Newsletter #8 To Healthier Reading Habits
Keeping up with my reading list and forming healthier reading habits
Hi again, it’s nice to see you here!
To be honest, this week I was in a creative slump. Once again. I worked on some drafts, got 1 music article published, and that was it.
Here’s the link for it if you want to read it: 5 Reasons Why I Think the 90s Was the Best Decade for Music
I find writing music articles as a music lover very fun and refreshing for the mind.
Instead of churning out content this week, I invested myself into some reading. From magazines to books to online content, I wanted to feed myself more intellectually.
Especially in terms of book-reading, I wanted to up my game and get back on track with the books I once bought with enthusiasm but collected dust.
To be honest, I’m not a good book reader, and it’s something that frustrates me very often.
It’s not that I don’t like reading books. There are different reasons why I find reading harder than it really is.
First, is of course a weak attention span and having a hard time keeping my focus for too long, and my mind drifting elsewhere. I experience this with other stuff as well.
I tend to binge on 10-20 minute Youtube videos rather than watching movies or lenghty tv-series.
I tend to listen to music rather than listening to hour long podcasts.
Can anyone relate, or is it just me?
This problem causes me to miss out on very cool movies and podcasts and books. But I’m working on it.
With time, I actually became better at it through making myself read more books, the type of books that really interests me.
But maybe the most recurring problem behind my book reading phobia, if I’d have to name it, probably is my crippling perfectionism.
Whenever I pick up a book, I can’t refrain myself from trying to absorb each sentence, important or non-important, and what it’s meant by it, thus read some of the same sentences 2 or 3 times more.
Also, if it’s a non-fiction book that I’m reading, I find myself highlighting each important looking sentence like a madman, and that costs me time too.
And since I read mostly in English these days, I pause to check the meanings of words that I forgot or don’t know.
So whenever I set up to read as little as 10-20 pages of a book, I wound up spending an hour for reading that little.
This slowness and obsessiveness in my reading is probably what repels me from reading frequently and having a daily reading habit.
I have a fear that if I read too fast, I might miss some point that is really important, that’s why I try to engage myself fully into the book, rather than first focusing on the enjoyment I’ll extract from my reading experience.
It’s again about finding the balance. Don’t read too fast and miss out on the important points you could absorb from the book nor be obsessive about each word and sentence that will make you afraid of picking up a book.
Reading shouldn’t be a tedious activity but rather fulfilling and refreshing for the mind.
Because I realized I have too many books to read, in various categories, from non-fiction to fiction, I can’t let my poor reading habits make me miss out on these wonderful books waiting to be guzzled.
I have many online tools to help through my reading process, from finding exciting books to read, curated to my taste, to tracking my reading process.
I compiled these tools in an article in the past, you can also benefit from it: 7 Amazing Websites Every Book Lover Will Swear By
I gasp when I see people claim reading 52 books a year, or more for that matter. For a long time, I’ve read like 10 books a year. Which is a shameful number, I know. But I do read a lot of stuff, more than I read books.
I’m an avid reader of magazines, online and print, I read a lot from Medium, and read various psychology papers during my terms as well.
Yes, this doesn’t justify my lack of book reading habits, but I still wanted to mention that.
I also want to read quality books when I read books. I try to stay away from cliche self-help or superficial reads.
I don’t often reach for bestsellers but look out for books I can really learn from.
Be it psychology books, literary classics, entertaining fiction books, memoirs and books that rely heavily on research.
I don’t want to read books for the sake of reading books and to be able to tick more books as read of my list, you know.
It’s gotta be worth my time, and I ought to learn and be able to apply what I learned or touched by the enticing story. I’m very picky with which books I’m going to read.
Talking about reading, I finally finished the book the Undoing Project and I’m happy that I gave the decision to read it.
I extracted so much from it, both in terms of information on psychological and economical phenomena, and the touching life story of two amazing psychologists, their relationship and collaboration with each other.
After finishing it, I immediately started reading Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman who is one of those amazing psychologists that the Undoing Project was based on.
I’m at the very beginning of the book but so far it stimulated my brain and I’m excited to read the other chapters. It’s a very informative yet easy to read book, structured to make the reading experience flowy even if it teaches you a lot.
That’s it for this week, sorry if this was a bit rambly but I wanted to disclose my opinions about reading habits.
If you want to share your reading habits or opinions about books and reading with me, I would be glad if you left a comment!
On that note, take care and see you next week!