“Reading” photo courtesy of paulbence via Flickr
Do you often get excited about a new book finding yourself enthralled in the message, only to watch its premise and principles fall down the drain of lost memories days later? It’s a shame, really. We spend hours with a book and if it doesn’t immediately change some perspective we have, we fail to see long-term implications. You will find me referring to and recommending a vast amounts of books on this site. Given that, I think this post is extremely pertinent. There really are some effective strategies to reading a book than simply opening the cover and getting down to business.
As I review the many books I read, I can see how I retained more information from the ones that I read more carefully. New ministry books come out every day and we are never short on materials to read. I encourage you to read books that support your perspectives and that challenge them. Only by hearing where the other side is coming from, can you gain ground in your own stances and arguments. Below is my system. It works for the framework of my brain, organization systems, and key learning styles. You my have to adjust it a bit, but I think you will find some generally helpful guidelines.
Step 1: Study the front and back cover. I know it sounds elementary, but most people don’t read the back of a book. Pay attention to any subtitle the book may have. Read the summary on the back. See what the author’s background is, that will help you to prepare for the type of writing style they may have. In addition, the book my have a dust jacket that provides more helpful insight in the front and back flaps.
Step 2: Read through the table of contents a time or two. This helps you to see a birds eye view of how the author is planning on going about his work. Is the book divided up into sections? How is he utilizing the chapters to build his argument? Is there a summary under the chapter that can help you discern the author’s direction? This can be an impossible task when the author has used cutesy titles or slogans for their chapter headings, but this is generally a helpful step.
Step 3: Read any introduction or preface! This is a very important aspect of the book. Many times, the author lays the groundwork for why he is writing that book in this section. The introduction is where the author usually lays out his thesis for the entire work. If you miss this thesis, you will end up missing why he is making the arguments he is making. I used to skip the introduction before I realized I was really missing some things! You may or may not want to read the acknowledgments section prior to the introduction. Acknowledgments can often be tedious and not really connect to the purpose of the book. They are primarily there for the author to recognize people who helped them on their journey of writing that particular work. This section may be pertinent if you have a strong following of that particular author and want to connect more to his writing process.
Step 4: Survey the chapter. This means flipping through each page spending no more than 2-4 seconds per page. You are looking for major headings within the chapter, conspicuous bullet points, and/or charts and diagrams. Sometimes the author may end each chapter with a summary. If so, fully read the summary prior to starting the chapter.
Step 5: Read. Now you are ready to actually read the words the author wrote. As you read, underline sentences/paragraphs that stick out to you as particularly important. Make note of illustrations you can use for future teaching/training times (I use Evernote for this-see step 6). I write in the sidebar of the books any comments that come to mind as well as my note coding system. It is also helpful to use those blank pages in the back of the book by noting major themes and ideas and the page numbers where they occur. Then you have a handy guide to the the highlights of the book anytime you want to look back on it. If chapters have nondescript titles, I find it helpful to write a one sentence summary of the chapter at the beginning of each. In terms of reading efficiency I have found that I read much faster if I guide myself with some physical implement. I tried using my thumb and first two fingers together moving along with each word, but found that to be a little tedious. Now I hold my pen under the line which I am reading and just keep sliding the pen down as I read. I found that this speeds up my reading time 50-75%.
Step 6: Review the entire book a week or two after you are finished with it. This part takes discipline. If you are like me you just want to put it on the shelf and not take time for review. However, review is a key component to the mind retaining information. If you felt that a book was just not very helpful, then I wouldn’t spend time on this step. Here is what I do in Evernote:
- I have a “notebook” in Evernote called “Books.” In this, I title each note with the title of the book and create tags based on major themes the book contained.
- I then type out the table of contents of the book so that terminology is in there.
- I code my book with a: “K” for a key thought, which I type out (w/page #) in the book’s note, “Q” for a great question the author asked, which I put in a “Questions” section of Evernote, and “I” for illustrations which I put in an “Illustrations” notebook in Evernote.
- If I have written my own chapter summary sentence or if the book provides it, I will write those summary sentences under the chapter heading in my note.
If you found a book to have tremendous impact, do not neglect reviewing it at a later date, perhaps 2 weeks to a month down the road. This does not have to take more than about 30 minutes, depending on book length. At this point, I simply go through each page reading the parts I underlined/highlighted and make note of any particular themes I listed in the back of the book. After that, I wash my hands clean of the book and rely on the Holy Spirit working through mental retention or Evernote searches to bring it back up at the pertinent time.
I hope this was helpful. I know that when you intentionally approach a book, you will grow more from it. You may want to take a look at The Library section of this site to find recommended readings about the supremacy of Christ, discipleship, family life, and ministry. And remember this: Leaders are Readers!
