How To Read An Unfinished Book

All of the books I have ever purchased are unfinished.

Now they may have been completed. All the chapters included. A nice title. Smartly designed book jacket. Readily available at my local Barnes & Noble or online at Amazon.com. But when I hold that newly purchased book in my hands for the first time...I know that it's not finished. It needs something more.

To me, a book is one side of a conversation. In order to get the most out of it - to learn from it - I need to engage in the conversation the author has started. I need to finish what the author started.

I will warn you right now: I am not kind to my books. If you were to peruse the shelves of my library you would find books that look like they've been run over by a car, withstood a few cycles in the washing machine, and carry the stains of various food and beverages.

That's because I live with my books.

In living with my books, I engage in a variety of conversations both with the books and with the people around me. I keep them close at hand. I am never very far without access to the latest book that I'm engaged with. Because my goal is to finish what was started on the inside.

So here's how I work at reading, processing, conversing with, and integrating the unfinished books I encounter on a regular basis. You might find some of these too painful to incorporate into your own learning. I only offer them as an insight into my own processes.

1. Lose the dust cover.
I know that someone spent a lot of time working on the design of that book jacket, but I can't properly dismantle this book with that thing still flimsily (is that a real word?) hanging on to the outside of the cover. I will read the comments on the back and on the inside panels and then toss it. Now I have an nondescript book with only the title on the spine to remind me what is on the inside. For me, the book jacket gets in the way. I have found that none of my books lost any significant value by throwing the book cover away.

2. Write some questions.
This is done on the title page of my book. I do this before I even start reading. What do I want this book to answer for me? What do I think this book will answer for me? Each of us purchases a book because we believe it will provide us with some kind of insight, answers, or different perspective. I state those up front...in the book. Maybe the book will answer those questions - maybe it won't. But now I'm reading with intention. Now I'm asking the author questions and am engaged in searching for answers.

3. Underline and re-read.
As I begin to read, there will be certain lines and words that stick out for me. I underline those. After I underline them, I will re-read what I just underlined. I want to think about why this portion of the book is important to me.

A quick note about underlining - use the appropriate pen. Don't use a Sharpie. It's too bold and will bleed through the pages. A nice gel pen could suffice if the ink dries quickly and the paper is thick enough. A ballpoint pen seems to work better for me, unless the pen leaks a little when you first touch it to the paper. These may seem like trivial issues, but when you mark up your book A LOT - the type of writing utensil is crucial. Sometimes, a mechanical pencil may be your best bet.

Some people underline a book because it helps them stay focused. It's easy for our minds to drift while we're reading. I underline the book because I want to condense it to the main points that relate to me and my situation. When I read back through the book, I will focus on the underlined parts. By underlining, I'm trying to make the book smaller.

4. Write in your book.
I love a book with wide margins and blank spaces at the end of chapters. I fill those spaces up with notes, questions, thoughts,and summaries. I have a marking system that I use when I write in my book:
   - I place a "Q:" with the topic of a quote next to quotes I want to remember.
   - I place a "I:" with the topic of the illustration next to those stories that catch my interest.
   - I place a "?" next to passages that raise questions for me.
   - I place a "*" next to important points that stand out above the rest.
If I underline a passage that is very significant, I will summarize it in the margins and draw an arrow to it.

5. Index your material.
Now I understand why they place blank pages at the front and back of books. It's so I can create my own index of what I find important. Whenever I place a mark next to a quote, illustration, passage that I definitely want to refer to later, I will make a note of it on the front page of the book. I create my own index. That way, if I remember that there's something in a book that I need, I don't have to search the whole book. I can go back through my index.

6. Teach it to someone else.
In order for me to better understand a concept or perspective that I read in a book, I need to share it with someone else. This forces me to put things in my own words and to think it through in my own mind. I will pull my book out and ask people what they think about certain passages or explain what it is that I'm reading. As I attempt to explain, I am learning how to formulate the concepts and ideas in my own terms. I tend to learn so much more through the process of teaching then I do by learning alone.

7. Move the information from the book to your own system.
Whenever I buy a book, I realize that I won't need everything that's written in the book. That's why I go through the whole process of reading it, marking it, and analyzing it. I am subjectively pulling information out of the book. And I don't want to leave information that I need in the book.

So I will transcribe key thoughts, ideas, quotes on index cards and paste them on my wall. I will file things away on my computer or in my filing cabinet. I will write key ideas on a blog or in a journal. My goal is to get the information out of the book and into the systems that I use on a daily basis.

And here's the way to measure if you're doing this successfully: What would happen if you lost your library? What if all of your books were stolen or destroyed? What would you have left?

