How do YOU read books?
Over the past few weeks I’ve been talking to a lot of people about their reading habits, and I’ve even changed mine up quite a bit. I find it fascinating how different people approach reading, and those approaches can be quite different.
To go a little deeper, I reached out to a few more people to get thoughts on how they read. I asked each of them the same nine questions and below is what I learned. These are all people who I have great respect for, and their systems clearly work for them, so there is no comparing which technique is better than another; everyone has their preferred method.
My hope for you is that you simple pick up a few new ideas as you read through them.
What’s your preferred reading format (kindle, audible, etc)? How often, if ever, do you read books in other formats?
As you might expect, this was a solid mix of paper books, ebooks, and audiobooks.
Robert Carnes, Jeff Hilimire, Adam Walker, and Chris LaFay are all mostly book-focused, though Jeff has some exceptions:
Jeff: “I read Kindle, physical books, and listen to audiobooks. If I read 40 books this year, my guess is 10 will be audio and a fairly equal split between Kindle and paperback for the rest.“
Dan Bennett, Tony Dye, and Maryann Davidson tend to be audio-first, but bring in non-audio books as needed. For example:
Dan: “I listen to an audio book (audible). If it has an impact I then Buy the book on Ebay from Goodwill Industries. I listen to the book again, while following along.“
Tony: “Whenever I can, I start with an audiobook, usually Audible. For any book where I want to “go deeper,” I’ll typically get a paper copy, often from a used bookstore, and mark it up.“
Maryann makes great use of audiobooks, with some use cases being that it “Makes grocery shopping, house chores, and yardwork more enjoyable” and they’re good for “Weekend Roadtrips traveling point A to Point B“
Chris Gardner always does kindle + Audible, similar to my new approach. He says “I read both at the same time to keep me focused“, and while he appreciates physical books he knows that he’s asking for trouble so it has “disciplined myself to not read if it isn’t in a format that I can highlight and refer back to with ease“.
If you read with Audible or other audio-based tools, what speed do you listen at (1.2x, for example)?
Next we got into listening speed for those that use audiobooks. There were three clear groups to this.
First we had those of us that read at normal (1.0x) speed, which included Jeff, Robert and myself.
Then we had a few that were around 1.5x, which included:
Adam: “1.5 always“
Chris LaFay: “The speed really depends on the speaker. I would say I can handle most things between 1.2-1.4x.“
Tony: “Typically around 1.5, but sometimes as low as 1.2, sometimes up to about 2x. When I go through the same book twice, the second time will almost always be at a higher speed.“
Maryann was in this same area, but made note that she varies it between 1.5-2.0x based on “Narrator’s cadence, amount of notes I’m taking, and depth of subject“.
Chris Gardner tends to run at 2.0x or higher, saying “2x at least sometimes up to 2.5x I can’t do any higher than that and stay focused on the content.“
What time(s) of day do you generally read?
This one varied quite a bit, with most people reading multiple times a day.
Chris Gardner reads “First thing in the morning and late in the evening“, as does Adam and myself.
Chris LaFay and Robert both read more in the evenings.
Jeff focused on the morning.
Tony and Maryann are mixed throughout the day, because they both tend to listen to audiobooks while they do other work. Maryann listens a good bit while “doing chores and watering plants“, and Tony does it while “doing yard work or other dumb labor“.
Do you track your reading progress? If so, what metrics do you track?
Chris LaFay and Chris Gardner both use Readwise, as do I. It’s similar to Robert, though he uses the Storygraph app instead.
Jeff keeps a simple log of books in Notion, while Tony tracks a simple table as well.
Adam tracks total reading time using the Timer+ app on his phone, and saves the info into a Google Spreadsheet. His goal is at least an hour a day, and he’s done it every day for well over two years! With my move to ElevenReader, I’ve started tracking reading time as well; in my case it’s pretty simple, since I can just use the Screen Time feature on iPad to show me how long the ElevenReader app was open each day.
Maryann keeps an amazing log of her books in a Google Spreadsheet, color coded with various data and going back 10 years. It’s quite impressive!
How many books are you in the middle of reading at any given time? Is there a specific method to the types of books you read at once (for example, one fiction and one non-fiction)?
This was quite a variety! We’ll go from least to most:
Chris LaFay: “I only ever have one book in progress at any given time. The only time I go against this rule is if I’m reading a longer fiction book, and I stumble on a “business book” that is a quick read. I’ll multi-thread those two, but that is rare.“
Robert: “I typically read 2-3 books at one time. At least one fiction and one non-fiction, and occasionally a graphic novel or other genre.“
Adam is roughly the same: “I usually have 1 fiction book going and 1-3 nonfiction books. It partly depends on that type of fiction book I have and how segmented it is.“
Maryann: “3-5 at a time“. She broke it down a bit further: If it’s three, it’s a sci-fi audio book with her husband, a business audiobook on her own, and a physical book for reading in her favorite chair.
Tony: “I’m typically in different stages in about three books at a time. Sometimes only one or two. Hopefully never more than four. Sometimes I have more than that on my desk or nearby for quick reference, but that’s not really ‘reading.’“
Tony‘s approach is very similar to mine.
