As a student whose first language is not English, I often find it difficult to 1) understand the language if it is really complex, and 2) find the basic argument the author is trying to establish, for it gets lost between the lines I want make meaning out of literally. In these circumstances, I would read out those complex sections out loud and often refer to brief articles on web or RUclips videos for a comprehensive understanding. These tricks help me a lot.
Things will slowly get better. English is my 4th language and I am currently doing a PhD in English literature. Reading was tough when I was doing my Bachelor’s, but now reading in English feels natural. Good luck!
As a mathematician, every book is hard. And we learn this during our studies: You’ll hardly ever understand a paragraph of a math proof if you just read over, so we reread a couple of times, we try to rewrite the argument, draw some diagrams or examples, and when we are comfortable with the authors argument we move on. Now, sometimes we don’t feel comfortable even after doing this technique. One very famous mathematician says: “Move on, and come back when you feel more confident”. And it works like magic, when we return to that idea, it’s almost as obvious as 1+1=2 and we realized it was not that we were dumb, we were just not mature enough to grasp that yet. Now, one final idea: We try to keep in our mind the following sentence: He/She discovered this thing, I just need to understand it. This keeps our motivation up. Pythagoras actually discovered his theorem, our job is only to understand it, and if we don’t, this hurts our ego. And no mathematician accepts being humbled by an old Greek dude lol. Yeah, nice connections with this video
I studied math and had a similar experience when working through a problem set or taking an exam. I always told myself, "move on to the next problem and my subconscious mind will figure it out while I'm off working on the next problem." And like magic, a solution would arise as if it downloaded from the ether with no effort at all. Knowing this I walked into all my exams telling myself "my brain will figure it out." I ended up graduating top of my class.
My personal method for reading difficult books 1. Use google liberally. If you even get a hint of non-understanding, immediately google that paragraph/phrase (an inurl:reddit usually helps) 2. Treat it as a conversation between you and the author, that truly makes reading engaging, interactive even. Don't accept the author's conclusions/premises at face value, investigate their roots and the reasoning behind them. Even if you ultimately agree it is instructive to follow the chain of logic. 3. E-books are just superior for understanding tough books, you have Google at your fingertips and can instantly highlight and make notes on any topic that are instantly retrieved with a single tap 4. Don't be afraid of being slow or stopping too much. Take pleasure in process. I find this entire idea of productivity being applied to reading books of all things utterly disgusting. Enjoy unravelling the book! Learn its secrets!
You have created a similar video in the past, and you probably need to make a similar one in the future (many more times). You have a unique ability to convey your message like you would to a five-year-old (at least, I feel like one when I listen to you). Instead of looking for a video when you recycle content, it's a great reminder for your audience and makes them smarter as a consequence. Once again, thank you for sharing your knowledge, process, and love for the books.
I'm currently reading "The Story of Civilization" by Will Durrant, it's an eleven volume encyclopaedia, and I think this idea of not stopping for any and every roadblock is crucial to actually finishing the books. Also what helps is getting better at note-taking, if there is clarity in your notes your perspective is more rounded, and after you've given some time for the mind to chew on the data, you can much more easily address the challenges when you revisit the book. P.S. In one of your older videos you'd mentioned developing a basic knowledge of geography, and that tip has proved invaluable for me while reading this encyclopaedia. Keeping a map of the ancient times handy has made it so much simpler to follow the fortunes of empires like Babylonia, Macedonia, etc.
I recently listened to the french revolution portion of the eleventh (had to look that up) book in that series. Great read. Wouldn't say it was too hard to follow though, unlike some obtuse philosophy out there must be.
As Prof. Harold Bloom said in one of his interviews, *“our time is limited. We read against the clock. We read ultimately in the shadow of immortality.”* Hence we have (at least I have it) the anxiety that we can't afford to have the luxury of re-reading a book multiple times. And it adds further greatly to the problem you are discussing.
This is a double edged sword. For works that are incredibly complex like with Hegel or Heidegger, that first read through is just going to have a bunch of diminishing returns. However, for works that aren't borderline incomprehensible, this is a good method. I use it fairly often, such as with Nietzsche, Plato etc. I think it helps get the broad concepts for those middle of the road works.
I recently saw a video by Steve Kaufman on language learning. He talks about trying not to understand things too hard by just re-reading and re-reading the same sentences and trying to remember the meaning in your native language. That you should understand some, not all, of what you're reading but keep going so you keep expanding your knowledge and then those smaller bits become easier over time. I think seeing that video and now yours so soon after has changed my life in regards to learning, they're basically the same concept. You really framed the issues I was having perfectly. Thank you!
This is really helpful! I'm a complete beginner with classic literature and really underestimated how challenging it would be to get my head around. Will be using this advice. :)
Marcel proust: in search of last time It's such a beautiful book. He's written it so cleverly. I especially love how he started it. Like the beginning of a new day. ❤❤❤ Great video.
I love this video, thank you for sharing your insights! In the past I’ve struggled with the mindset of wanting to read certain books but feeling like I’m not ready/old enough/at the right point in my life to be able to “fully appreciate them.” But I completely agree with your point of not being afraid of rereading books as many times as you want! It’s never too late or too soon to give something a try - and regardless of how much you actually pick up that first time around, you can always think on it for a while and come back to it again someday! I think it’s actually quite special to be able to grow along with the books you read and in each subsequent reread you can compare how much of a different point/perspective you are in your life at that moment, what things might resonate with you, and what things make more sense, and even what things you are more informed about from other books you’ve read since the last time!!! I would also like to add that the “rereadability” of a book is one of the core characteristics of any great work of literature! It absolutely should hold up to multiple readings and have new things to tell you/teach you each time!
Thanks, and well said. In a way, nobody is ever 'ready' for some books, even the most wise scholars. And yet, you show up to learn something new each time. It's a lifelong game.
I have been digging a french author named Rabelais since I discovered it at school and it is so fascinating that when I reread one of his books I feel like reading a totally different story as the previous one, just because I see new details everywhere I passed upon the last time !
@@D1sappo1ntmentPanda Reading out loud might be difficult to do without a voice. If you have a voice you can read aloud. I am sure there are other techniques you can use if you have no voice. Maybe there is a difference between inner vocalisation and non-vocalisation in inner monologue?
