Jan 6, 2020
#56: Have you ever felt frustrated by investing 8-10 hours in reading a book, only to feel its lessons slipping away as each day goes by?
Unless you’re Rain Man, I’m pretty sure you can relate.
Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of books that you “need to read?”
I personally have a queue of over 30 books that I’ve already purchased and awaiting my attention.
I am not joking.
Today’s episode is all about simplifying your unique process for selecting books which books you invest your time in reading…and a few practical techniques to ensure you retain more of the information you absorb.
Here to help us do that is Juvoni Beckford.
Juvoni is a software engineer at Google, and a disciple of the systems and habit based approach to living an optimal lifestyle.
I spent 3 hours in a van with Juvoni on our way to a men’s retreat a few months back…
…and when he started talking about his elaborate, and ingenious, process for selecting, reading and retaining 60 books a year…I knew I needed to bring him to you guys.
In this
Episode:
Why you need an intentional process for determining which books you say yes to (a 6-10 hour investment of your time)
Why you need what Juvoni calls a “book purgatory” – where potential books go to “meet their judgment day.”
Why 1 and 5 star reviews are just noise…and the well-written 3-star reviews hold the biggest clues as to whether you should read the book
Why you should know who the author’s “masters and students” are before reading the book
How you should look at book authors as access to mentors
Why these two factors are critical to your ability to retain
information:
1) Medium: Hard copy, Kindle or Audiobook
2) Context: On the train, in bed, listening at the
gym etc
RESOURCES
Juvoni’s 6 Books on Life
- Children of Time by Adrian Tchiaskovsky (listen on Audible)
- The One Thing by Gary Keller (read in print)
- Denial of Death by Ernest Becker (read in print)
- Algorithms to Live By by Brian Christian (read on Kindle or eBook)
- Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows (read in print)
- Finite and Infinite Games by James Carse (read on Kindle or eBook)
Juvoni’s book reviews: https://Juvoni.com/books
Juvoni on Goodreads: Juvoni’s Book List on Goodreads
Juvoni’s Blog: https://juvoni.com
Juvoni on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juvoni