I would definitely feel a sense of loss because I really like my books. Some of them have great sentimental value. Many have been the source of powerful changes in the way I think and live. But I'd be more upset if I lost the files and systems I use to keep information. Because those things make up the information I want to keep, the hard work of gleaning through each of my books to pull out the pieces I find useful and inspiring.

What is a book but the beginning of a conversation? A conversation that is unfinished until you, the reader, become engaged in it. Sometimes I am overwhelmed when I walk into a bookstore and see all of the conversations that I could enter into - too many books, not enough time. But that doesn't stop me from diving in and messing up as many books as I can.

How about you? Do you have a system for finishing the books you buy? How do you interact with your books to get the most out of them?

Photo Credit: Flickr
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If Tim Milburn could be any highlighter color in the world, it would be orange. He also writes at a couple of places on the web: College Students Rule! is dedicated to providing tips, tricks and tools to help college students succeed; Studentlinc is where he works hard to develop lifelong leaders one student at a time. Tim makes his home in Eagle, Idaho with his wife and four children.

Comments

[Joanna Young]

Tim, that's great teaching, thank you.

I have to say until very, very recently I couldn't touch or mark a book in this way at all (though many have been dropped in the bath!). It was reading Rosa's book that got me started because she pretty much insists that you take notes on the page... and I could kind of sense that she was watching me as I read!

It still feels almost... painful, sacriligeous somehow to be marking a book, though I do recognise that I learn differently when I do.

Interestingly I bought an electronic version of a book yesterday that I needed overnight and immediately started taking notes, highlighting and bookmarking in the way you suggest, with no fear of 'damaging' the original.

Maybe the solution for me would be to buy two copies of each book... but given the numbers of books I buy each month I don't think my income could stretch to it!

Joanna

[David Zinger]

Tim,

Rosa may have talking story but you talk (converse) with books. I have been marking books, drawing pictures in the margin and even using the odd orange hilite maker. Your love of books is obvious.

We are often telling writers to move from the passive to the active voice and I like how you encourage readers to move the from passive to the active eye.

David

[Rosa Say]

Yeah Tim! You know I LOVE this posting of yours!

Please don't think of this as a sales pitch dear readers, but I feel I need to explain a little bit about my own "Mark it up!" coaching that Joanna and David mentioned here... I was adamant in the publishing of my book, Managing with Aloha, that it be designed with blank pages at the back and other write-in spaces because I fully intended to use it in my coaching workshops and classes - and we do! This is what is written on page 15 within the book's introduction:

"I strongly encourage you to mark up this book, allowing it to be a canvas for your own self expression: The margins have been enlarged specifically for you to do so. In so many ways, management is a hands-on, personal love affair. My suggestion is that you write your first reactions in the margins of the text itself as different values and their concepts speak to you. Write down what you will do; spell out the action steps you will take to put the lessons of Managing with Aloha into practice. Draw pictures, design whiteboard lessons of your own, or log promises you’ve made to yourself. Use any blank spaces at the end of chapters to pencil in a windowpane grid and design a storyboard for the future you will create. If you are one of those people who has never marked up a book and just can’t bring yourself to do it, use post-it notes. Whatever style you choose to write down your thoughts, Ho‘ohiki: keep those promises you make to yourself, for everything will start or end with you."

And Tim, the hardcovers of my book are black for people like you (and me!) who take off the dustcover jackets :)

Love your annotation codes for #4. These are the ones we teach managers to use in our workshops:
G= my goals
I = my ideas
P = possible projects (a collection of single actions)
NA = my next actions
D = something I can and should delegate
M = the mentorship I will give

For me, seeing a copy of MWA that someone has marked up fully and "lived with" as you have Tim, is an extraordinary, fulfilling compliment - a true gift. If someone has had my book for a while and it is pristine clean, I haven't helped them as much as I had hoped to. I suspect I am not alone in this, and many authors would say the same thing: To annotate a book, even if you don't agree with a word the author has written, is to acknowledge that the author gave you something to at least think about - and think for yourself you did.

[Steve Sherlock]

as a newbie book marker, my system of marking is very simple; pen in hand, I draw a line down the side margin of a passage I like. The more I like it, the more there are extra marks, exclamation points, etc... Very simple. Maybe someday, I'll graduate to a sophisticated method like yours Tim, or like yours Rosa.

[Karen Wallace]

What a powerful discussion! Tim, your love of books, of learning and of reading comes through so loud and clear. Until I 'met' you and Rosa, I had never marked a book in any way. Dust covers were kept pristine (well, that still stands: ), spines kept intact, pages ready to be read by the next person.

But I have been slowly changing that practice, thanks to you both. Now, with this blueprint, I can see it becoming a learning habit, and am almost itching to go grab a pencil (it may take me a while to get to ink) and start 'finishing' the next book in my pile.

