lifehack.org has an excellent (as usual) entry on efficient reading. I remember coming across classic book How to Read a Book, which covers the different levels of reading and how to reach them — “from elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading, you learn how to pigeonhole a book, X-ray it, extract the author’s message, criticize.”

The book teaches reading techniques for reading practical books, imaginative literature, plays, poetry, history, science and mathematics, philosophy and social science. I keep meaning to implement these strategies (better yet, read the book!), but I can’t help but want to be thorough when reading a book I review or abstract.

Somewhere I read advice on how to retain information from a book. The fact alone it recommended reading the book four times turned me off. With all the books I have waiting for me to read, I don’t have time to re-read a book. I’d like to use that time to read a different book. But the author was right to recommend re-reading the book if you want to retain its advice. However, some books do the job so well that I pick up a tidbit or two and use it without reading it a second time. Other books, reading them one time lets me know what information they have — so when I need the help… I know where to find them and put their advice to work.

If only I could find magical advice to encourage my kids to love reading without prodding from us. Many experts recommend letting your kids see you read. Well, that doesn’t work in my family. I’ve tried encouraging them to read things they enjoy like comics, topics of interest and such.

My daughter recently shocked me when she asked for money to buy a book and its sequel at her school’s book fair. She read both of them in one day. How did she get into them? A friend’s recommendation. We begged her to make more recommendations! She can feel free to read the two books repeatedly. It’s better than not reading at all.

Speaking of books, this YouTube video shows what tech support was like before computers came along. Hilarious. [tags]books,reading, Meryl K. Evans[/tags]