Since returning to school, I have made it a priority to read more. In particular, I am focusing on digesting physical books, the content of which evolves per my tastes and preferences, but the practice and routines remains constant. I read for a few hours every day. It has been a very impactful practice, not measured by quantity of pages, but rather quality of understanding.
I read what I am curious about. And so far, perhaps 3 weeks into the habit, I am loving doing that. I have no set agenda, but rather promise to let my curiosity drive my book selection.
One rather interesting or different thing I am doing is reading multiple books at the same time (not literally, but you know reading a part of one book and then another and constantly rotating between).
This is a bit bizarre, as most people read one book, try to finish it, and then move on to the next one. But I find this practice of rotation really impactful for several reasons.
First of all, it prevents me from stalling out. Often you get so lost into a subject that you need a break from it. So switch it up! I read say 100 pages of one book, get bored, and rotate. One day I am curious again about a topic and I will make my way back to that unfinished book.
Another thing it does is maximize the potential for collisions. Collisions occur when you are able to draw parallels from different bubbles or spheres of your life. Being able to make these comparisons is immensely impactful and a very valuable practice for generating ideas and being able to think critically about different topics.
Right now I am reading about the Cities, Xerox Parc, 19th Century China, and the discovery of Longitude.
Also published on Medium.