My Approach to Reading

Get more wisdom in less time

The average adult in the West reads around 700 books over a lifetime — more books than the greatest geniuses of the past ever did. How many books you read doesn’t matter as much as what books you read and how you read them. In fact, the amount of information available today hinders most people from reading well. As T. S. Eliot wrote,

Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?

Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

I’ve never forgotten these lines since first reading them. They’re a reminder that we go to great writers — and return to them again and again — for the truth. You shouldn’t read books just to be able to say you’ve read them in order to appear cultured. You should read to form your mind by coming to know reality better. Wisdom is the goal.

That’s why I read, and here are some practical principles that guide my personal method. I hope they will help you get more wisdom in less time.