Re-reading Jung in depth (ie all his main works focused on analysis of symbolic material) is absolutely integral to understanding him. A first time reader of his has to put up with utter incomprehension other than in regard to a few vague intuitions. It is not so much in the writing style, as in the fact that the basis of his work is a drawing together of symbolic analogies (to reveal their 'structure'; ie of the imagination/ 'unconscious'), which are by their very nature implacable to 'conscious understanding'; ie nominal formulae. He is attempting to open up a deeper intuitive/ imaginative understanding, which conceptual knowledge regarding the psyche is essential for, but to which the former the latter cannot be reduced. Through the combination of such symbolic analogies from mythical material, and the fundamental precepts of analytical (Jungian) psychology, the meaning of your dreams becomes gradually comprehensible, and you thus start to loose the capacity to be unconscious of all your neurotic shortcomings/ 'shadow projections', which is not exactly pleasant, but has the potential of transforming you into someone you always should have been, but you would otherwise have always remained too infantile to become (I have not realised this by the way, I sheerly notice the constant potential beckoning to me, and the continuous suffering commensurate with it). Here is a lost of the collected works you should read in order (I haven't read all of his collected works, namely the first four, and a couple of others, and so this is based on a by no means Jung expert): 1. Two essays on analytical psychology (vol 7) 2. Psychological types (vol 6) 3. Symbols of transformation (vol 5) 4. The archetypes and the collective unconscious (vol 9, part 1); (ie not Aion, which is nominally vol 2) 5. Psychology and alchemy (vol 12) 6. The practice of psychotherapy (vol 16): (especially psychology of the transference) 7. Psychology and religion: east and west (vol 11): (especially answer to Job) 8. Aion: studies of the phenomenology of the self (archetypes, ie vol 9, part 2) 9. Mysterium coniunctionis (vol 14): (psychology of the transference is an introduction to this volume; ie it is an alchemical study. This book Jung considered to be the culmination of his life's work). Ps: I would recommenced reading Erich Neumann's 'The origins and history of consciousness' in the early stages of Jung (maybe after symbols or archetypes). Also absolutely read 'Synchronicity: an a causal principle' at any point after after psychology and alchemy (although the later the better). It would also help to know a bit about Jung's life. I would highly recommend Barbra Hanna's biography (in general), however this will not suffice to become familiar with the synchronistic occurrences which happened to Jung thought his life, and thus presumably fundamentally promoted such a conception. (I don't know why the text turned red when I reached 'archetypes'). I left a couple off the list I've read, but, again, this is about his fundamental work in terms of symbolic analysis. The list order of course isn't 100%, although I would recommend keeping to the first three and last two (eg some people will be perhaps offended upon reading the first volume listed, which is a good indication that Jung isn't for you). For anyone who disagrees I would welcome criticism!
From my background in the science of communication I have to read a lot into humanities and social sciences, many times even philosophy, but this means linguistics and semiotics aswell. Not gonna lie, after studying signs and having a taste of what philologists go through, it feels like the cheat code to all reading, like an actual life hack as opposed to what you say in the beginning of the video, but of course this means having like a year and a half of university. However, one book that actually felt hard to read was A Fable by William Faulkner, not because the story is convoluted, but its use of written language. It had orthography so impecable it had the liberty to go into page long paragraphs with eternal perenthetical remarks, but of course this means leaving the main idea behind by a lot. There are actual psychological studies that show people forget the beforehand message if the remarks are too long (around the 20 word mark), and it shows here. I had to go back a lot not because I wasn't understanding, but because I was forgetting and ended up with only half of the idea.
I've never been a big fan of re-reading things, because I have a huge backlog of books I want to to read, so I hate to admit that this tip is very true. I re-read The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell because I felt as if I hadn't grasped everything he had to say, and noticed so many things I hadn't on my first read that it almost felt like reading a new book.
I totally agree with you. I also think that reading is sometimes like meditating and the subconscious knows more then you think. I‘m reading at the moment Hegel and I really don‘t understand the half of it but it‘s ok because if I really wanted to I set myself so much under preassure that I understand even less. So just enjoy your book your reading :)
Good ideas here. I have been reading for decades now and I am at the point where I feel comfortable with a lot of harder books because of the wide breadth of books I have already read. I have been sandwiching hard and easy books for a while now, and I also enjoy comic books as a relaxing treat. I have found that over the years I tend to enjoy harder books more now than I did in my 20’s or 30’s, so don’t worry about tackling all the hard books while you are young as reading is a lifelong event.
I've never had the courage to tackle Heidegger. Always had the idea that he's so difficult to read, that it pays to read secondary works that mark out and explain the territory he's going to cover, first.
Hegel. Tough to read and some sentences might not have a comprehensible meaning. My method is to ask what the broader section is saying. Which other thinkers is Hegel referencing? If you focus on every sentence you'll be lost. With Hegel it's often worth reading a paragraph twice or a section twice. Revisiting the book after a rest is a great idea. Another thing I do is to read in other languages including language where I'm not as strong. I find it helps!
@@odysseas__ Yes. Also most Hegelian text has a paragraph structure which is hierarchical rather than consecutive so everything telescopes on and out of the higher point A I a) i). So point, say A I a) iii) might be difficult but you get the gist of A I a) as a whole, and so on up the structure. Reading Hegel requires a fleetness of mind to reread some sections but not getting bogged down, and being prepared to see the bigger picture.
English is my third language, and since I’ve learned it by reading books and trying to improve my comprehension, it turned to a habit to analyse each sentence thoroughly, to find some unusual grammar usage or advanced vocabulary. But I noticed that it makes me irritated to the point where I just don’t finish the book. I started doing this in my native language as well, which is frustrating. Your approach seems to be really good, I’ll have to try it out. I haven’t reread 1984 ever since I finished it, but I might do it tomorrow. Thanks for the tips, much appreciated
This is a super key point. I often listen to the book first as an audiobook and then go back actually read it. Listening first povides something of that framework.
Not just the temptation. If I'm doing research, I'm going through a stack of books to glean all the information I can. When I finally cobble together enough information for a paper, my reward is...the next paper.@@odysseas__
I also find it helps to do research on the historical and cultural context of the work before I even try to read it. Also, depending on the type of work, like the Illiad and the Odyssey, what were originally live performances, I will just listen to the audiobook, or read aloud and try to perform it for myself.
when I started reading difficult books the thoughts started to hit me and it was that difficult books have a special language that was not rhetorical but with visual and cryptic
I find underlining things I don't understand or maybe I think is really important help me understand the basics when I read philosophical texts for the first time.
Recently I read Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh. I found it quite difficult due to the extensive use of Scottish dialect and the scots language. Reading out loud helped with the dialect because the words are written like the characters say them, so hearing the words was crucial. When I got to a paragraph that was completely lost on me due to slang or dialect I would move on. Oftentimes reading the paragraphs after the parts I had trouble with recontexualized the difficult portions for me, allowing me to understand
About the last step, I've had some kinda difficult with Iliad, but now I'm reading Odyssey and it's going really well. I'm planning on acquire some greek theater and then return to de Homer's works (after finish Odyssey). For sure this "background" will make the experience better. Thanks for the video!
