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A book is a beautiful art form, but reading it is equally artful. More than half of the books you read will be erased from your mind within a couple of months, unless you learn the delicate art of reading them. This certainly used to be true for me, before I learned how to best approach the fine art of reading books. Reading is a beautiful thing, and perhaps the most important tool in your quest to more intelligence and creativity. But the use and enjoyment you get out of reading will depend on many factors. There are two that I believe are essential:

• Purpose: You need to know why you are reading a book, so that you have some kind of yardstick to measure your success. What makes the difference between just browsing a book and truly devouring it lies in the mindset you have toward the reading.
• Method: Most people just pick up a book and start reading from page 1, word for word. That may be the best method for some people at some times, but there are other more effective ways to read.

So with these two factors in mind, here are 5 useful steps that you should follow if you want to get more out of your book-reading:

1. Define Purpose: Why are you going to read this book? Do you need to read it? Do you want to read it? Will it help you in some way? Are you looking to solve a problem? Are you looking to take your mind off a problem? Do you just want to dream? Do you want to learn? These are all questions that might help you specify a purpose for reading. This purpose will define how you approach the book and what method you’ll use to read it. I recommend you write a sentence where you firmly declare your purpose.
2. Front Cover, Back Cover,Inside Flaps: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Yes, we’ve all heard that famous quote. It’s quite a good piece of advice. But you should still pay attention to it. What’s the title of the book? What’s the sub-title? What do you infer from the title and subtitle? Who is the author? Do you know him? Who are the co-authors? The back cover sometimes has a short summary of the book. Does it look like he’s trying too hard to sell the book? The inside flaps, if present, many times is quite detailed. Read it so you get a feeling of the book’s content and point of view. These are normally the first things you notice about a book, so use them to your advantage. Do you still want to read it?
3. Table of Contents: Focus on knowing what the structure of the book is. Is it divided in chapters? sections?acts? This is important because what you need to find may be on a specific portion of the book, enabling you to save time by going directly to that part. It can also determine the pace and rhythm of your reading. Reading one chapter per night is different from reading the whole thing in an hour (which isn’t wrong by any means). You should also look out for the topics covered throughout the book. Remember, pay attention to the cover, but don’t judge a book by its cover.
4. Index: This is a secret (O.K., it’s not secret) method I use to gauge and capture the gist of the book before reading it. As you should know, an index lists terms that are referenced throughout the book. Pay attention to which terms have the most references. Just browse and notice which terms have the most page numbers below. This is pretty reliable tool to know what the focus of the book is, and it could help you later on, even if only to know if you still want to read the book.
5. Actual Reading:Finally! If you decide to read the book after all the previous steps, you start to read. There are various popular reading methods, but I’ll mention the most popular:

• Regular Reading: Just read as you were taught in grade school.
• Speed Reading: This is based on applying certain methods which are supposed to increase reading rates (words per minute, for example) while maintaining a high level of comprehension and retention.
• PhotoReading: This method is taught in a product compilation of books and audios. It’s based on the power of subconscious peripheral vision rather than conscious vision and thought. I know it sounds somewhat strange, but I’ve found it to be an effective way for me to remember what I read. What I like most about it is that the method forces you to confront the material repeatedly, helping to increase retention.

Finally, there are a couple of things I believe you should keep in mind regardless of which method you decide to use:

• When first reading a book, read it straight through even if you don’t understand a sentence or chapter. Of course, you should try to understand the central premise of the book. But that doesn’t mean you should be bogged down by every single phrase you don’t understand. It’s very likely that you’ll know what it means by the time you’re through, or perhaps you don’t even need to know what it means. You can always go back to those parts after you finish reading (and if you use PhotoReading or speed reading, it’s essential), but first be sure to understand the “macro” level.
• Whether the book is fiction or non-fiction, teach yourself to create vivid images of what you read. Translate the written word into the language of images. In the end, that is what the author intends to create. It will exercise your imagination and creativity. This is especially true of fiction, but you can do this with your non-fiction reading too. It will help you in retaining content, since images are easier to remember than letters.

Don’t let this article lead you to believe reading is complicated. It may may seem to be, at first. But I trust you will learn how to better appreciate the fine art of reading a book, and getting the most out of it.

What tips and hacks do you use in your reading?

Image: austinevan

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