writing archaic, clunky, and difficult to understand, my interest in impressing this new girl drove me to read the entire book.

I can’t say our second dinner date at Chili’s in Charleston, WV paved the way for our marriage or that my love for books radically changed after reading The Art of War. But over the next few years, my wife and I did get married and I slowly realized something else… I was reading a lot.

[Read more…]

How to Absorb a Book into Your Bloodstream

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Bloodstream Book

Just in case you were beginning to mistake me for a coffee addict who blazes through books, I thought I’d write a post to correct that picture in your mind.

In fact, I want to convince you of one of the most important rules when it comes to reading.

I want to show you why absorbing a book into your bloodstream is a good thing.

And I want to show you that unless you do this, you’re likely missing out on the best kind of reading. Let me show you what I mean. [Read more…]

How My Admiration for Maria Popova Turned into Jealousy (but Not for Long)

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Coffee Cups

If you don’t know who Maria Popova is … shame on you.

She’s the founder and curator of Brain Pickings … one of the few blogs catalogued into the Library of Congress.

That blog is a bottomless source of curiosities. And for any writer, a well of inspiration. Which made her interview with Kelton Reid hands down my favorite.

Let me put this in context.

Over the years Kelton has interviewed some great writers: Seth Godin, Daniel Pink, Elizabeth Gilbert, and Jeff Goins.

But HER interview had me hanging on every word. To say she is intelligent and creative is a gross understatement.

No wonder: her life is consumed by reading and writing. Devoted to books like a nun with a iron-clad pact to serve God. It’s an entirely enviable life.

And not just any kind of books. Old, non-digital books. [Read more…]

Want Your Copy to Sound Human? Have This Stupid Machine Read It

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Ginger

I got this idea from my daughter who was making us utterly crack up this weekend with her imagination. It wasn’t so much what she said. It was how she said it.

Rather how Ginger said it.

Ginger is the name we gave to the voice on Google Translate. My daughter was making Ginger say some of the most preposterous things.

For example:

Hello, I am a stupid machine. Do you still love me? It is good that you love me since I don’t care. I don’t have emotions. Tell me what I should say. How I should feel. See, I am stupid. What’s the weather like outside? How old is that cat? I have mental problems. Can you tell?”

If you read those lines … it just seems silly. Listening to Ginger say them, however, is a flipping riot.

Which got me thinking about that particular piece of writing advice that says we should read what we wrote out loud. This exercise is supposed to help you to hear if it makes sense.

So what if Ginger read your copy out loud? Give it a shot.

  1. Go to Google Translate.
  2. Drop your copy in first box.
  3. Translate in language of choice.
  4. Hit the speaker icon.

I experimented with a few posts … and it was funny. But very bumpy. She has zero emotion. Misses inflection. And stops halfway through on long posts.

Give it a shot with a short piece, and let me know what you think.

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