Hi, i'm new to your channel but I was wondering if you could make a video on which utensils maybe you should have to around your desk to maximize studying to becoming the next big renassiance man!
To synthesize the classics one needs to extract the knowledge from the fruit of the sexual organs. This is gnosis and the Arcanum AZF which is the key to understanding the perplexing arguments and veils. Properly, it is what one has experienced and changed within one’s psychophysical state that the wisdom being spoken about is self-transformational since the supreme sacrifice of desire is the requirement of love from suffering, and thus from ignorance to understanding.
“Discovered” you two of your video-watches ago. I really like your content. Just thought I’d greet you for the algorithm as thanks and hope to continue learning from/with you.
last year I read the picture of dorian gray. I found it a medium book. This year I decided to try one more time, and became one of my favorite books ever didn't know this is actually the "right" method, just thought I didn't have attention thx
I have been following your channel for some time and I must say that your progress on the technical aspect is admirable. The core of it, meaning the ideas and the energy is still amazing. Thank you for reaching out and admitting your frustration when reading ''hard'' books. Stopping every now and then to understand every tiny bit really undermined the whole process and ultimately led to procrastination. Keep up the good work!
Humour Old people: Shoot, we're not going to live forever Old people:what? Old people: we're old people (like Sócrates, plato, marcus aurelius) Old people: how do we mess with the generations that will come after us Old people: the new people? Old people: yeah Old people: let's write prose that will wreck their minds. Let's create literature that will leave them baffled and create the need for condesed reviews, analysed copies of our works with notes, references and introductions that span twenty pages because why not? Old people: 🤝 Us, years later New people: why is everything i read so complicated? New people: 🤷♀️
I don't remember throughout my life reading a single book. I'm 23, I've recently started to read, the first book I have picked is Man from the Underground by Feodor Dostoevsky. I don't think I'd be able to finish it any time soon, although it's a very thin one but it takes me half an hour or so to get through one page. I hope I'll be able to understand the text.
I have BA in English and I would love to have Master of Art in English, I am little afriad of the classes and if they will be little to hard. I would really loved to , and your vide made me more confident, thank you
Reading Infinite Jest, I never stopped to try to understand anything. In fact I probably missed pages worth of context and such because I just didn’t really get what I was reading when I read it. Either way, I still finished it and felt I understood the story, so
I prefer to have a go myself first, and then use other material the second time around. This frees my mind to interpret things naturally and without the influence of someone else, at least to begin with.
Reading difficult books is not compulsory (unless as part of Uni assignments). I'm not afraid of blaming the author for not being able to express concepts clearly (Heidegger one of my favorite targets, both Kant and Hume had to rewrite/summarize/clarify their magnus opus). My time is precious, I invest it in introduction/commentary books on the original, video lectures on the author/work, AI summarizations and PDF conversations etc... I'll go to the original only for cross reference, verification
You know this is actually the solution what I came up with when I was faced with this problem. Its nice that someone else does this. The hard part is rereading.
Hello Sir, I wish to thank u for the advice & tips u have given through your channel. Btw, I am junior in High School & u have inspired me to tread the path of self-improvement. Anyways, I got a question; that is, regarding the first time an individual goes through a "challenging" book, should he/she take notes(annotate/summarize) a book since the first round would be to build a basic framework & the 2nd round would be to conceptually understand a book?
Thanks, I appreciate that. It depends on the book , and your confidence level. If you can take notes, that's great. The point is not to slow down so much that you start losing touch with the book and get frustrated. It's a case by case approach
Thanks for the vid! How do you write the Book Annotation Notes(Source Material) and Atomic Notes(Main Notes) in Obsidian when reading and re-reading hard books? Do you write them up after the first reading, and then revisit and edit them after your re-reading, or something else? Also what about annotating during re-reading? I would be very grateful if you could clarify.
@@odysseas__Thank you so much for replying❤ One more thing: do you create tags, references and other links and connections in the Source Material notes, or do you do that only for the Main Notes?
Once again a great video brother! I have to ask, are you Christian? I saw that you used Saint Augustine's Confessions a few times as an example of a difficult book. I am also reading a book made by him " Saint Augustine on Christian Teaching" and it's really been challenging for my brain, so these tips are definitely going to help my momentum!
I don't know if this is because I've been a Christian my whole life, but Confessions (one of the pop-ups near the beginning of the vid) wasn't a super hard read compared to anything else you mentioned
One more thing: 1. Do you create tags, references and other links and connections in the Source Material notes, or do you do that only for the Main Notes? 2. Won't it be better to write the Source Material note alongside your reading, instead of starting writing after finishing the book?
I don't do tags or references in the source note, but sometimes I link to main notes throughout it, for convenience's sake (and because that part of the source note inspired the main note). For the second point, you could, but I like doing it after because it almost feels like a rereading of the book. Helps me see a new layer to it almost.
This is an amazing new experiment that i will definitely try next time. I just have one single question though: how much time do you give to the break before tackling that reread of the same book? Do you give it a week, a few days, or month?
Depends how I feel, so I'm not strict with it. Usually in the weeks-month range, once I feel fresh and enthusiastic enough to approach it again. Good luck!
@@odysseas__ that’s great! I recently read hamlet, a play i had been meaning to tackle ever since i came into contact with it. I wasn’t able to understand anything written by shakespeare before (English not being my first language certainly didn’t help!) but i was able to find some helpful editions of it that made it easier for me to read it. I’m gonna try to read the play again but this time with some sort of audio production. Let’s see how that goes!
One question; How do you read between the lines to derive insight for your own concepts? ( in a kind of detective-manner ) [ for example I find myself having unfinished concepts in my mind and I need some more information or insight from outside ( i.e. books ) to finish it, to complete it, but I simply can‘t find these infos, even tough I know they’ve got to be there; so how does one read between the lines to derive these infos for the completion of one‘s own thesis or concept? ]
If you mean doing research to make up a clear idea of something, then one of the most important things to do is make sure you are interpreting the source correctly. For example, if you are talking about romantic love, and you read a book with a passage about love, you need to make sure the author is talking in terms of ROMANTIC love, not some other form, like platonic love or sexual lust. You need to make sure their ideas are relevant to your investigation, mainly by looking at the important terms and judging what they mean from the context. I hope that makes sense.
I NEED HEEEEELP!!!! I watched this video about a month ago and i was excited upon discovering this new technique of reading,as i tried it when i went back home for holidays and it was dammmn! awesome.Now I'm back to school,and i'm finding it difficult to adopt this method for my school textbooks.So i wanna ask if this method is advisable for school texts especially mathematics??????????
