Most of what you read won’t be especially interesting or insightful. You have to crush a lot of rock to get to the gems. Deep learning demands effort. If you want to possess a large mental universe of knowledge from which to draw, you have to consume a lot of information. This requires focused reading.

If I couldn’t afford books, I’d spend much more time at the library. I’d download them from libgen. I’d physically steal them if I had to.

I don’t finish every book I start. I skim. I’ll read a chunk of a book, place it on my shelf, and then pick it up two years later and continue. There have been a couple of occasions where I’d read the first page... See more

I listen to podcasts. Often, though, I’ll listen to them to supplement or reinforce what I’m reading. So if I’m reading a book by, say, Melissa Kearney, I’ll also listen to her interviews. This helps the information to stick.