Bill Gates is famous for his summer reading lists, which he releases every year in order to encourage others to read books and also develop habits similar to his own.
His reading summers will include him isolating himself for a few weeks to read dozens of books on his list, allowing him to synthesize his thoughts and develop his creativity every year. He keeps his mind sharp by reading so many books all at the same time, allowing himself to incubate these thoughts and constantly develop and grow himself.
Now not all of us are blessed with Bill Gates’ brain. He can read maybe 5 pages of a complicated book in a few minutes. And the goal shouldn’t be to read as many books as possible. But there’s a lot to learn from his study habits – using reading as a way to grow your own mindset and learn new things from a variety of perspectives is a very useful technique.
Have you ever heard the phrase – you’re like the 5 people who you’re the closest with or who you talk to the most? Well, if you recontextualize reading a book as learning the inner thoughts and ideas of somebody who’s well versed and well-educated on that topic, then imagine how beneficial reading a few books more can be. Let’s say you’re interested in rocket science. If you just read two or three books on some specific topics in the area of rocket science, you can gain so much insights and discover so much information about this field, without having to do any active research yourself. Now combine this interest in this field with a few other interests in science, engineering, math, or the arts, and you can develop so many new insights and ideas, all by yourself, just through the process of passively gaining materials and actively engaging with new materials. You can become the master of what you read by synthesizing all that information that you’re gaining and putting them into your own cohesive thoughts.
I hope you pick up a few books in fields you may be interested in and hit the couch! After reading for a few hours over a few days, you can write down your thoughts, insights, and discoveries, as if you were explaining them to a child. It’ll really help you accumulate all those insights and grasp your ideas in a full-fledged way.
Best of luck! Hope you found this helpful, and happy reading!
Naman
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