10 Thoughts From 100 Books

1. Best-Selling Books are Usually Crap

The goal of best-selling books is to make money. This isn't the case with all popular books, but it's important to keep this in mind.

2. Read Foundational Books

The biliography section at the back of the book is where you'll find your next one. Often times you'll notice patters, the names of books that repeat themselves. You'll know that these are the ones that you need to read.

3. Good Books are Usually Hard to Get

Get here means to understand or grasp. A good book will teach you new ways to explain concepts. It won't always be easy to understand the first time reading it. But it will provide you with an opportunity to think about what is being said.

4. Figure Out What You Want to Learn First

Without doing this we'll just pick up whatever book is in front of you. Try to think first about a subject or idea you want to learn, then look up the best books on that topic.

5. Take Notes

Like I'm doing right now (but with an article!). Taking notes will help you solidify your knowledge of the material. Better yet, publish your notes somewhere or write a summary of it in your own words.

By taking notes you also create a personal library of knowledge that you can go back to refer to when you need ideas.

6. Books Will Only Show You the Way

Books aren't silver bullets. They can help guide us in the right direction, but we still need to use our own creativity and adapt the lessons to our own lives.

7. The More You Read the More You Want to Read

The more you know, the more you realize you don't know - Aristotle

Down the rabbit hole.

8. It's About Taking Action

Reading in and of itself is a great habit, but it can be described as a passive activity. Doing something is important to reinforce what you've read about, such as taking notes as mentioned above.

Most of the time you won't need to read 100 books on a given subject to understand enough to get started on doing something.

9. The More You Read the More You Distance Yourselves From Others

An interesting point that the author makes here. If you surround yourself with others that read, you might create an environment of continuous learning and intellectual conversation.

But if you're unable to find an audience to share what you've read about, the author argues that you'll find most topics of conversation dull.

10. The Intellectual Gap Between You and Others Increases

By reading more you come to understand many of the problems in this world. And you come to realize that most people don't really care about fixing them.

This makes me think about how often Bill Gates reads and the philanthropic nature of the Gates Foundation.