BFW: Choosing Wisely – To Read Or Not to Read a Nonfiction Book

​

​

Dear Reader,

​Listen to the Newsletter​
All nonfiction books are not created equally. In the latest issue, 206, of Brain Food Wednesdays, we tackle the age-old question: how do you decide which nonfiction books are truly worth your precious time? I wrote previously about how to use the Eisenhower Matrix to prioritize your unread nonfiction books.

Eisenhower Matrix

​
After you’ve prioritized books, there’s no guarantee that the books will be worth your time reading. Let’s review the Eisenhower Matrix first. The matrix is based on urgency and importance. If a book is both urgent and important, that means you want to read it immediately. If it’s important but not urgent, you want to schedule the time to read it.

​

​

​
You went through your unread books and prioritized them. Now you have a stack of books to read, some of them you need to read first. And the rest you have to read later. But before you read or schedule to read any of the books, there’s another test to double check if you really want to read any of the books.
​

Preview a Book

​
It’s important to preview the books first. Before you do that, though, write a clear one-sentence purpose for reading the book. What outcomes do you want? What questions do you want the book to answer?
​

Read the preface, foreword, and introduction. The introduction usually has the main and secondary ideas. Scan the index to see which keywords and phrases have the most page references. Flip through the book to look at images, charts, diagrams and so on. Look at the table of contents, which is the most important section of the book. Pay attention to the chapters and sections that align with your purpose for reading the book and answer your questions.
​

Decision Time
​

When you preview a book, you’re gathering intelligence. Now it’s decision time. Based on what you learned, do you have to read the book? Or did you get what you needed from the book? Once after reading a book’s introduction, it was so detailed that I didn’t think I needed to read the book.
​

If you got what you needed from previewing a book, you may decide that’s enough information for you. And that’s okay. So go back to your list of unread books you prioritized using the Eisenhower Matrix.
​

Conclusion:
​

If a preview satisfies your reading purpose, it’s perfectly acceptable to consider it enough. Revisit your prioritized list. If you decided you didn’t need to read it based on your preview, remove it from the list. Quality often surpasses quantity. Choose wisely and let your reading list reflect your purposeful pursuit of knowledge.
​

If you found this article and newsletter informative, please:
​

Join the Art of Learning Leadership Academy Membership Site​
​

Stay tuned for more Brain Food next Wednesday!
​

Warm regards,

Avil Beckford

Brain Food Wednesday Editor

Avil Beckford, Founder, The Invisible Mentor & Art of Learning Leadership Academy

​theinvisiblementor.com artoflearningleadershipacademy.com​
​LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter | Pinterest | Facebook​