If we're talking about the same types of textbooks, I don't think so. I'm sure each chapter helps you see the others more clearly, but in general, there isn't a 'bigger picture' to see. My maths is weak so I might be wrong here, but I'd learn it by picking up a concept, practicing it with questions, then being confident I know it before moving on.
@@odysseas__ Hmmm Thank you very much.I think I get the whole idea now.This technique is applicable to books in which every chapter is correlated and they collectively point to a bigger picture😊😊😊. Once again thank you for creating such invaluable contents
I wanna know what your major is ? like idk why this process feels quite scientific , in sense I can't imagine someone passing exams or building assignments with this method of book reading. I genuinely love your vidoes but this one just caused my liberal arts major to scream noooooo. I think the method you follow has too much resistance , book reading ( even hard books) is enjoyable to the point when you read , you can almost feel connected with the author and am not saying this from a privileged pov cause best believe I struggled the same way until I found the method which makes it enjoyable through the very first read cause it gives you higher power of knowing what the person I saying and then saying oh my god same as you relate it with some larger aspect of life or scream nooo as you think bout what others have said and what you think from your own experience the method I use is - read summary ( in depth , chapter wise - I mean why not use technology when you have it ) - read critical essays which target major themes - read the book ( yes you will still find it fascinating cause you now see the furniture in first read as you already know the structure causing you to either reject critical ideas or even agree and expand them ) this creates the least amount of resistance as you gradually increase your level and gives you the perfect flow state now one must ask ( cause am assuming there will be perfectionists like me who initially reject this method cause its too easy and they wanna develop a skill of critiquing things themselves as newer books don't have critical material or summary ) will we suffer if we take the easier path out ? and I will say no cause there is something know as objective correlative ( termed expanded by T.S Eliot ) which says all ideas are extension of previous idea and no idea exists in vacuum. once your learnt how to read hard book i.e develop their way of thinking and writing , newer books get either to navigate. took me around 3 years of intensive book reading to reach here but yes it works
I like your method, and by no means is the one in the video a one-size-fits-all approach. Some books benefit more from the background research you propose -I love to do this sometimes. Even if you don't practice the superficial read + reread, it's nice to remember you'll have opportunities in the future to revisit. Also I do ecology/environmental biology in uni, but never had to read books for it. I prefer the humanities.
What do you make of the argument that, to understand "hard" books one should read the literary canon in a particular order beginning with ancient Greek and Latin keystones, religious texts, before tackling Chaucer and Shakespeare; the argument being one can't understand references to Classical literature often made (and disguised) in "hard" books?
I’m afraid that i would already forget most things by the time I reread that hard book. Sometime I just want to go through the labor again because it was a hard book ! So most of time I just look up summary and explanation online after I finished a hard book. Is that a cop out lol
@@odysseas__ yup, It's got a famous quote that goes "Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won't see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree, you'll miss the entire forest" I understand that it's a shared thought among multiple wisdom seekers.. Anyway, great content mate, wish you the best 🙏🏻
My problem is unnecessary details like how thick the door was kinda stuff like details of every and each piece i admire the art of presenting it but its ikky reading about
Just watch 2 of your videos, first time I am so focus on this type of video, the analogy and the exemple you use help very well to understand the tool you give. New sub, keep going men !
As a student whose first language is not English, I often find it difficult to 1) understand the language if it is really complex, and 2) find the basic argument the author is trying to establish, for it gets lost between the lines I want make meaning out of literally. In these circumstances, I would read out those complex sections out loud and often refer to brief articles on web or RUclips videos for a comprehensive understanding. These tricks help me a lot.
Both are great tips!
Things will slowly get better. English is my 4th language and I am currently doing a PhD in English literature. Reading was tough when I was doing my Bachelor’s, but now reading in English feels natural. Good luck!
@@anyab812 wow how are you able to speak 4 languages if you have some tips that would really help thank you very much
@@anyab812 Thanks! This is really appreciated 🌼
Or you could copy paste it in open AI and ask it to summarise it.....
As a mathematician, every book is hard. And we learn this during our studies: You’ll hardly ever understand a paragraph of a math proof if you just read over, so we reread a couple of times, we try to rewrite the argument, draw some diagrams or examples, and when we are comfortable with the authors argument we move on. Now, sometimes we don’t feel comfortable even after doing this technique. One very famous mathematician says: “Move on, and come back when you feel more confident”. And it works like magic, when we return to that idea, it’s almost as obvious as 1+1=2 and we realized it was not that we were dumb, we were just not mature enough to grasp that yet. Now, one final idea: We try to keep in our mind the following sentence: He/She discovered this thing, I just need to understand it. This keeps our motivation up. Pythagoras actually discovered his theorem, our job is only to understand it, and if we don’t, this hurts our ego. And no mathematician accepts being humbled by an old Greek dude lol. Yeah, nice connections with this video
Love that personal experience, well said too
Great insight, thanks for sharing!
I studied math and had a similar experience when working through a problem set or taking an exam. I always told myself, "move on to the next problem and my subconscious mind will figure it out while I'm off working on the next problem." And like magic, a solution would arise as if it downloaded from the ether with no effort at all. Knowing this I walked into all my exams telling myself "my brain will figure it out." I ended up graduating top of my class.
I had to rewatch this video a second time but I finally got what you were trying to say.
XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
😂
My personal method for reading difficult books
1. Use google liberally. If you even get a hint of non-understanding, immediately google that paragraph/phrase (an inurl:reddit usually helps)
2. Treat it as a conversation between you and the author, that truly makes reading engaging, interactive even. Don't accept the author's conclusions/premises at face value, investigate their roots and the reasoning behind them. Even if you ultimately agree it is instructive to follow the chain of logic.
3. E-books are just superior for understanding tough books, you have Google at your fingertips and can instantly highlight and make notes on any topic that are instantly retrieved with a single tap
4. Don't be afraid of being slow or stopping too much. Take pleasure in process. I find this entire idea of productivity being applied to reading books of all things utterly disgusting. Enjoy unravelling the book! Learn its secrets!
Solid selection here, thanks for sharing them
You have created a similar video in the past, and you probably need to make a similar one in the future (many more times).
You have a unique ability to convey your message like you would to a five-year-old (at least, I feel like one when I listen to you).
Instead of looking for a video when you recycle content, it's a great reminder for your audience and makes them smarter as a consequence.
Once again, thank you for sharing your knowledge, process, and love for the books.
Thanks man, I really appreciate that. And it's true, so long as we can reframe it in some way and give a different take on the same goal.
I'm currently reading "The Story of Civilization" by Will Durrant, it's an eleven volume encyclopaedia, and I think this idea of not stopping for any and every roadblock is crucial to actually finishing the books. Also what helps is getting better at note-taking, if there is clarity in your notes your perspective is more rounded, and after you've given some time for the mind to chew on the data, you can much more easily address the challenges when you revisit the book.
