This is @austinkleon.
He's an avid reader and bestselling author of 5x books including "Steal Like An Artist."
Here are 27 reading tips from him:
1) Stop reading books you don't like.
2) If you aren’t getting anything out of a book, put it down and pick up another book.
3) Every hour you spend inching through a boring book is an hour you could’ve spent plowing through a brilliant one.
4) When it comes to books, quitters finish more.
5) It helps if you choose the right books in the first place. Stop reading what you think you should be reading and just read what you genuinely want to read. Read what you love.
6) Carry a book with you at all times.
7) Get used to carrying a book around with you wherever you go and reaching for it in all the spare moments you’d usually pull out your phone. (Commutes, lunch breaks, grocery store lines, etc.)
8) Go to bed early and bring your book with you. If you fall asleep while reading, pick it back up when you wake and read for a bit before you get out of bed.
9) Always have a book queued up for when you finish the current book you’re reading. Keep piles of unread books stacked around the house. (The Japanese call this “tsundoku.”)
10) A pile of books is nothing to be ashamed of. It says, “No matter what, at least we have more books to read.”
11) Turn on airplane mode.
12) A big part of reading is visiting other worlds, and you can’t visit another world if you’re constantly distracted by this one.
13) If you’re going to read on your phone or e-reader, switch it to airplane mode so you’re not even tempted to go online.
14) When you sit down to read a paper book, either put your phone in airplane mode, or plug your phone in across the room so you’re not tempted to reach for it.
15) Consider getting a paper dictionary, so when you read at home or in the office, you don’t have to pull out your phone to look up words.
16) Read with a pencil.
17) You don’t really own a book until you’ve written in it. A fancy word for this is marginalia. Underline sentences you love. Scribble notes to yourself in the margins. Doodle. Argue with the author. Make reading a conversation.
18) But do not, under any circumstances, write in library books. A special place in Hell is reserved for such transgressions.
19) Read old books. Human beings have been around for a long time, and almost every problem you have has probably been written about by some other human living hundreds, if not thousands, of years before you.
20) Re-read your favorites. A book is “shelf-stable,” but you are constantly changing, so every time you pick up an old book, it becomes a new book.
21) Date a lot of books until you find one you want to settle down with. Read more than one book and more than one kind of book at a time. Let the authors talk to each other.
22) Make regular trips to your local library and independent bookstore! It’s great to discover books through online friends and aquaintances, but there’s nothing quite like the “serendipity of the stacks”—the magical discoveries you make in a room full of books.
23) Connecting with a book is so much about being the right reader in the right place at the right time. You have to feel free to skip books, quit books, or maybe even come back to them later.
24) A book that isn’t for you may be the perfect book for somebody else. Unless you’re a book critic, you’re not obligated to pass judgment. Just say, “It wasn’t for me.”
25) The beautiful thing is: “Me” is always changing. You’re a different you today than you were yesterday. That book that wasn’t for you today might be just the right book for you tomorrow.
26) Keep track of what you read in a notebook or online. Share what you read with others. Make lists of your favorite books. Write reviews. Start a book club. Give books as gifts.
27) When you share your favorite books, you meet the people who love those kinds of books, too. They’ll give you even more to read. When you don’t know what to say to a stranger, ask them what they’re reading. Take notes.
He's an avid reader and bestselling author of 5x books including "Steal Like An Artist."
Here are 27 reading tips from him:
1) Stop reading books you don't like.
2) If you aren’t getting anything out of a book, put it down and pick up another book.
3) Every hour you spend inching through a boring book is an hour you could’ve spent plowing through a brilliant one.
4) When it comes to books, quitters finish more.
5) It helps if you choose the right books in the first place. Stop reading what you think you should be reading and just read what you genuinely want to read. Read what you love.
6) Carry a book with you at all times.
7) Get used to carrying a book around with you wherever you go and reaching for it in all the spare moments you’d usually pull out your phone. (Commutes, lunch breaks, grocery store lines, etc.)
8) Go to bed early and bring your book with you. If you fall asleep while reading, pick it back up when you wake and read for a bit before you get out of bed.
9) Always have a book queued up for when you finish the current book you’re reading. Keep piles of unread books stacked around the house. (The Japanese call this “tsundoku.”)
10) A pile of books is nothing to be ashamed of. It says, “No matter what, at least we have more books to read.”
11) Turn on airplane mode.
12) A big part of reading is visiting other worlds, and you can’t visit another world if you’re constantly distracted by this one.
13) If you’re going to read on your phone or e-reader, switch it to airplane mode so you’re not even tempted to go online.
14) When you sit down to read a paper book, either put your phone in airplane mode, or plug your phone in across the room so you’re not tempted to reach for it.
15) Consider getting a paper dictionary, so when you read at home or in the office, you don’t have to pull out your phone to look up words.
16) Read with a pencil.
17) You don’t really own a book until you’ve written in it. A fancy word for this is marginalia. Underline sentences you love. Scribble notes to yourself in the margins. Doodle. Argue with the author. Make reading a conversation.
18) But do not, under any circumstances, write in library books. A special place in Hell is reserved for such transgressions.
19) Read old books. Human beings have been around for a long time, and almost every problem you have has probably been written about by some other human living hundreds, if not thousands, of years before you.
20) Re-read your favorites. A book is “shelf-stable,” but you are constantly changing, so every time you pick up an old book, it becomes a new book.
21) Date a lot of books until you find one you want to settle down with. Read more than one book and more than one kind of book at a time. Let the authors talk to each other.
22) Make regular trips to your local library and independent bookstore! It’s great to discover books through online friends and aquaintances, but there’s nothing quite like the “serendipity of the stacks”—the magical discoveries you make in a room full of books.
23) Connecting with a book is so much about being the right reader in the right place at the right time. You have to feel free to skip books, quit books, or maybe even come back to them later.
24) A book that isn’t for you may be the perfect book for somebody else. Unless you’re a book critic, you’re not obligated to pass judgment. Just say, “It wasn’t for me.”
25) The beautiful thing is: “Me” is always changing. You’re a different you today than you were yesterday. That book that wasn’t for you today might be just the right book for you tomorrow.
26) Keep track of what you read in a notebook or online. Share what you read with others. Make lists of your favorite books. Write reviews. Start a book club. Give books as gifts.
27) When you share your favorite books, you meet the people who love those kinds of books, too. They’ll give you even more to read. When you don’t know what to say to a stranger, ask them what they’re reading. Take notes.
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