My Reading Methodology

When I was a child (around the age of 12), my parents used to tell me how important it is to read books.  I hated to read books, and, to be honest,  I didn’t read them at all!  I researched all of my school essays on the internet and, after editing, I turned them in and got A’s on most of them.

Today, I have more than 60 books on my shelf and read at least one, and usually two books a month.  So what happened? I have no idea. I don’t really remember exactly when I decided to start reading books.   What I can say honestly is that I was a real idiot for wasting so many years when I could have been reading amazing books.

I’ve spent a substantial amount of time thinking about books, both before and after reading them.  At the moment, I’m in the middle of a “reading frenzy”, as I’m reading a lot about marketing, and particularly about on-line marketing.  At times, when I’m interested in a particular subject matter, I’ll read 4 – 5 books before considering whether to read more, or to move on to another subject.

Finding time for reading was not an easy task.  In the beginning, I tried to read for 30 minutes every morning before doing my chores.  Unfortunately, this didn’t work very well because I consider reading to be part of my “leisure pie.”   Nowadays, I read before going to sleep but I’m honestly thinking about   returning to my previous routine because these days, reading is not only part of my leisure pie – it’s intellectual input for me.   With the last few books I read, I started writing brief reviews in a notebook, and I’m thinking of writing a formal review of some of them on Amazon.   Up to this point, I’ve only stopped reading one book at the mid-way point.   I’ve found that sometimes a book is like a movie in that, if you lose faith (or interest) in the middle, there’s a chance that by skimming through the rest of it (or for a movie – if you keep watching), something “golden” will arise at the end.

So how do I manage my reading list?
Each book that is recommended to me is automatically added to my wish list on Amazon.   On this list I keep notes about who recommended each book so that I can thank him or her after reading it.  Every month or so, I buy  5 – 6 books about a specific topic and have them shipped to me.  I must admit that I am currently very inspired by personal recommendations by people whom I really respect.

photo by tbisaacs