on reading
You have to be good at reading, and read good things.
Paul Graham • The Need to Read
To return to information overload: this means treating your "to read" pile like a river (a stream that flows past you, and from which you pluck a few choice items, here and there) instead of a bucket (which demands that you empty it). After all, you presumably don't feel overwhelmed by all the unread books in the British Library – and not because t... See more
oliverburkeman.com • Treat your to-read pile like a river, not a bucket
So why is reading books any better than reading tweets or wall posts? Well, sometimes it isn’t. Sometimes, you need to put down your book, if only to think about what you’re reading, what you think about what you’re reading. But a book has two advantages over a tweet. First, the person who wrote it thought about it a lot more carefully. The book is... See more
The American Scholar • Solitude and Leadership
You can't think well without writing well, and you can't write well without reading well.
Paul Graham • The Need to Read
The problem with books is that they end. They seduce you. They spread their legs to you and pull you inside. And you go deep and leave your possessions and your ties to the world at the door and you like it inside and you don't want for your possessions or your ties and then, the book evaporates.
Caroline Kepnes, You (You, #1)
Read a lot of high-quality stuff on a certain topic or time period. Recognize connections, reinforce them, prioritize retention over growth. Then, and only then, once your core is established, expand outward.
It’s like constructing a map instead of dotting a bunch of dots.