Reading
Which book changed how you act — not just how you think?
Reading is how you absorb the compressed experience of others. One book can save years of trial and error — if you read it at the right time. AI can summarise any text instantly. The human edge is choosing which texts deserve deep attention — and connecting what you read to what you're building.
| Without Reading Skill | With Reading Skill |
|---|---|
| Consume without retention | Extract and apply |
| Read everything equally | Prioritise ruthlessly |
| Collect information | Build mental models |
| "I read that somewhere" | "Here's what it means" |
Selection Protocol
Not everything deserves the same attention:
| Decision | Test | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Worth starting? | Would I recommend this to someone solving my current problem? | If no, skip it |
| Worth finishing? | After 50 pages, am I learning or just completing? | Quit bad books fast |
| Worth re-reading? | Did I underline more than 10% of it? | Re-read the best instead of starting new mediocre ones |
| Worth buying? | Would I pay 10x the price for this information? | If yes, buy immediately |
The most valuable reading skill is selection. What you don't read matters more than what you do.
Three Layers
Read everything in passes, not front-to-back:
| Pass | Time | Purpose | Method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skim | 15 minutes | Should I read this? | Table of contents, first/last paragraphs, headings, bold text |
| Read | 1-3 hours | What does it say? | Cover to cover, marking what strikes you |
| Study | Days/weeks | What does it mean for me? | Re-read marked sections, take notes, connect to current problems |
Most books deserve pass 1. Good books deserve pass 2. Great books deserve pass 3.
Active Reading
Passive reading is entertainment. Active reading builds capability:
| Technique | What It Does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Argue back | Forces evaluation, not acceptance | "Is this actually true? Where's the evidence?" |
| Connect | Links new ideas to existing knowledge | "This sounds like X from a different domain" |
| Question | Turns consumption into exploration | "Why does the author think this? What's missing?" |
| Summarise | Forces comprehension | One sentence per chapter: what's the key point? |
| Apply | Bridges reading to doing | "How does this change what I'm working on today?" |
Read with a pen. Mark, annotate, argue. A clean book is an unread book.
Note-Taking Protocol
| When | What to Capture | Where |
|---|---|---|
| While reading | Exact quotes that struck you, page numbers | Margins or highlights |
| After each chapter | One-sentence summary of the key insight | Notebook or digital system |
| After finishing | 3 ideas that change how you act | Permanent notes, linked to projects |
| One week later | What do you still remember without looking? | That's what actually landed |
The test: if you can't explain the key idea to someone else without looking at the book, you didn't learn it — you experienced it.
The Shadow
Reading as procrastination. Consuming without producing. Collecting books as substitute for doing the work. Mistaking information for capability. Reading another book about writing instead of writing.
By Archetype
| Archetype | Reading Style |
|---|---|
| Philosopher | Reads to find truth — deep, slow, argumentative |
| Engineer | Reads to find solutions — targeted, practical, applied |
| Dreamer | Reads widely — cross-pollination across domains |
Context
- Writing — The output side of the input
- Pattern Recognition — What reading trains
- Decisions — Where reading informs action
- Meta-Learning — How knowledge structures build