๐ /reading/
๐ Written by Dan
๐
Last updated: 7th March, 2026
This guide collects tips on focus, reading habits, and some useful curation tools.
I am not a doctor or learning specialist. Adapt these ideas to your own needs.
๐ Table of Contents
- Quick Start
- Introduction
- Reading Architecture
- The Environment (Your Setup)
- Reading Hygiene
- Tools & Software
- Special Contexts
- Troubleshooting Common Issues
- Naval Ravikant's Approach
- Ryan Holiday's Approach
- Bill Gates' Approach
- The Feynman Technique Guide
- Progressive Summarization Guide
- Appendix
๐ Getting Started
TL;DR: Read a little bit every day, quit books you don't enjoy, leave your phone in another room, and take notes so you actually remember what you read.
๐ Quick Start
1. Consistency
Reading requires repetition to build a habit. Try for 20 pages or 30 minutes a day at a specific time, like right after you wake up or before bed.
2. Environment
Make it harder to reach for distractions and easier to grab a book.
- Leave a book on your pillow, on your desk, and in your bag.
- Put your phone in another room or out of sight while reading.
3. Taking Notes
Try to engage with the text. Highlight, underline, write your thoughts in the margins, and summarize chapters in your own words.
๐ Introduction
"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one."
Reading lets you learn from decades of someone else's trial and error in just a few hours. But reading depends on a few variables. You can't force yourself to learn if your environment and habits work against you. This guide covers focus, retention, selection, and environment to help improve how you read.
๐ง Reading Architecture
The 4 Levels of Reading
Outlined by Mortimer Adler in his book How to Read a Book, reading exists in a hierarchy:
| Level | Name | Goal | Feeling / Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Elementary | Basic language comprehension. What is the text saying? | Passive and automatic. |
| Level 2 | Inspectional | Skimming to identify the structure and main ideas. | Fast. |
| Level 3 | Analytical | Deep comprehension. Asking questions and evaluating the text. | Takes a lot of effort. |
| Level 4 | Syntopical | Comparative analysis. Reading multiple books on the same subject to form your own ideas. (Use tools like Readest to view texts side-by-side). | Exhausting. |
Selection & Discovery
Every year, thousands of business and self-help books are published. Here are a few ways to filter out the bad ones:
- The Lindy Effect: If a book has been in print for 10 years, it will likely be relevant for another 10. Prioritize older, well-known books over new releases.
- The Greatest Books: A list of critically acclaimed books.
- Five Books: Experts recommending the five best books on their specific subject. Good for finding non-fiction.
- TasteDive: Good for finding books based on what you already like.
Sourcing & Archives
Some places to find books online:
- Public Domain & Classics: Project Gutenberg and Unglue.it for out-of-copyright classics and open-access books.
- Digital Preservation: For out-of-print or hard-to-find texts:
- Anna's Archive (Large collection of books and papers)
- Z-Library
- Library Genesis
- Mobilism (Good for current releases and magazines)
The Forgetting Curve
Discovered by Hermann Ebbinghaus, this concept suggests you forget roughly 70% of what you read within 24 hours unless you review it. Spaced repetition can help you keep the knowledge long-term.
๐ The Environment (Your Setup)
๐ก Lighting & Eye Strain
Eye fatigue makes it hard to read for long periods.
- The 20-20-20 Rule: Every 20 minutes, look at an object 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
- Lighting: Use a bright, cool light directed at the page for studying. Use warm, dim light for evening reading.
๐ช Posture & Ergonomics
- The Bed Trap: If you read in bed, your brain associates it with sleep and you will get drowsy.
- Desk/Chair: For analytical reading, sit upright at a desk.
๐ Audio & Noise Management
- Lo-Fi / Classical: Good for background noise.
- Binaural Beats (40Hz): Some people find 40Hz binaural beats help with focus.
- Brown Noise: Helpful for drowning out coffee shop chatter or a noisy household.
๐ต The Phone Barrier
Having your phone nearby can be distracting. Keep your phone in another room or physically out of sight.
๐งผ Reading Hygiene
๐ The 50-Page Rule
Life is too short to read bad books. Give a book 50 pages. If you aren't hooked, drop it. Quitting books you don't like helps avoid reading slumps.
โ๏ธ Marginalia (Writing in Books)
Don't be afraid to write in non-fiction books. Write your thoughts in the margins, like "Reminds me of [X]," or "Look this up later." This helps you process the information.
๐ง Audiobooks & "Cheating"
Listening to an audiobook isn't cheating. It stimulates the same parts of the brain as physical reading.
- Sourcing: You can find audio formats using AudiobookBay, MyAnonaMouse (Requires invite), or stream via Tokybook and NEPU Audiobooks.
- Note: It's easier to zone out with audio. It is great for biographies and stories, but can be hard for highly technical books. Apps like Readest have text-to-speech so you can switch between reading and listening.
๐ ๏ธ Tools & Software
E-Readers & Reader Software
- Calibre: A program for managing e-book libraries. Use it to strip DRM, fix metadata, and send files to your Kindle. (Use the Ebook-Translator plugin for foreign texts).
