How to read a book

I don't have the energy tonight to write a book review, so instead I'm sharing this interesting blog entry I found on how to get the most from books you read, from Rosa Say (via managementprof).  She's specifically talking about business books (a genre I generally avoid like the plague), but I think some of the points are generally applicable.  Two suggestions jumped out at me in particular.

Say's first recommendation is:

"As soon as you complete a book—any book, business or otherwise—find someone to share it with. When you talk about a book with another person, you retain it better, you question your own comprehension, and you gain another reader’s insights to add to and flesh out your own."

This is one of the main reasons why I try to do a book review on this blog each week.  (The other reason being that it helps me keep reading a priority in the face of my never ending to-do list.)

Say's final recommendation, which she says she cribbed from Carolyn See's Making a Literary Life, is:

"Send the author a note or email to say thank you for sharing their knowledge with you."

This isn't something I currently do, but I think I'm going to start.  It costs me very little -- especially when I've already done the thinking and writing involved in one of these book reviews -- and it might lead to something useful.

Comments

[Jen]

Over the years I've traded e-mails with a number of authors. Their enthusiastic responses really encouraged me -- often they respond on the same day, and have been wonderfully polite and helpful. I've had e-mail correspondence with Arlie Russell Hochschild (of Second Shift fame), Elizabeth Warren (Two Income Trap), Annette Lareau (Unequal Childhoods), etc. Ms. Lareau practically gave me a reading guide, as her book was being discussed by my book group.

I guess I figure with e-mail they can respond if they want. And as with anyone producing something for public consumption, the authors seem happy to meet their "audience".

[Elizabeth]

Jen, I'd be interested in hearing what Ms. Lareau had to say. I've got her book on my shelf, but haven't read it yet. Given that I'm expecting to send my kids to the local public school -- which serves a mostly low-income population -- I feel like I should read it, but it's a bit dense and intimidating.

[Jen]

I'll forward the e-mails along, if I can find them. The book, as you may already know, follows the lives of 8 kids: 4 lower-income, 4 "solidly middle class". I found it a difficult read in that she was pretty critical of middle-class parenting, including many things I myself do all the time. (For example I have avoided talking about money in front of my kids, thereby inadvertently giving the impression that anything they want just drops from heaven. I'm working on that one.) Anyway, it was eye-opening.

When I contacted her I was mainly inquiring as to what happened to the kids long-term; she was happy to update me. She clearly cares a lot about all those kids.