How To Read a Book In 15 Minutes and Remember Everything?

Chris Diamond

Published by Chris Diamond at Smashwords

Copyright © 2012-2014 Chris Diamond

DoubleTimeToday.com

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Intro

You are about to learn some of the most important skills – reading a single book in just fifteen minutes in any topic of your interest – excluding fiction or entertainment books. We all live busy lives. As we get older, we tend to have less available time. That is because our responsibilities increase, and therefore, the leisure time decreases.

That is why, you need to know how to “read” less and absorb more knowledge on the subject of your interest. How should we read a book? Most people think a book should be read from cover to cover. That is not the case at all. You do not need to do this because almost 80% of the content in any book is virtually useless.

If you read non-fiction “how-to” books, you need to know how to get the most out of your time, when it comes to acquiring new knowledge, in order to bring the change you want. That is why I created this short e-report to show you how to read PDF e-books, Hardcover books, magazines, etc. in just fifteen minutes!

The goal is to ACQUIRE MORE knowledge, by reading less. It can be done and I will show you how!

So, let’s get started!

Chris Diamond

DoubleTimeToday.com

Step 1: What’s Your Outcome?

When you read ANY book on any subject, you need to know why you are reading what you are reading. Most people just collect knowledge, without giving a thought of how to utilize that knowledge in order to bring about a better lifestyle or achieve a certain outcome.

When you can take the lessons learned from this book and resolve real life issues with those lessons - This is truly a GIFT! It will give you insights on what you have to do in order to bring the change you want. There is no value in the knowledge, but only in the implementation of it. When you purchase a book about a particular topic of your interest, you are trying to accomplish a specific outcome. This will help you determine what books you should read in the first place.

You do not want to try to learn everything, even if you have the time. Many things of what you learn in the books, may not be implemented right away, and sometimes is forgotten. Collecting a bunch of ideas, seminars, books, and courses is useless, unless you take action, based on what you learned immediately. Ideas and insights should become practical; they come very quickly when you connect what you already know with what you just learned.

When we associate new knowledge with certain experience – it becomes understanding. Do not collect knowledge, collect experiences based on that knowledge. Having a goal will help you focus on what you need to learn. Everything is filtered through your desired outcome and goals. If you do not have an idea for an outcome, it is best to start with what you value. Where do you spend most of your time? If you are putting a tremendous amount of energy on certain activities, this is probably something you may want to improve on. Therefore, you might be interested in acquiring more knowledge in order to improve those skills.

Start with what you already know, and determine what you have a desire to learn. One of the biggest enemies of learning is to think you know it all. If you are familiar with a topic, but do not understand it completely, your mind is going to be closed. Therefore, no one is going to convince you otherwise, even if it’s for your own good. Be open to new ways of looking at things, and approach both new ideas and old with confidence. You want to be open in your search of testing ideas all the time. Some may work, others may not. Be flexible!

Never believe anything is 100%,because there will be always a situation when it is not going to be true.

Have the courage to fail if you want to succeed.

Step 2: Learn the Vocabulary of the Main Ideas First

Once you know your desired outcome, you need to learn the terms the author is probably going to use in the book. It will allow you to see how the author puts ideas in categories and concepts. Often, there’s an explanation of complex words at the end of the book. Terminology is a different language all by itself. Like for example, if you are reading a book on business and financing, you need to know what ROI, revenue, net, gross, passive income, earned income, portfolio income, etc. mean. If you read books on investing, you need to know what IPO, OPM, OPT, assets, liabilities, depreciation, nonrecourse note, nonrecourse debt, etc. mean.

Once you learn the vocabulary people use in a particular field, you can grasp concepts and ideas more easily and clearly. When you come across a word that you do not understand, you lose focus of what you are reading. That is because when you are reading, you are imagining the words in your head in a form of a movie.

When you do not understand the vocabulary, it is very difficult to comprehend the meaning of the words within the context of what you are reading. This is causing people to annoyingly re-read sentences or paragraphs several times.

Learn the vocabulary first BEFORE you sit down and read a book on a subject you know little or nothing about. This will help you read faster and more efficiently.

Step 3: Focus on General Laws (Principles)

Laws are general ideas about something that holds true most of the time. That is because they can be applied in a variety of different areas. If you take that law, you can predict what would work in the future.

Focusing on specific procedures that can change overtime is useless, because you may have to learn them all over again. It is more difficult to unlearn than to learn. Learn it once and use it many times.