Chris Gardner didn’t specify a number me, but said “I rarely read anything but business or self help books. I need to start reading more biographies.” That said, from past conversations I believe he said he juggles four books at a time.
Jeff: “Around 10. Usually one audible and five or six Kindle books, which I enjoyed bouncing between one and the other on the kindle, and then one or two physical books.“
Do you ever mix in any summary apps to understand a book, such as Cliffs Notes, Blinkist, Shortform, etc?
I’ve done a good bit with summary apps over the years, but less lately.
Tony and Robert both use these kinds of apps a little bit.
Tony: “Yes, but inconsistently. I like to claim I never read a book without first reading a summary, but that’s just not true. When someone I trust (you, for instance), reference a book and give me a quick reason why, I may jump right in. Often, when I decide it’s a book worth real study, then I’ll go look for a summary and add that to my book notes.“
Robert: “I occasionally listen to a book on Blinkist, but less frequently. It’s usually to decide if I should read the full length book.“
Maryann uses them to revisit old books: “Blinkist: to revisit a book that I previously read. Example: Book I read several years ago that is an upcoming book club selection“
Chris Gardner, Jeff, Adam, and Chris LaFay all say they don’t use them, and I really like what Chris Gardner had to say about that: “No summary apps because I think that the battle of going through it all helps get to the gold. I don’t appreciate it near as much when someone else mines the data for me.“
Do you take notes or save highlights while you read? What is your process for saving them?
Readwise was the crowd favorite here, for sure. This is what Chris Gardner, Jeff, Adam, Robert, Chris LaFay and myself all use (with some minor tweaks at times).
Dan has an interesting approach to notes, sharing “I make notes of what impacts me on a large whiteboard along the way. I take a photo of that final whiteboard and that becomes my reference for the book moving forward.“
Tony varies a bit:
“If I hear something of particular interest in an audiobook, I’ll verbally record a note to self referencing the chapter, about how far I’m into the chapter, and enough context so I could find it in a printed or kindle version.”
“When reading a physical book, I do a lot of blue underlining and sometime also add post-it tabs”
“My deep study method is to write my own notes, typically chapter by chapter, with page references. I sort of want to adapt Ryan Holiday’s note system for my needs. He hand writes, and that just doesn’t work for me. I want electronic notes and especially the ability to search them. I’m still tinkering with the different ways I want to tag notes for future reference.”
Maryann also has a very robust system, shared here:
Highlighter
I highlight the words and also highlight the upper corner of same page. (only books I plan to keep)
Phone Notes App
I use phone Notes App. I have different notes pinned for various subjects. So the notes aren’t by book, but by subject with (with a book citation/reference)
A few of my Pinned Note Examples:
Marketing Strategy (this has over 100 book citations)
Common Marketing Issues
Target Audience and Buyer Profiles
Favorite Quotes
Flavor Profile
Google Docs
Search internet for summary notes people have taken – combine into 1 Google Doc per book
(If busy or driving with audiobooks) I will screen cap the timestamp, then later listen and take notes.
Do you have any pattern/system to revisit old notes or highlights?
Of course, having all of those notes is of far less value if you don’t revisit them from time to time.
Chris Gardner references his old highlights in Readwise every day, and also makes great use of the AI tool in there.
Jeff, Adam, and I all rely on Readwise to do the “Daily Summary” each day, which pulls in random old highlights to try to keep them fresh.
Tony has a few different things that he does: “I have my “On This Day” system that I review every day. If I have included any book reference there, it gets reviewed. If I happen to be co-reading a book, then I’ll typically do my preparation ahead, then on the assigned day, I’ll get a re-review. For the handful of books I’ve co-read multiple times, I keep supplementing my older notes with newer updates and ideas from my reading partners.“
Maryann has a few techniques, including a “Binder” that she keeps: “After I get a bunch of notes on a particular subject / topic, I will design and make a google Doc. It is then color printed, and added to my Marketing Strategy binder. I carry this binder when visiting clients.“
Do you have any other accountability partners to share book progress with, or book clubs, or anything of that nature?
Chris and Robert don’t do much in terms of accountability but they simply love to read.
Adam uses Jeff and me to bounce thoughts off of. Plus, Adam has his own accountability of “never break the chain” of reading at least an hour a day (which he hasn’t broken in years).
Maryann uses three different areas to keep her going: Her husband, two books clubs, and a good friend of hers.
I should mention that we host a monthly virtual book club that you’re welcome to join, and you’ll see some people from this list in there as well.
Bonus
Adam also took a moment to answer a question that I didn’t ask, and I think this is likely true for everyone in this post. He said: “One thing you didn’t ask is why I read. It started with a challenge, but now I do it to learn and become a better version of myself. For me it’s about improvement. I want to improve my thinking, my imagination, my empathy, etc.“
How about you?
I’d love to hear from you on any of the above areas. Is there something you do that stands out from the crowd? New ideas are always appreciated, so let me know what works for you!