P.S. In one of your older videos you'd mentioned developing a basic knowledge of geography, and that tip has proved invaluable for me while reading this encyclopaedia. Keeping a map of the ancient times handy has made it so much simpler to follow the fortunes of empires like Babylonia, Macedonia, etc.
Sounds like a great read! Ancient civilizations were also my driver to learn better geography, funnily enough.
I recently listened to the french revolution portion of the eleventh (had to look that up) book in that series. Great read. Wouldn't say it was too hard to follow though, unlike some obtuse philosophy out there must be.
As Prof. Harold Bloom said in one of his interviews, *“our time is limited. We read against the clock. We read ultimately in the shadow of immortality.”* Hence we have (at least I have it) the anxiety that we can't afford to have the luxury of re-reading a book multiple times. And it adds further greatly to the problem you are discussing.
This is a double edged sword. For works that are incredibly complex like with Hegel or Heidegger, that first read through is just going to have a bunch of diminishing returns. However, for works that aren't borderline incomprehensible, this is a good method. I use it fairly often, such as with Nietzsche, Plato etc. I think it helps get the broad concepts for those middle of the road works.
Fair point
This is actually really good advice. Fits perfectly, like you made this video just for me haha. Thank you!
Glad to hear it, hope it works well
I recently saw a video by Steve Kaufman on language learning. He talks about trying not to understand things too hard by just re-reading and re-reading the same sentences and trying to remember the meaning in your native language. That you should understand some, not all, of what you're reading but keep going so you keep expanding your knowledge and then those smaller bits become easier over time. I think seeing that video and now yours so soon after has changed my life in regards to learning, they're basically the same concept. You really framed the issues I was having perfectly. Thank you!
Yes that sounds exactly the same. Glad to hear it too, thanks
agree. you have to sweat it out and get through it. the picture will begin to emerge... and it's extremely rewarding.
This is really helpful! I'm a complete beginner with classic literature and really underestimated how challenging it would be to get my head around. Will be using this advice. :)
Discovered you this morning. Loving the channel!
Thanks!
I've just done this with Blood Meridian,still enjoyed it and know there's a lot to wrestle with in round 2🥊
Perfect chance then, good luck!
Wow I was planning on doing it with itn
Marcel proust: in search of last time
It's such a beautiful book.
He's written it so cleverly.
I especially love how he started it. Like the beginning of a new day.
❤❤❤
Great video.
I love this video, thank you for sharing your insights! In the past I’ve struggled with the mindset of wanting to read certain books but feeling like I’m not ready/old enough/at the right point in my life to be able to “fully appreciate them.” But I completely agree with your point of not being afraid of rereading books as many times as you want! It’s never too late or too soon to give something a try - and regardless of how much you actually pick up that first time around, you can always think on it for a while and come back to it again someday! I think it’s actually quite special to be able to grow along with the books you read and in each subsequent reread you can compare how much of a different point/perspective you are in your life at that moment, what things might resonate with you, and what things make more sense, and even what things you are more informed about from other books you’ve read since the last time!!!
I would also like to add that the “rereadability” of a book is one of the core characteristics of any great work of literature! It absolutely should hold up to multiple readings and have new things to tell you/teach you each time!
Thanks, and well said. In a way, nobody is ever 'ready' for some books, even the most wise scholars. And yet, you show up to learn something new each time. It's a lifelong game.
I have been digging a french author named Rabelais since I discovered it at school and it is so fascinating that when I reread one of his books I feel like reading a totally different story as the previous one, just because I see new details everywhere I passed upon the last time !
Guys, I can't stress this enough, try READING OUT LOUD.
Good suggestion
@@D1sappo1ntmentPanda Reading out loud might be difficult to do without a voice. If you have a voice you can read aloud. I am sure there are other techniques you can use if you have no voice. Maybe there is a difference between inner vocalisation and non-vocalisation in inner monologue?
I listened to an audiobook of blood meridian while reading a paperback at the same time and it really helped.
@@user-ly2ll5od1r did you manage to enjoy it? It's quite a brutal book
I’m a (mature) philosophy and psychology student and this is just so incredibly true.
Re-reading Jung in depth (ie all his main works focused on analysis of symbolic material) is absolutely integral to understanding him. A first time reader of his has to put up with utter incomprehension other than in regard to a few vague intuitions. It is not so much in the writing style, as in the fact that the basis of his work is a drawing together of symbolic analogies (to reveal their 'structure'; ie of the imagination/ 'unconscious'), which are by their very nature implacable to 'conscious understanding'; ie nominal formulae. He is attempting to open up a deeper intuitive/ imaginative understanding, which conceptual knowledge regarding the psyche is essential for, but to which the former the latter cannot be reduced. Through the combination of such symbolic analogies from mythical material, and the fundamental precepts of analytical (Jungian) psychology, the meaning of your dreams becomes gradually comprehensible, and you thus start to loose the capacity to be unconscious of all your neurotic shortcomings/ 'shadow projections', which is not exactly pleasant, but has the potential of transforming you into someone you always should have been, but you would otherwise have always remained too infantile to become (I have not realised this by the way, I sheerly notice the constant potential beckoning to me, and the continuous suffering commensurate with it).
Here is a lost of the collected works you should read in order (I haven't read all of his collected works, namely the first four, and a couple of others, and so this is based on a by no means Jung expert):
1. Two essays on analytical psychology (vol 7)
2. Psychological types (vol 6)
3. Symbols of transformation (vol 5)
4. The archetypes and the collective unconscious (vol 9, part 1); (ie not Aion, which is nominally vol 2)
5. Psychology and alchemy (vol 12)
6. The practice of psychotherapy (vol 16): (especially psychology of the transference)
7. Psychology and religion: east and west (vol 11): (especially answer to Job)
8. Aion: studies of the phenomenology of the self (archetypes, ie vol 9, part 2)
9. Mysterium coniunctionis (vol 14): (psychology of the transference is an introduction to this volume; ie it is an alchemical study. This book Jung considered to be the culmination of his life's work).
Ps: I would recommenced reading Erich Neumann's 'The origins and history of consciousness' in the early stages of Jung (maybe after symbols or archetypes).
Also absolutely read 'Synchronicity: an a causal principle' at any point after after psychology and alchemy (although the later the better). It would also help to know a bit about Jung's life. I would highly recommend Barbra Hanna's biography (in general), however this will not suffice to become familiar with the synchronistic occurrences which happened to Jung thought his life, and thus presumably fundamentally promoted such a conception.
(I don't know why the text turned red when I reached 'archetypes').