Focus on the general law or principles that will guide you through life. You can assemble a specific strategy based on a general law. This will allow you to increase your success rate dramatically, especially when you apply ideas or put them into actions.

We know that not all ideas are of an equal value. Some may work, others may not. Perhaps some ideas may serve as obstacles rather than improvements. 90% of the value in a book lies within the general laws or principles. If you comprehend those primary points, you do not need to read the entire book from cover to cover.

What Does Reading Mean?

Reading a book is a SEARCH for knowledge that would be of a benefit to you as a reader. The knowledge is hidden, so you have to find it. One of the best speed reading techniques is to skip 80% of the book!

As you are reading, you are creating a movie in your head – dreaming the book. Thus, you are not even paying attention to the particular words (shape, size or whatever), but you see the movie you are making out of the meanings of these words.

Speed Reading Techniques

1. Spend 10 minutes reading the table of contents of the book. See what the book is going to cover and what information is behind it.

2. Look for summaries. Some books have summaries at the end of every chapter. Some have a summary of the contents of the book, at the end of the book.

When you read the summary, it gives you a general idea of what message the author is trying to convey.

If you do not understand something in the summary, you can see what specific examples the author gives in the chapter.

3. Search for keywords you are most interested in. You can do this only in PDF books (e-books). The e-book should not be scanned, the words in it should be searchable and selectable.

In Adobe Reader, click on Edit, then Find. If it’s an HTML e-book, you want to look for something similar.

Often the shortcut command for Windows is Ctrl + F.

Then you type the keyword you are looking for that’s associated with what you want to learn and hit enter.

That is why it is important to know the terminology the author uses so you can search for those terms:

Once you type the keyword term you are looking for, you’ll find them in different places within the e-book.

When you find that search term, then read the sentence based on that keyword for more information about it. You may want to take written notes with what the author has to say about that keyword. Once you are done, hit enter again to go to the next page that contains the same keyword for more information.

4. Skip what you already know or looking familiar, but remember that the enemy of learning is “I already know that.” So be aware of that when you skip things around.

5. Practice reading faster. You do not want sound out the words, but directly translate the meaning of them into mental images.

When you speed read, you need to have faith that your mind will figure out.

Pick up the book and use your finger in the margin and move your finger down the page as you read. Double your reading speed for 5 minutes, now go back to your normal reading speed again for 15-30 minutes. Then, go back reading faster for 5-10 minutes, and switching back to your normal reading speed, you’ll notice a slight increase in your reading comprehension and speed.

That is because your mind adapts when you read faster. Most of us do not challenge ourselves.

6. Teach what you learn immediately or within a day. Often, the best way to learn something is when you tell it to somebody else.

Get a friend on the phone and tell them what you have learned. When you are excited about what you are saying, they will pay attention. As you learn a new concept, teach it to somebody as fast as you can.

7. Increase the speed of implementation. Information is worth nothing, unless it’s implemented. Put into action what you are learning immediately, you will then increase your knowledge rapidly. More importantly, you are going to turn the knowledge into understanding – which is the ultimate goal to learning. This is how you improve your retention, comprehension and confidence in speed reading.

8. Condense what you read to the most meaningful and shortest communication as possible. Practice putting 5-6 sentence paragraphs into just one fragment (or incomplete sentence). The shorter, the better!

The more you can strip down to the fewest words or a picture into something more condensed and meaningful – the better. Here are some condensed formats when it comes to shrinking down lengthy pages, books, or even chapters.

Try to put what you learn into pictures, metaphors, and stories. Make them up by using your imagination, based on what you are learning.

1000 words = 1 picture

100 pictures = 1 metaphor

10 metaphors = 1 story

Mind-map what you are learning, creating a story out of it based on some personal experience or a fictional story.

Create flow-charts or graphical representations based on what you are learning. This will help you organize the information you are learning in a much more efficient way. It would become easier to remember it.

Here’s an example of a mind-map:

Practice creating mind-maps on your computer. There is a very handy program called, Mindjet. Check it out.

About the Author

Chris Diamond is the founder of DoubleTimeToday.com, a company that helps business owners and entrepreneurs to increase their productivity, achieve their goals, and improve their time management skills while working from home.

More about Chris at http://www.doubletimetoday.com/about-chris-diamond/

Join me on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/DoubleTimeToday

Get updates at http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Chris_B._Diamond

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Table of Contents

Speed Reading: How To Read A Book in 15 Minutes and Remember Everything?

Midpoint