The counting problem For three years I tracked every book I finished. The number went up. My memory of them did not.
Somewhere in the tracking, reading turned into throughput. I skimmed the middles. I noticed myself checking how many pages were left more often than I noticed what was on them.
What replaced it Now I read one book at a time and I read it twice if it deserves it. I keep a single index card in the back of each one and write down only the lines I would want to quote to someone.
Twelve books last year. I can tell you what happens in all of them.
A small method Read for forty minutes without a device in the room. Stop at a point where you still want to continue. Write one sentence about what you read before you close the cover.
That last sentence is what makes it stick. It is the difference between having read something and being able to use it.
