Reading habits that changed my life
I don&#x27;t read for speed nor for retention. I spend the time to digest the content, not to retain it. Just like you don&#x27;t &quot;read&quot; math books, but engage with them.<p>Now this is not necessarily the optimal strategy for sure, but for one reason or another my personality is better fit for this style. I read very few books but then &quot;debate&quot; it in my head, try to connect things to other things, life experiences, news, other books. Is it true what the author says? Have I read somewhere else that an implicit assumption the author is making has been discredited recently? What could be the motivation? Could I argue equally convincingly for the opposite view? What are the implications for other things I care about or was wondering about perhaps long ago?<p>For a long time I was very ashamed of how few books I read, compared to what is expected from an educated person, but I&#x27;m okay with it now. Same with movies. I watch a movie and I think about it for days. Just watching them for relaxation doesn&#x27;t work for me, following who is who and what&#x27;s going on drains me more than relaxes. Especially when there&#x27;s no &quot;payoff&quot; and the plot can only be described with &quot;and then they&quot; sentences.