Don’t read a book quickly and completely

If at all you wanted to read a self help book and got demotivated by the size of it or if you are struggling to complete a big book ,this is the article for you .

Frankly speaking I have not read a self help book until I was into my second year of engineering , even at that time the pace at which I completed books was very slow , I used to take around a minimum of 20 days for completely reading a novel – I personally don’t like the habit of reading a book at a stretch for hours together , it is not bad but I don’t like it – and a minimum of 1 month for a self help book . But back to 8 to 10 months , I completed books (especially self help) at break neck speed even with my 10 day per book speed . That said it was 10 books in 100 days !!

Here comes the important distinction, I did not complete all the books that I bought or borrowed , I left nearly 30-40% books incomplete – the range of “incompleteness” may vary from 5 pages to 500 pages . What I am trying to express here is that it is really not important whether you complete a book or not and it’s not also about the speed ,it is about getting the main essence out of it or understanding what the author is trying to convey . In Tibetan self help books the authors have the habit of writing a poem in the first page of the book, if you understand the poem completely and the wisdom related to it you need not read the whole book ,the same is true for a majority of self help books i.e focus on getting the theme of author’s point and not on completing the number of pages or the speed at which you are completing.If at all you are not satisfied even after understanding the theme of the book , then for the remaining chapters read the chapter names and summaries , that would be fine

There is a book called “Think and Grow Rich” , I call it the mother of all motivational books or like optimus prime in transformers-in that the author says,in the preface , when you understand what this book wants to convey whether you are in the first chapter or last chapter close the book and party yourself for finding the secret. I understood the essence of the book by the completion of second chapter (it is about the power of belief) and proceeded no further , suddenly I had a surge of confidence in me and felt as if I have read the entire book , the same is for true for anybody.

I am not saying you to leave your book incomplete, I am just saying you to concentrate on the theme rather than speed and number of pages , it is really good to complete a book but do it slowly and consistently because each point in that book needs to get absorbed by your subconscious mind and internal belief systems and in fact some books have to be completed end to end but once you have got the essence and/or found the point repetitive then just move on to the next book . (caution -(On a lighter note) This doesn’t apply for novels 🙂 )

– Raviteja Visakoti