- Readest: A cross-platform reading app with parallel reading, built-in translation, cross-device sync, and text-to-speech.
- KOReader: A reading app for jailbroken E-ink devices (Kindles/Kobo) and Android. Highly customizable.
- Koodo & SumatraPDFReader: Good lightweight desktop alternatives.
Tracking & Progress
Tracking your reading can help you stay consistent.
- StoryGraph: An alternative to Goodreads with charts and mood-based recommendations.
- GoodReads: Useful for its large community and reviews.
Readwise & Knowledge Managers
If you only use one tool from this guide, check out Readwise. It syncs your highlights from Kindle, Apple Books, and web articles, and emails you a few random highlights a day to help you remember them.
Visual Pacers & Browser Readers
- Using your finger or mouse to trace under the line can help you read faster and stop you from losing your place.
- Web Reading: When reading online, use Reader View to hide ads, or use Papeer to turn the article into an EPUB for your e-reader.
๐ Special Contexts
Academic & Dense Texts
For textbooks or papers, try reading the abstract, then the conclusion, look at the graphs, and then read the body.
- Research Repositories: Places to find papers without hitting a paywall:
- Sci-Hub: Bypasses paywalls for many scientific articles.
- arXiv: Cornell's repository of open-access research papers.
- Openstax & AcademicTorrents: Good sources for free textbooks.
- Research Tracking: ResearchGate, Mendeley, and SciLit are helpful for managing references.
Reading Before Bed
- Fiction: Fiction is usually better before bed than non-fiction, which can keep your brain too active.
- Lighting: Use a warm light setting on your e-reader to avoid bright blue light.
๐ค Troubleshooting Common Issues
The Reading Slump (Comics & Manga)
If you haven't read in a month, don't try to start with a 600-page biography.
- The Fix: Pick up something visual and fast-paced like comics or manga to get back into the habit.
- Where to find them:
- Western Comics: GetComics (Downloads), ReadComicsOnline, ComicBookPlus (Golden Age). Manage your files with Kindle Comic Converter.
- Manga: MangaDex (An ad-free reader), Weeb Central, MangaNato. Track your progress with MyAnimeList or Anilist.
Falling Asleep While Reading
- Posture: You are likely laying down. Try sitting up.
- Environment: The room might be too warm or too dark.
- Time of Day: Try moving your non-fiction reading to the morning.
Forgetting Everything
- The Fix: You are probably reading too passively. Try the Feynman Technique or take better notes at the end of every chapter.
๐งฌ Naval Ravikant's Approach
Tips from investor Naval Ravikant.
1. Identity
Read what you love until you love to read. Don't read books just to show off.
2. The Anti-Library
Think of your bookshelf as a library of things you don't know yet, rather than just books you've already read.
3. Skipping Around
Naval often just reads the chapters that solve a specific problem and then puts the book down. You don't always have to finish a book.
๐๏ธ Ryan Holiday's Approach
Tips from author Ryan Holiday.
1. Active Reading
Reading should be a conversation with the author. Highlight, take notes, and write in the margins. Don't worry about keeping the book in perfect condition.
2. Don't skip the preface
Introductions and prefaces provide context for the rest of the book.
3. Mindset
There are no real shortcuts to speed reading; you just get faster by reading more. Read to learn and change your behavior, rather than just memorizing facts.
๐ผ Bill Gates' Approach
Tips from Bill Gates.
1. Finish What You Start
Bill Gates finishes every book he starts, even if he disagrees with it.
2. Block Scheduling
He reads in blocks of at least an hour to give himself time to get fully focused on the text.
3. Margin Arguments
He writes counter-arguments in the margins. If you can't come up with an argument against the text, you might not be reading it deeply enough.
๐ง The Feynman Technique Guide
If you want to understand a complex concept, try the Feynman Technique.
- Step 1: Write the name of the concept at the top of a blank page.
- Step 2: Write out an explanation of the concept in plain English. Assume you are explaining it to a 12-year-old.
- Step 3: Wherever you get stuck, or have to use jargon - that is where you have a gap in your knowledge.
- Step 4: Go back to the book, re-read that section, and simplify your explanation even more.
๐๏ธ Progressive Summarization Guide
This is a way to take notes so they are easier to review later.
When you finish a book, export your highlights and process them in "layers":
- Layer 1: The raw text you highlighted directly from the book.
- Layer 2: Read through Layer 1 and bold the most important keywords or sentences.
- Layer 3: Read only the bolded text and use a digital highlighter tool on the best phrases.
- Layer 4: At the very top of the note, write a 3-bullet-point summary of the entire book in your own words.
When you review your notes later, you only need to read the summary layer.
๐ Appendix
Further Reading
- Mortimer Adler: How to Read a Book
- Tiago Forte: Progressive Summarization
Credits
- Mortimer Adler: How to Read a Book
- Naval Ravikant: The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
- Ryan Holiday: 22 Rules for Reading
- Tiago Forte: How to Take Smart Notes