Your point about losing our library has hit home with me - at the moment all my books (bar a couple I have bought this year) are packed in boxes in our shed as I wait for the end of renovations. And as the JJL Love Affair with Books fast approaches, I realise how lost I am without them. I will be adopting your suggestions wholeheartedly about moving the information from the book to my own system.

Thanks Tim!

[tim]

Love the comments so far. It's nice to see that some of you are willing to get a bit more aggressive with your books. Perhaps we could combine on a post called "Full Contact Reading!"

@Joanna - I can relate to your digital experiment. I purchased Made To Stick last year on audio and felt like there was so much I was missing that I went out and bought the hardcopy.

@David - the active eye...that's good. I like to think that I read with my hands as much as my eyes.

@Rosa - I knew we were kindred spirits on this one. Thanks for including the quote from your book. I think people get more out of it because you give them permission to mark it up. If we combine our annotation symbols, we might need to laminate them on a bookmark to be able to remember them all.

@Steve - I like your system. Whatever works right. The point is learning and integrating. Sounds like you have figured out how to do that.

@Karen - Welcome to world of writing in books. Don't worry...we wouldn't make you get rid of your dust covers just yet. We'll build up to that. I'd love to hear how things work out as you work your way through a book in your pile.

[Rosa Say]

Ha! "Full Contact Reading!" what a hoot :)

[dave]

Allrighty then Tim - a brother from another mother! Aside from the content here, which caused me to jump up and down in my chair, your piece is soooooo well written. Superb lead in!

If I were a husband and my books a wife, I'd be in jail right now.

To begin with, I will pick up a book, open it and smell it. Not that I'm really looking for a certain scent, but I enjoy the different aromas. Next I will caress the pages with the tips of my fingers. I love various textures and am perfectly comfortable with both light and heavier mils.

The dust cover stays off until I've done the book twice and completed a review.

The first thing I do upon opening the book is to date and sign my name to the inside cover. Next I take a yellow high lighter and high light the copyright date and then extend the yellow line vertically towards the top of the page. This helps me to pick up the copyright date in the future. After that I read whatever is written about the author, either on the dust cover or in the back of the book. I also read the index, appendix and anything leading up to the book's end.

When I sit down to read the book, I have at my side, a red pen, pencil, blue ballpoint pen and one yellow high lighter. The only time that I use the blue pen is to write a core concept on the top of the page. I write all notes in the margins with pencil. I date every note entered. The dates help me to keep track of my growth. Usually when I look back on my notes, I am looking to see if I am maturing and growing.

I draw a circle around text of interest and then I fill the circle in with yellow high light. Sometimes I'll only circle the material on the first read and then fill in the color on the second read. If there is something of particular interest I will draw a horizontal red line in the margin, from the text, and then intersect it with a vertical red line the length of the page. The orange marker comes out on books that I've read four or five times and with it I'll draw an orange circle around the red penned circle. I dog ear pages and use a book marker. I leave the book marker in the book forever.

On text that I might use for a future quote I will write the word quote next to the high lighted material and then write the page number in the rear of the book along with a note of reference.

I keep running notebook-journals on writing, communication and design. I transcribe by hand with blue ink into these journals, passages from my books.

Sometimes, but not all times, I'll write in pencil in the back of the books thoughts and ideas. A great deal of what I write in books is personal and might ordinarily go in journals. I also make notes that appear as if I am talking to the author.

Because my books are so precious to me, I would hate to see them get tossed aside once I make exit to that great libaary in the sky. So, I often leave dollar bills within the pages and I write notes to my daughters as well. This way they have a chance to stay in the family a tad longer.

If I am moved by a book, I will e-mail the author and tell them so. Seth Godin, Dan Pink, Po Bronson and Tim Sanders are a few who have responded above and beyond the standard "thank you." Of course I now have a life-long friendship with one very special author who lives on the hardened ash out in the middle of the Pacific.

Something that is very special to me is my association here with all of you in regards to books on business and writing. There is only one person in my offline life who I can converse with about books (oldest daughter Vickie), but she lives many states away.

Man, this is fun! Thanks Tim!

[Angela Maiers]

Tim, what a great post! This is exactly the kind of "annotating text" strategies I am teaching students. When you become an active mindful reader like yourself, learning sticks! Lots of new codes to share! Thanks for sharing these valuable insights.

[tim]

@dave - Wow...your comment is post-worthy. I hope people are clicking in to get all of this great material. I thought I was into this, but you my friend...are taking "full contact reading" to the next level. I especially like sending a thank you note to an author. I did that with the Made To Stick authors and got a nice, personal reply back from Chip Heath. I thought that was the coolest thing in the world.

@Angela - I agree Angela. This is a different kind of "text" messaging we're into here. It would be interesting to combine some of these different strategies into one glossary or index.