Don’t rush through that book

Reading is a type of meditation. Don’t rush through the process.
Tejas Patel

As a book reader, I often ask people as to what they are reading and sometimes the conversation becomes about what people have read and how long it took them. As times I sense that some people take pride in how quickly they are reading the book (or skipping through it)!

Read to learn, to understand and to connect the dots. The more you read (and understand), the better you will get at connecting the dots between different point of views, topics and your own experiences.

There are hardly any medals if you finish the book early unless you are taking part in the speed reading competition. So relax, let the words sink in, let your mind decide if you agree or disagree with what the author is saying and formulate your own perspective.

Reading stats showoff time

I enjoy my reading and is one habit that I have followed the most since childhood. Last year I had pre-decided to spend less time reading the web and more time reading books [in physical and digital format].

Result of this?

Pocket Reading Stats 2015

And I did end up finishing nearly 6 books on my iPad.

I am determined to consume more information this year using some of the reading habits I picked up throughout last year.

I trolled through Twitter to find top 1% of Pocket readers and I am impressed. Example here, here [he must be an amazing speed reader] and here.

Quantify Reading – Yes, I am among 5% of the readers

As per Pocket stats I am among the top 5% of readers on their service.

Pocket Reading Stats

Apart from using Pocket, I have completed reading 9 books this year with two more on the go. And I have read a lot using Zite app. My estimate is at the very least I would have read at least 2 million words this year and this does not include Facebook, Twitter, email, work related readings etc. Was it all useful? Most likely not? But I am definitely a bit wiser because of all that I have read.

This brings me to my question of quantifying reading. We need services where we can quantify our readings, measure them, dissect them and get more insight. This kind of service will provide an insight on what we read the most, the topics of our likings and dis-likings, where we spend the most time, authors that we like, authors that we don’t like, our passions, etc. We could use that information to measure how we have integrated what we have read in our lives. We could have a ‘Reading Health Factor‘.