I left a couple off the list I've read, but, again, this is about his fundamental work in terms of symbolic analysis.
The list order of course isn't 100%, although I would recommend keeping to the first three and last two (eg some people will be perhaps offended upon reading the first volume listed, which is a good indication that Jung isn't for you).
For anyone who disagrees I would welcome criticism!
Thanks for this, it's insightful
From my background in the science of communication I have to read a lot into humanities and social sciences, many times even philosophy, but this means linguistics and semiotics aswell. Not gonna lie, after studying signs and having a taste of what philologists go through, it feels like the cheat code to all reading, like an actual life hack as opposed to what you say in the beginning of the video, but of course this means having like a year and a half of university. However, one book that actually felt hard to read was A Fable by William Faulkner, not because the story is convoluted, but its use of written language. It had orthography so impecable it had the liberty to go into page long paragraphs with eternal perenthetical remarks, but of course this means leaving the main idea behind by a lot. There are actual psychological studies that show people forget the beforehand message if the remarks are too long (around the 20 word mark), and it shows here. I had to go back a lot not because I wasn't understanding, but because I was forgetting and ended up with only half of the idea.
That's cool. And even in your case, it's no 'hack' because you put the background work in
I've never been a big fan of re-reading things, because I have a huge backlog of books I want to to read, so I hate to admit that this tip is very true. I re-read The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell because I felt as if I hadn't grasped everything he had to say, and noticed so many things I hadn't on my first read that it almost felt like reading a new book.
I totally agree with you. I also think that reading is sometimes like meditating and the subconscious knows more then you think. I‘m reading at the moment Hegel and I really don‘t understand the half of it but it‘s ok because if I really wanted to I set myself so much under preassure that I understand even less. So just enjoy your book your reading :)
Well said, and just by pushing on, you will achieve the original goal anyway
Good ideas here. I have been reading for decades now and I am at the point where I feel comfortable with a lot of harder books because of the wide breadth of books I have already read. I have been sandwiching hard and easy books for a while now, and I also enjoy comic books as a relaxing treat. I have found that over the years I tend to enjoy harder books more now than I did in my 20’s or 30’s, so don’t worry about tackling all the hard books while you are young as reading is a lifelong event.
Well said. As you say, the more you read, the deeper your foundations get for understanding new things.
Thank you - this is my approach to reading Heidegger's 'Being and time' - so far so good!
Much appreciated, always good to see it work in practice
I've never had the courage to tackle Heidegger. Always had the idea that he's so difficult to read, that it pays to read secondary works that mark out and explain the territory he's going to cover, first.
Hegel. Tough to read and some sentences might not have a comprehensible meaning.
My method is to ask what the broader section is saying. Which other thinkers is Hegel referencing?
If you focus on every sentence you'll be lost. With Hegel it's often worth reading a paragraph twice or a section twice. Revisiting the book after a rest is a great idea.
Another thing I do is to read in other languages including language where I'm not as strong. I find it helps!
Now that you say it, it's always good to fine tune your approach to individual writers
@@odysseas__ Yes. Also most Hegelian text has a paragraph structure which is hierarchical rather than consecutive so everything telescopes on and out of the higher point A I a) i). So point, say A I a) iii) might be difficult but you get the gist of A I a) as a whole, and so on up the structure. Reading Hegel requires a fleetness of mind to reread some sections but not getting bogged down, and being prepared to see the bigger picture.
Thank you. I’ll try to use this when I’m confused in a book
Much appreciated, hope it serves you well
English is my third language, and since I’ve learned it by reading books and trying to improve my comprehension, it turned to a habit to analyse each sentence thoroughly, to find some unusual grammar usage or advanced vocabulary. But I noticed that it makes me irritated to the point where I just don’t finish the book. I started doing this in my native language as well, which is frustrating. Your approach seems to be really good, I’ll have to try it out. I haven’t reread 1984 ever since I finished it, but I might do it tomorrow. Thanks for the tips, much appreciated
Thanks, I hope it works well for you. Of course, there's a whole new layer when it's not your first language I imagine, so I hope it still applies
As someone who started reading and struggles with understanding certain books this video has been helpful thanks.
Happy to hear it!
this is a such a unnatural method. i can’t wait to try it !!
Good luck!
your content quality is over the roof, you deserve more views
Thanks, glad you think so. Still a lot to improve too.
This is a super key point. I often listen to the book first as an audiobook and then go back actually read it. Listening first povides something of that framework.
That's a good idea. It's quicker too
I find it a pure pleasure to reread a book.
The problem is that I have so many to get through that I have to have a solid reason for the reread.
Yep, it's most tempting to start a new one each time
Not just the temptation. If I'm doing research, I'm going through a stack of books to glean all the information I can. When I finally cobble together enough information for a paper, my reward is...the next paper.@@odysseas__
Reading this comments give me more knowledge than the actual video. ( Bro has built an amazing audience)
I also find it helps to do research on the historical and cultural context of the work before I even try to read it. Also, depending on the type of work, like the Illiad and the Odyssey, what were originally live performances, I will just listen to the audiobook, or read aloud and try to perform it for myself.
Great points. The introductions are great for older works like that.
Great advice. For the record - no one understands the Parmenides. Plato was messing with us on that one.
Haha so I've heard!
Fantastically made video! Clear, to the point and very well explained. Thank you!
Thanks, I'm grateful to hear it
Very useful, i have a difficult theory class to deal with
Thanks, hope it helps
when I started reading difficult books the thoughts started to hit me and it was that difficult books have a special language that was not rhetorical but with visual and cryptic
I find underlining things I don't understand or maybe I think is really important help me understand the basics when I read philosophical texts for the first time.
That's great, and I'd also add a small note beside it, rephrasing the point
Recently I read Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh. I found it quite difficult due to the extensive use of Scottish dialect and the scots language. Reading out loud helped with the dialect because the words are written like the characters say them, so hearing the words was crucial. When I got to a paragraph that was completely lost on me due to slang or dialect I would move on. Oftentimes reading the paragraphs after the parts I had trouble with recontexualized the difficult portions for me, allowing me to understand
About the last step, I've had some kinda difficult with Iliad, but now I'm reading Odyssey and it's going really well.
I'm planning on acquire some greek theater and then return to de Homer's works (after finish Odyssey). For sure this "background" will make the experience better.
Thanks for the video!
I appreciate it, and yea, the more you read, the easier it gets.
Hi, i'm new to your channel but I was wondering if you could make a video on which utensils maybe you should have to around your desk to maximize studying to becoming the next big renassiance man!
