Я понял, ЗАЧЕМ на самом деле нужно ЧИТАТЬ КНИГИ

0:00Despite getting straight A's and B's in

0:03school , I disliked reading , to put it

0:05mildly , and only read a few books from

0:07the entire curriculum , and even then

0:09only in abridged form . So back then , I

0:12certainly wouldn't have believed I'd

0:14read over 200 books , read complex

0:16philosophical literature , and truly

0:19enjoy it . I especially wouldn't have

0:21believed how much my understanding of

0:22reading would change during that time .

0:24In this episode , I want to retrace that

0:27path and figure out why this happened .

0:30Why did I learn to read faster , but it

0:32turns out I need to read more slowly ?

0:35Why isn't it necessary to finish a book

0:37? What is the main value of reading

0:39today ? And most importantly , why can

0:41you read hundreds of books and barely

0:44change , or read 10 and transform your

0:46life ? And at the end , I'll show you my

0:49database of books I've read , tell you

0:51how I use it , and share a link to a

0:53template so you can grab it for

0:54yourself . So watch until the end and

0:57let's get started . I think few people

1:03truly enjoy reading in school . At least

1:06, I certainly wasn't one of them .

1:08Tell me , is the average schoolchild

1:10capable of understanding the full

1:12tragedy and psychological depth of

1:13Dostoevsky's crime and punishment ? I

1:15don't think so . But maybe I'm the only

1:18one who thinks so . Let's check . In what

1:21grade do they study crime and

1:23punishment ?

1:24Usually in tenth grade . Is

1:25a tenth-grader capable of grasping the

1:27full psychological and philosophical

1:29depth of a work ? Rarely . He'll grasp

1:33the plot , the general tone . It's

1:35all clear . I think it's precisely this

1:38lack of understanding that underlies

1:40the aversion to reading we experience

1:42in school . Despite this , I continued to

1:44hear everywhere that reading is

1:46beneficial and develops . I didn't

1:48understand how exactly , and I didn't

1:50experience it myself , but I had no

1:52reason not to believe it . So a clear

1:54conviction formed in me that I needed

1:56to embrace a love of reading . And

1:58somewhere around the second half of

2:00eleventh grade , I mustered the

2:01motivation and willpower to force

2:03myself to start reading . Guess what I

2:05chose as my first book . War and Peace .

2:08Why not ? Just four volumes and a couple

2:10thousand pages . It's like going to the

2:12gym for the first time and immediately

2:14starting to deadlift 200 kg . Even

2:16though you've only ever seen a barbell

2:19in a photo . I definitely wouldn't

2:20recommend that approach to anyone . But

2:22I was lucky for two reasons . First , my

2:25motivation was truly off the charts .

2:28Second , I started very gradually . First

2:31, a few pages a day , then 10-20 , and

2:33gradually increased the volume . After

2:36two or three months , I finished the

2:38book . And that's when the most

2:40important thing happened . I remember

2:42very well the feeling when , over the

2:44course of just a few months , something

2:46seemed to change in my head . I didn't

2:49fully understand , and perhaps I don't

2:50fully understand now , the nature and

2:52reasons for these changes . But then I

2:55came to one clear conclusion . If one

2:57book changed me so much that many books

3:01can , then I need to read as many as

3:04possible . That's where I was wrong . The

3:10more books a person reads , the smarter

3:12they should become . That was my logic .

3:15So I was absolutely convinced that

3:17every new book would make me smarter .

3:20This idea turned out to be one of the

3:22biggest mistakes in my approach to

3:24reading . While reading itself is

3:26certainly not bad , the problem begins

3:29when quantity becomes a goal , when

3:31reading turns into a sport . And what

3:33matters isn't what happens to you in

3:35the process , but a simple number at the

3:37end of the year . That's exactly how it

3:39turned out for me . Somewhere around

3:412018 , I set myself the goal of reading

3:4470 books in a year . And after reading

3:46them , you could say I'd satisfied my

3:48sporting interest . I liked the very

3:50idea of one day being able to say I'd

3:53read 50 books , 100 , 150. But when

3:55quantity becomes the main indicator ,

3:57quality , as a rule , automatically

4:00begins to suffer . We become less

4:02selective in our approach to books and

4:04read everything in sight . We rush to

4:06finish one so we can open the next one

4:08faster . And we make it a point to

4:10finish every book we pick up , because

4:12how else can we tick it off at the end

4:14as finished ? During that period , I even

4:16started learning speed reading . The

4:18logic was ironclad again . If I read

4:20faster , I can read more in the same

4:23amount of time . And more books means

4:25more benefit . In the pursuit of

4:27quantity , we also often unconsciously

4:29choose simple books over complex ones .

