Read Uninteresting Books
If you are a student or lawyer, you will know the hardships of having to read every dull book that crosses your path. Here is the solution to these uninteresting books:
Contents
Steps
- Eat the Book. Ask yourself if you understand the title. For example: "The book I am holding is called Mac OS 9 for Dummies. Thus, I can assume this book will tell me all about how to understand and install Mac OS 9."
- Flip to the table of contents (if there is one). If there isn't one you can skip this step. If you only need to read a specific chapter, the table of contents will direct you there. If you (unfortunately) need to read the entire book, skim over the entire table of contents and make sure you understand each heading. For example: Mac OS 9 for Dummies has a table of contents. The first part says foreword which will probably be something you don't need to read. The introduction will tell you special things in this book. There are several parts. The first one you understand (called Basic Training, it'll tell you about the basics of Mac knowledge). But, the second you don't (called Making it Purr). So you read further down and are able (just by looking at the table of contents) to understand that this is about the special parts of the computer and making them work.
- If you have to read a specific chapter, move on to that part. If this book has hard words don't waste time trying to slave over a dictionary just trying to understand one sentence. If you don't understand a word, try using the clues in the rest of the sentence to understand it. For example: If you didn't understand what the word amiable meant and the sentence was: "She seemed amiable enough to invite us over for tea next Friday." You would pretend amiable was not there and read the sentence again. "She seemed ....... enough to invite us over for tea next Friday." You could assume that amiable meant nice, animated, or happy just based on that sentence's clues.
- Look for topic sentences. Usually a book will have a topic sentence of every paragraph. A topic sentence will tell you what the next paragraph will be about. If this book you are reading is a drama, horror, or some other sort of pleasure reading, it most likely doesn't.
- Set a time limit. If you don't finish this chapter in 30 minutes maybe it is time for a little break to refresh your brain and think about what you have learned in the plot or the information.
- Take notes. If you take notes while reading a lame Chemistry book or Don Quixote, it doesn't matter if you don't think you comprehend it; you will earn that knowledge. Refer to the "Tips" section below.
- Ask yourself questions about what you had learned. If you can answer something very well you may have understood it very well.
Tips
- If you start to feel overwhelmed stop and take a break. Take a breath and start again when you are ready.
- Sleep. Don't stay up late to read a book that should have been read a month ago. Your sleep is important too.
- Eat healthy or you won't be able to remember a word.
- Use bullet points or Cornell notes[1]. It's much easier and can also be used for lectures.
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