Read Without Getting Lost!

“Where am I again?”
“What’s the author talking about?”
“I don’t even know what I’m reading now.”

When I say these lines, here’s what I’m sure of: I’m lost in what I’m reading.

Personally, there are two ways I combat this tendency.

First, I stop and pause every 2-3 pages and ask myself: what have I been reading so far? What I do next depends on the book. If it’s something easy, I just vocally summarize. If it’s relatively harder, I write down a 1-2 sentence summary at the margin. If it’s really hard and I’ve got questions too, I either get a sticky note and post it there or I I write at the chapter ends.

The important thing is that you remember where you’ve been! Here’s a bookmark that might help: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11lR056xJ9F9PXL2Ye9iuA_ZBAvNBc-xS/view?usp=drivesdk

Second, I keep in mind that my aim is to shelf the book while carrying it with me. What do I mean? If I read with the intent of getting the most out of it, I will keep some points in mind:

(a) what dilemma is this book addressing?
(b) what’s the thesis statement or proposed solution?
(c) what chapters is this one connected to?
(d) what other books share the same topic?

Doing this helps me see the particular part I’m reading in light of the whole.

Here’s a little sheet I actually fill out when I read: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11qO6aHQCzglUPX6kkUULdlQjMzNy6Pse/view?usp=drivesdk

Well, that’s it for me 🙂 How about you?