Welcome, good to have you. I've thought about that, so definitely in the future
To synthesize the classics one needs to extract the knowledge from the fruit of the sexual organs. This is gnosis and the Arcanum AZF which is the key to understanding the perplexing arguments and veils. Properly, it is what one has experienced and changed within one’s psychophysical state that the wisdom being spoken about is self-transformational since the supreme sacrifice of desire is the requirement of love from suffering, and thus from ignorance to understanding.
“Discovered” you two of your video-watches ago. I really like your content. Just thought I’d greet you for the algorithm as thanks and hope to continue learning from/with you.
Thanks man, it's good to have you
last year I read the picture of dorian gray. I found it a medium book.
This year I decided to try one more time, and became one of my favorite books ever
didn't know this is actually the "right" method, just thought I didn't have attention
thx
My advice for reading hard books: soak them in water first.
Thanks for the video. I needed this advice.
Much appreciated!
Thank you for your great advise
Much appreciated
I have been following your channel for some time and I must say that your progress on the technical aspect is admirable. The core of it, meaning the ideas and the energy is still amazing. Thank you for reaching out and admitting your frustration when reading ''hard'' books. Stopping every now and then to understand every tiny bit really undermined the whole process and ultimately led to procrastination. Keep up the good work!
Thanks man, still a long way to go but I really appreciate that. Hope it helps too.
Humour
Old people: Shoot, we're not going to live forever
Old people:what?
Old people: we're old people (like Sócrates, plato, marcus aurelius)
Old people: how do we mess with the generations that will come after us
Old people: the new people?
Old people: yeah
Old people: let's write prose that will wreck their minds. Let's create literature that will leave them baffled and create the need for condesed reviews, analysed copies of our works with notes, references and introductions that span twenty pages because why not?
Old people: 🤝
Us, years later
New people: why is everything i read so complicated?
New people: 🤷♀️
Excellent 👌🏼 Much appreciated
Thanks!
this was very clearly explained love it
Thanks, happy to hear it
I don't remember throughout my life reading a single book. I'm 23, I've recently started to read, the first book I have picked is Man from the Underground by Feodor Dostoevsky. I don't think I'd be able to finish it any time soon, although it's a very thin one but it takes me half an hour or so to get through one page. I hope I'll be able to understand the text.
I wouldn't worry about speed -slow reading is great. Gives you time to reflect and understand. Good job too, hope it goes well for you
TRUE GUIDE
Always pausing to check the books in the background
Too many to read!
I have BA in English and I would love to have Master of Art in English, I am little afriad of the classes and if they will be little to hard. I would really loved to , and your vide made me more confident, thank you
I appreciate it, hope it goes well for you
Great video! hope to see u on the next one
Thank you
Thank u sir that was hella informative and helpful.
I appreciate it, glad you thought so
Reading Infinite Jest, I never stopped to try to understand anything. In fact I probably missed pages worth of context and such because I just didn’t really get what I was reading when I read it. Either way, I still finished it and felt I understood the story, so
Nice to see it in action!
What do you think of using second hand material?
Examples:
-Joyce For Beginners
-Introducing Joyce
-How to Read Joyce
I prefer to have a go myself first, and then use other material the second time around. This frees my mind to interpret things naturally and without the influence of someone else, at least to begin with.
Reading difficult books is not compulsory (unless as part of Uni assignments). I'm not afraid of blaming the author for not being able to express concepts clearly (Heidegger one of my favorite targets, both Kant and Hume had to rewrite/summarize/clarify their magnus opus).
My time is precious, I invest it in introduction/commentary books on the original, video lectures on the author/work, AI summarizations and PDF conversations etc... I'll go to the original only for cross reference, verification
For sure, I should have stressed this.
❤ James Joyce
You know this is actually the solution what I came up with when I was faced with this problem. Its nice that someone else does this.
The hard part is rereading.
Nice, I hope it worked well for you
Thus spoke Zarathustra isn't difficult most people aren't smart enough to understand the book in the beginning. Most people are shallow.
What makes a book 'hard' depends on every reader's individual skill. It's just an example.
“Most people aren’t smart enough to understand…” I think your comment just confirmed that Zarathustra is indeed difficult
Ulysses is tough guys I need this video
Good luck!
Nailed it mate
Thanks man
Great video! Thank you for the advice:) I’m about to start reading Mobey Dick and it’s very intimidating lol
Thanks, hope it goes well for you!
Hello Sir, I wish to thank u for the advice & tips u have given through your channel. Btw, I am junior in High School & u have inspired me to tread the path of self-improvement. Anyways, I got a question; that is, regarding the first time an individual goes through a "challenging" book, should he/she take notes(annotate/summarize) a book since the first round would be to build a basic framework & the 2nd round would be to conceptually understand a book?
Thanks, I appreciate that. It depends on the book , and your confidence level.
If you can take notes, that's great. The point is not to slow down so much that you start losing touch with the book and get frustrated. It's a case by case approach
Thanks for the vid! How do you write the Book Annotation Notes(Source Material) and Atomic Notes(Main Notes) in Obsidian when reading and re-reading hard books? Do you write them up after the first reading, and then revisit and edit them after your re-reading, or something else? Also what about annotating during re-reading? I would be very grateful if you could clarify.
Cheers, and it's exactly how you describe. I edit or add points, and I'll often keep the old perspectives too just as a record.
@@odysseas__Thank you so much for replying❤ One more thing: do you create tags, references and other links and connections in the Source Material notes, or do you do that only for the Main Notes?
A project for you. Look up the physics term. Hysteresis
Once again a great video brother! I have to ask, are you Christian? I saw that you used Saint Augustine's Confessions a few times as an example of a difficult book. I am also reading a book made by him " Saint Augustine on Christian Teaching" and it's really been challenging for my brain, so these tips are definitely going to help my momentum!
Thanks my friend, and yes I am. The last part was challenging enough to call it a 'hard book.' Love how he writes
I find this video weird. It's probably something inherently wrong with my reading, but I feel like I understand almost every book on the first read.
Doesn't sound wrong to me!
I don't know if this is because I've been a Christian my whole life, but Confessions (one of the pop-ups near the beginning of the vid) wasn't a super hard read compared to anything else you mentioned
True, but I remember the second part being a little tricky at first, where he dived into Genesis and philosophy
after 3 years of wittgensteing nothing strikes fear in my heart...
except the zohar 😳
There's always something..
One more thing: 1. Do you create tags, references and other links and connections in the Source Material notes, or do you do that only for the Main Notes? 2. Won't it be better to write the Source Material note alongside your reading, instead of starting writing after finishing the book?
I don't do tags or references in the source note, but sometimes I link to main notes throughout it, for convenience's sake (and because that part of the source note inspired the main note).
For the second point, you could, but I like doing it after because it almost feels like a rereading of the book. Helps me see a new layer to it almost.
