Reading Efficiently: Strategies for Mastering a Non-Fiction Book's Core Ideas

How many books have you read and quickly forgotten? Good, useful information found within a non-fiction book can be very valuable indeed. But, that potentially life changing information is of little value if it cannot be retained and applied.   

That’s why strong, efficient reading skills are so valuable. In fact, leaders, professionals, and academics are often those who have mastered them. Fortunately, there is a method and a skill to reading non-fiction books efficiently that anyone can master.

But, first let’s define reading efficiently for the purpose of gaining ideas, information or skills in the context of a non-fiction book. Reading efficiently means being able to extract, retain, and apply relevant information and core ideas quickly.    

Prime your Brain Before you Read

Begin by assessing the book’s worth because your time is valuable. Thus, you approach the book strategically. It is not a novel, and therefore you assess whether you will read the whole book, or only sections of it.

In your journal or a notebook, you would begin by writing down, ‘If I could take one idea or actionable item from this book, what would it be?’

This preps your brain and helps you stay focused as an active reader. This is important, because you are setting yourself up to read with purpose, and not as a casual passive observer. This mind set is really at the heart of fluent reading.

Target your Core Sections

Remember, efficiency is the key, which means you do not need to read the book in any particular order, but you do want to identify the sections that contain the core thesis. To do this, you need to examine the all-important table of contents, and from there, prioritize which chapters you will be reading as priorities. Following this, write down a few questions this book must answer for you. Aim for a minimum of three questions. Again, this primes your brain to focus further on finding information of value.

Take Notes

The most successful learners/students and professionals generally take great notes. If using a textbook (unless you intend to resell it), you should have no mercy. Write notes in it, scribble, underline, highlight, cut pages out; go to town and get your money’s worth.

But, for a regular print book, it’s best not to make notes on the pages of the book for three main reasons. First, it’s actually more effective to review and organize notes on a separate notepad than on notes scattered throughout a book. Secondly, rewriting concepts in one’s own language is far more effective than underlining or highlighting. And thirdly, that book might also be of use to someone else in the future, who will appreciate a used unmarked book. If you do feel compelled to make notes inside the book, so be it, but please use a soft pencil that leaves no marks when erased.

Summarize

After you’ve read each section that you have identified as most important, close the book, and write down a brief summary. Include these question in your summary. The summary will help your memory consolidate what you have absorbed.    

• What is the author’s key argument.
• Why is that important or relevant.   
• How can I apply that in practice.

Teach  

To retain what you have learned, ‘teach what you have learned’. This is one of the greatest learning secrets. If you can’t teach it, you have not mastered it. If you cannot find anyone to teach what you have just learned, teach the wall or the couch, out loud. And do so within 48 hours. This helps your brain retain the information long term. Think of the 48-hour window as wet concrete – if you want to leave an imprint, do so quickly before it dries.

The benefit of keeping notes is that if you need to review the book, you don’t have to re-read the whole book. One great way to maximize what you have read is to keep a ‘what action I will take’ list (taken from the your summary). You can then easily refer to this list or incorporate it into your daily to do list.  

Once you’ve made the conscious decision to read as a master applicator of core ideas, and not as a consumer of information, everything falls into place, and taking a few notes becomes a simple and necessary step in efficient reading. It’s an attitude and an approach more than a discipline, but a discipline nonetheless. One that respects both the author's ideas and your time.