11 Rules for Becoming A Better Reader in 2024

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Welcome to A Cultivated Life, a weekly newsletter where I explore my curiosity through philosophy, science, history & more to share insights and discoveries in the search for meaning and purpose in life.

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Reading is one of the easiest, cheapest, and most available methods for anyone and everyone to improve their lot in life.

Reading is a start, but it’s even more helpful when we can read effectively. We need to learn how to find what to read, when to quit something that can’t keep our attention, and much more. Books are the tool given to us, but we have to learn how to wield it properly before we can maximize the return we get out of it.

Utilizing the power of reading takes time, practice, discipline, and patience. I’ve spent years developing my reading ability. Cultivating effective rules and methods that have persisted over time, through fiction and non-fiction, young and old, and everything in between.

Books are the best investment, we can make in ourselves. We should aspire to read, learn as much as we can, and utilize all that we learn to live the most meaningful lives possible.

The philosopher Erasmus said this on the importance of reading, “When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes.”

Without further ado, here are the 11 best rules for reading that will make anyone a better reader.
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1/ Start Small, Build From There

Too often we set too ambitious of goals for ourselves. We enter the year wanting to read a book a week or to finish 50 books in a year. When we have ambitious end goals, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer idea of the task. 50 books on any given day is daunting. 50 books when broken down into manageable, daily action? Not so daunting.

Start small, reading 5 or 10 pages a day. Commit to that, and watch that compound over time. You’ll be amazed at how much more you read when you commit to small, daily, achievable actions.
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2/ Read What You Enjoy

What’s the purpose if you aren’t reading what you enjoy? Don’t read what you feel like you have to read, read what you want to read.

If you like fiction, read fiction. If you like history, read history. Don’t feel like you have to read a certain type of book or a certain genre to be a “good reader”. If you read what you enjoy, you are much more likely to do the thing, reading. Over time your tastes will evolve and you’ll expand your horizons, but you won’t stick with it unless you start by reading what you enjoy.

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3/ Quit Bad Books

Life is too short to read bad books. If you get 50 pages in, or 25% of the way through a book and it hasn’t captured your interest, put it down. You can always come back to it later, but you’ll never get time back wasted on a bad book.

It’s okay to quit, your time is more valuable than you give it credit for.

“Read the best books first, otherwise, you’ll find you do not have time.” — Henry David Thoreau​
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4/ Read The Books That People You Admire Read

There are millions of books published each year, on top of the millions already in print. This can make it a daunting task to find something new to read. Here is a quick trick.

Read books that those you admire recommend. This can be a friend, a family member, a business leader, an author, or someone else. Find out what they read, and start there. If you admire them, you are likely to share similar interests in books.

You can waste a lifetime scrolling the pages of new books to read. Rather than waste time and be disappointed, allow someone else to curate a list for you. The more you read, the more you’ll naturally find ways to select your next books.
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5/ Take Notes, Highlight, Fill the Margins

The point of reading is not to complete as many books as possible but to learn from what we read. The best way to learn from what we read is to engage with the text. We should take notes, highlight, and ask questions in the margins of the pages we are reading. Don’t be afraid to scuff up a book, or to fill it with highlights if you read electronically.

Interact with the text to learn from it, come back to it, and review your notes regularly to cement it in your brain.

“The outcome of reading with a pen in the hand is not possible to anticipate, either, and here, too, the idea is not to copy, but to have a meaningful dialogue with the texts we read.” — Sönke Ahrens

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6/ Reread Your Favorite Books

Rather than always reading something new, go back and read something that resonates with you. The best books are the best for a reason. You’ll learn more from rereading a good text that stuck with you than reading something new that is mediocre.

“There are too many mediocre books which exist just to entertain your mind. Therefore, read only those books which are accepted without doubt as good.” — Seneca

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7/ Read Old Books

Millions of books are released each year, and topical at best, downright irrelevant at worst. The best books have stood the test of time, and are classics for a reason. You don’t have to read the newest and hottest political reflections this year. To find true wisdom, read the texts that have persisted through decades and centuries.

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8/ Go Electronic, Take It Everywhere

I’m an electronic reader, so I have a bias, but reading doesn’t have to mean you read physical books. Buy a Kindle, download books on your phone, and take them with you wherever you go. Instead of pulling out your phone and scrolling social media, pull out your phone and read a few pages of your book when you have downtime.

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9/ The Right Medium is the One That Works

Reading should be segregated into just one medium. We have so much wisdom at our fingertips, but if reading physical books isn’t your thing, try listening to audiobooks. The same lessons exist in audio format as they do in print. Find the medium that works best for you, don’t feel like you have to do it a certain way.

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10/ Read Opposing Views

If everything you read confirms a viewpoint you already have, it does not prove that you are right. More likely, you have a selection issue. None of us has all the answers, and part of reading is to learn. If we are only reading what validates our own beliefs, we are missing the point.

We should read opposing viewpoints, and challenge ourselves to learn and know more. To seek truth, no matter the source.

“To the seeker after Truth it is immaterial from where an idea comes… What is essential is seeing the thing, understanding it.” — Walpola Rahula​
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11/ Read For the Right Reason

Nobody cares how many books, or how dense of books you finished. If you’re reading to fill a bookcase to show off for vanity’s sake, you are doing it for the wrong reasons. Read because you want to learn, explore your interests, and cultivate your own ideas and mental models. Don’t ever brag about how much, or who you read. Read because you love to read.

“The number of books completed is a vanity metric. As you know more, you leave more books unfinished. Focus on new concepts with predictive power.” — Naval Ravikant

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Reading is a superpower, the quickest, cheapest, and best way to move yourself forward in any area of your life.

These are my 11 rules to read more and read better in 2024.

1. Start small, build from the bottom up
2. Read books that you enjoy
3. Quit bad books
4. Read the books that the people you admire read
5. Take notes, highlight, fill the margins
6. Reread your favorite books
7. Read old books
8. Go electronic, take it with you wherever you go
9. The right medium is the one that works
10. Read opposing views
11. Read for the right reason

What other reading rules do you live by?

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In Case You Missed It:

​Last week's newsletter explored The One Question to Correct the Course of Your Life.

We took a look at Tom Felton's compelling memoir, in which he reflected on his time as one of the lead characters in the world-famous Harry Potter movie series, his subsequent rise to fame, his struggles with substance abuse, and the one question that was posed to him that changed the course of his life.

That's all for this week. Thank you for reading. I hope you have a great week.

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