This is an amazing new experiment that i will definitely try next time. I just have one single question though: how much time do you give to the break before tackling that reread of the same book? Do you give it a week, a few days, or month?
Depends how I feel, so I'm not strict with it. Usually in the weeks-month range, once I feel fresh and enthusiastic enough to approach it again. Good luck!
@@odysseas__ that’s great! I recently read hamlet, a play i had been meaning to tackle ever since i came into contact with it. I wasn’t able to understand anything written by shakespeare before (English not being my first language certainly didn’t help!) but i was able to find some helpful editions of it that made it easier for me to read it. I’m gonna try to read the play again but this time with some sort of audio production. Let’s see how that goes!
@@arbaaz9992 Sounds great. Shakespeare definitely needs a good few rereads to get in touch with it. Good luck!
Imma try this on my med books..
Justin Sung is the channel you should go for study. You’ll be amazed.
Nice, hope it pays off
One question; How do you read between the lines to derive insight for your own concepts? ( in a kind of detective-manner )
[ for example I find myself having unfinished concepts in my mind and I need some more information or insight from outside ( i.e. books ) to finish it, to complete it, but I simply can‘t find these infos, even tough I know they’ve got to be there; so how does one read between the lines to derive these infos for the completion of one‘s own thesis or concept? ]
If you mean doing research to make up a clear idea of something, then one of the most important things to do is make sure you are interpreting the source correctly.
For example, if you are talking about romantic love, and you read a book with a passage about love, you need to make sure the author is talking in terms of ROMANTIC love, not some other form, like platonic love or sexual lust.
You need to make sure their ideas are relevant to your investigation, mainly by looking at the important terms and judging what they mean from the context.
I hope that makes sense.
I NEED HEEEEELP!!!! I watched this video about a month ago and i was excited upon discovering this new technique of reading,as i tried it when i went back home for holidays and it was dammmn! awesome.Now I'm back to school,and i'm finding it difficult to adopt this method for my school textbooks.So i wanna ask if this method is advisable for school texts especially mathematics??????????
If we're talking about the same types of textbooks, I don't think so. I'm sure each chapter helps you see the others more clearly, but in general, there isn't a 'bigger picture' to see.
My maths is weak so I might be wrong here, but I'd learn it by picking up a concept, practicing it with questions, then being confident I know it before moving on.
@@odysseas__ Hmmm Thank you very much.I think I get the whole idea now.This technique is applicable to books in which every chapter is correlated and they collectively point to a bigger picture😊😊😊. Once again thank you for creating such invaluable contents
Any recommendation for the study of hard-ling informative books? Those with hundreds of references... Thank you💟
Excellent!
Cheers!
I wanna know what your major is ? like idk why this process feels quite scientific , in sense I can't imagine someone passing exams or building assignments with this method of book reading. I genuinely love your vidoes but this one just caused my liberal arts major to scream noooooo. I think the method you follow has too much resistance , book reading ( even hard books) is enjoyable to the point when you read , you can almost feel connected with the author and am not saying this from a privileged pov cause best believe I struggled the same way until I found the method which makes it enjoyable through the very first read cause it gives you higher power of knowing what the person I saying and then saying oh my god same as you relate it with some larger aspect of life or scream nooo as you think bout what others have said and what you think from your own experience
the method I use is
- read summary ( in depth , chapter wise - I mean why not use technology when you have it )
- read critical essays which target major themes
- read the book ( yes you will still find it fascinating cause you now see the furniture in first read as you already know the structure causing you to either reject critical ideas or even agree and expand them )
this creates the least amount of resistance as you gradually increase your level and gives you the perfect flow state
now one must ask ( cause am assuming there will be perfectionists like me who initially reject this method cause its too easy and they wanna develop a skill of critiquing things themselves as newer books don't have critical material or summary ) will we suffer if we take the easier path out ? and I will say no cause there is something know as objective correlative ( termed expanded by T.S Eliot ) which says all ideas are extension of previous idea and no idea exists in vacuum. once your learnt how to read hard book i.e develop their way of thinking and writing , newer books get either to navigate. took me around 3 years of intensive book reading to reach here but yes it works
I like your method, and by no means is the one in the video a one-size-fits-all approach.
Some books benefit more from the background research you propose -I love to do this sometimes.
Even if you don't practice the superficial read + reread, it's nice to remember you'll have opportunities in the future to revisit.
Also I do ecology/environmental biology in uni, but never had to read books for it. I prefer the humanities.
What do you make of the argument that, to understand "hard" books one should read the literary canon in a particular order beginning with ancient Greek and Latin keystones, religious texts, before tackling Chaucer and Shakespeare; the argument being one can't understand references to Classical literature often made (and disguised) in "hard" books?
I'm using that approach because it makes the most sense to me, but I suppose it's only valuable if you care for the older ones too.
Good luck to everyone reading the hard books
So helpful, thanks man!
Glad you think so, thanks
100% true.
What if instead of pre-reading the book you read a summary instead?
4:58
The scaffolding?
When reading a difficult book , should I reread a sentence or paragraph if I don't understand it ??? (The book I'm trying to understand is das kaptal)
Of course, it's good to break it down.
The point of this is to not get stuck badly enough that you lose momentum and get frustrated
Have you heard of incremental reading?
Pedro Paramo got me fked up rn. Jr in highschool.
The most difficult book I’ve read is the phenomenology of mind and I think it broke me 😂.
Until you break IT
I’m afraid that i would already forget most things by the time I reread that hard book. Sometime I just want to go through the labor again because it was a hard book ! So most of time I just look up summary and explanation online after I finished a hard book. Is that a cop out lol
If it works, it works. I like to revisit my own notes and then write a short summary.
I think instead of ready the whole book, just read a summary to understand the frame.
That might help, but they're often not detailed enough to get the job done
2:27
Tree and forest huh..
Someone read Vagabond,, more than once it seems 😂🤝
That's the manga right? I've never read it but it looks good
@@odysseas__ yup, It's got a famous quote that goes "Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won't see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree, you'll miss the entire forest"
I understand that it's a shared thought among multiple wisdom seekers..
Anyway, great content mate, wish you the best 🙏🏻
@@___Han___ That's a nicer version, and thanks
I bought St. Augustine's confessions on a whim... I need help lol
My problem is unnecessary details like how thick the door was kinda stuff like details of every and each piece i admire the art of presenting it but its ikky reading about
Yeah some writers tend to ramble a bit more than they need to
Just watch 2 of your videos, first time I am so focus on this type of video, the analogy and the exemple you use help very well to understand the tool you give. New sub, keep going men !
Thanks, good to have you
Have you done this for finnegans wake?
Not yet, haven't got around to it