Writing Summaries > Reading

January 13th, 2024 (9 months ago) • 1 minute

Rather than reading more book each time, dedicate some time to write a synopsis or summary of each book after you finish. Maybe a 2 hour block would suffice.

Reading is not merely about book count and speed, it more on how you can digest the information and apply it in your life. Hence why understanding something through writing is the best way to do it.

A template I used is from Andreas Fragner. These set of question is a good starting point to write a summary.

In 1-2 sentences, what is the book about as a whole?

What are the 3-4 central questions it tries to answer?

Summarize the answers in one paragraph each.

What are the most important things you have learned personally?

Beside writing a summary, you can also talk about the book to a friend. 2 things that this achieves:

It forces you to get your thinking straight before you talk about it.
It opens up opportunity for discussion and debate.