Reading Books for Content
There are a lot of books in the world. Some authors seem to think the point of writing a book is to see how many words they can use to state a simple fact. Lately, I have been learning to read for content.
I read a lot of nonfiction books. The important thing about nonfiction is the facts it contains. If you don’t have some interesting or important facts there’s no point writing a book. You can get a lot of information from the table of contents. This section should give you a good idea about what is in the book.
I generally read the introduction to a book, because it tends to sum up what the book is about. It is a waste of time to read acknowledgements and dedications. Some books are set up for skimming. They have bold section headings that convey the important points covered inside. These can lead you to information that is of interest to you.
Many books are written for people who have no clue about the subject. For instance, most books about blogging are filled with a lot of useless information on how to set up a blog. Seriously, you can find all this out by visiting the blogging website. This material makes the books longer and more boring for people who already know this stuff. Seriously, if the author is saying something you already know, skip ahead.
Sometimes you find parts of a book more interesting than others. This is a sign that there is new material here. If the author says the same thing over and over again, you are not getting your money’s worth out of that book. Go to a library and look around. All the books on the same topic are stored together. Skim through the book and find one that is useful. Forget about the rest. Nobody lives long enough to read all the books.
Of course, this method doesn’t work for fiction. You will want to read the whole novel to enjoy the story. This can take a while. If you read books on how to do stuff, the skimming method works fine. You can get through a few books in a day just reading the parts that interest you. Books with pictures are good as well. Sometimes a picture says things text never could. Get what you need out of your reading and move on. There is no point reading something that’s dull or boring. Scan for words that interest you and slow down to find out what you need. Of course, there are books that are good all the way through, but they are rare. Use the abilities of your mind to get what you need from a book and you will be putting that information to work for your benefit that much sooner.
