So many books, so little time.

Your guide to reading books

Jaynil asked me on the GitHub AMA to guide him on how to start reading books. He loses interest while reading a blog with a lot of information and feels that he may not last an entire book. And what better way to answer the question than write a whole newsletter issue!

know your interests

Read what keeps you engrossed. If you do not know where your interests lie or you haven't explored enough genres, try and build a reading habit first. Read whatever you come across and do it every single day. As a kid, I would read absolutely anything: newspaper, comics, magazines, library books, literature, even Grahshobha! Once the habit has been developed, it gets much easier to bring in quality to what you read.

remove distractions

I have a reading/writing place, AKA "den". Just the "cool" name makes me want to spend more time there. And while I am in my den, I make sure that I leave my phone at least 20m away. Do not give yourself options if you want to spend the time reading. And do not force yourself to read after a day of hard work. Your willpower is anyways low, and forcing yourself will just make you resent reading. When I want to force read something, I stay on my bed only with the book - I can either sleep or read, and both are okay!

join a book club

I have joined DX club. The collective progress that you experience in a book club will help you if you find the process of reading a book lonesome. In fact, the #FOMO that the discussions induce will make sure that you finish reading that book.

You can even have book buddies. When you discuss content with them, it makes for an engaging conversation, and the reflections that you share act as a practice to help retention in mind.

share what you read with a larger audience

Swapnil writes a blog, rather he shares "a bite-sized excerpt from one of the books" that he reads. You can try out something like that, write a blog or compose a Twitter thread, give a review, whatever suits you. The likes and comments might give you some endorphin rush which your mind will see as a reward when you pick up the next book.

You can follow people who read on their social media handles. They usually share about their preferences and recent reads and that may help you choose which books to read.

until next time

I believe I have answered Jaynil's question pretty well. In case you have any questions which haven't been answered anywhere else, my GitHub AMA is the place to go.

I have sent out these issues consistently for over two months now. If you have missed reading those, go to https://letters.tanaypratap.com and subscribe now!

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