My Reading Flow

Reading comes easy to most of us, you pick up a book and read the words on the page. It’s so simple that almost anyone can do it in some way or another, however there are many factors that may dictate what you take away from the experience and how you consume the book. My reading pattern has changed a lot over the last few months and I have seen a few posts asking about other experiences when reading — so here is mine.

Books

This is kind of the most important part right, can’t read witout a book. I consume around a book a week, but sometimes much less depending on my free time. I read much more now that I have cut down my web use dramatically and consume much less TV (COVID-19 FTW).

Generally, I have two books on the go at once, sometimes more, but this will always be one fiction and one non-fiction. These are often read at different points, and used for difference things. My non-fiction books are read just before falling asleep or if I lack the ability to concentrate on much else and just want to chill out. These are usually very light reading such as the Ben Hope Books, or something of a similar vein.

As well as this I will have a non-fiction book on the go for the times I am more alert or fancy learning something. Some of these books have kept me until ridiculous times in the morning because they are so interesting and thought-provoking — sense why I typically have two books.

Kindle

I read almost every book on my Kindle Oasis. This was an expensive investment into a reader but it was worth it for me. Most people opt for the Paperwhite, which is exactly what I advise everyone that asks to get, and if you wait for the right time they are quite often on sale.

I would much prefer to read a paper book, they feel much better and give a tactile feedback that I really enjoy. But the books afterworlds took up too much space for me, so I wanted to be able to store loads of books in a small form that I can use where I want.

There are some books that I really want to enjoy, such as The Bhagavad Gita that I purchased in paperback because I consume then very slow and numbing through a book just adds to the experience.

Highlighting

Reading on a Kindle also offers me the ability to highlight things that I want to remember. These are usually small bits of information that display certain details of the book I am reading, things I want to look deeper into, or just great quotes. I could do this in a paperback, but it would be much more hassle.

Once I have finished the book, or sometimes part way through, I log into the Amazon notebook and copy all the highlights into a book note. This is where I make my notes about the book I have read and digest the information from it. Currently, I am using Roam Research and this has made making and linking these notes together much easier than ever before. Find out more about this practice here.

I don’t do this for every book I read, but for most non-fiction books I usually end up highlighting some bits so this dictates if I take some notes or not. This helps me retain much more information from the book and look deeper into some topics I have discovered.

Pocket

I save all of the things on the web I want to read into Pocket. This is the best value for money app that I pay for. You can use it free, but I just want to support the apps development. In Pocket I can highlight just as I would on my Kindle and copy these into Roam if I want to store them for later.

Pocket also helps surface articles that it thinks I will like, and often does a really good job of showing me things that I enjoy. I share all of the interesting things I find on there, so you can follow me if you wish.