4:32After all , simple ones can be finished

4:33much faster . So , most of what I read

4:36were books on business ,

4:37self-development , and other hyped

4:40literature . I saw the main benefit for

4:42myself in the knowledge and information

4:44I gained from these books . Was it truly

4:48useful ? Of course , but was it the most

4:51effective way to use the time spent

4:53reading ? Definitely not . And today I

4:58realize that I could have gotten much

4:59more benefit if I had approached the

5:01reading process differently from the

5:03start . Among the dozens of books I read

5:06back then , there were complex ones that

5:08were impossible to devour in two

5:10evenings . And when I did try , I

5:12realized I was missing most of the

5:14meaning . I noticed something

5:16interesting . The slower I read such

5:18books , the more I got out of them . Take

5:21Niedsche . I read his entire five-volume

5:24set of his main works . Did I understand

5:26everything I read ? Of course not . But

5:29to understand anything , I sometimes had

5:31to reread the same page several times ,

5:34go back a few paragraphs , stop and just

5:36think .

5:37Yes , this slow pace tormented my ego

5:39inside , and I often thought , but I

5:41could read several easy books in the

5:43time it took to read one difficult one .

5:46But , you know , it was precisely in

5:48these moments of slow and difficult

5:50reading that I felt changes that I

5:52didn’t experience after reading a

5:55dozen easy books in a row . Let me give

5:57you another example . Let’s imagine a

5:59workout . If you use a weight that’s

6:01too light , your muscles receive

6:03virtually no load . If it’s too heavy ,

6:05your technique falls apart and you

6:07can’t work properly either . Growth

6:10begins somewhere at the limit of your

6:12capabilities , when the load already

6:13requires effort , but you can handle it .

6:16Reading is much the same . If a book is

6:19too easy , your brain barely works . We

6:23either simply skim through familiar

6:24thoughts , once again receiving

6:26confirmation of what we already knew ,

6:28or we learn something new , but more

6:29often than not , we could have learned

6:31this new information much faster and

6:33better from other sources . And if a

6:36book is too difficult , we simply don't

6:38understand anything . Real growth begins

6:41somewhere between these two points ,

6:43when a thought compels us to stop ,

6:44reread a paragraph , go back , close the

6:46book , think , and argue with the author .

6:50This is precisely what , in my opinion ,

6:52is primarily worth reading for . It is

6:55the mental strain we experience in the

6:57process . It is this strain that

6:59constitutes the weight we lift while

7:01reading . It is not the number of pages ,

7:04not the number of books , but the amount

7:06of genuine mental effort . Let's return

7:08to the reading room . There are always

7:10people there who have been going for

7:11years quite consistently , yet their

7:13form remains virtually unchanged .

7:15Perhaps some are simply maintaining

7:17their current level and don't set any

7:19other global goals . But , it seems to me

7:22, the reason for stagnation for most is

7:24much simpler . They don't experience the

7:26necessary level of exertion , don't push

7:28themselves to failure , don't work on

7:30technique , don't pay attention to

7:31recovery , nutrition , and other details

7:33that determine progress . In short , they

7:35go to the gym just to check a box . It's

7:37the same with books . When we chase

7:39quantity , we very easily start reading

7:42just for the sake of it . And the very

7:44fact that we've read 300 or 1,000 books

7:47tells us little about how they truly

7:49affected us . It was through difficult

7:51books that I experienced mental strain .

7:53I began to see connections I hadn't

7:55noticed before , grasp thoughts that

7:57hadn't even occurred to me before ,

7:59concentrate on one thought for a long

8:01time , and question my own beliefs . This

8:04is especially relevant because today we

8:05can spend hours scrolling through short

8:07videos . Our attention constantly jumps

8:10between new stimuli . 15 seconds , the

8:12next one , another 10 , the next . New

8:15music , a new face , a new thought . But

8:17reading requires the exact opposite .

8:20Staying focused on a single topic for

8:22hours , focusing on a single thought ,

8:24and not being stimulating with every

8:25second . Gradually , the experience of

8:29reading this way began to move me away

8:31from simple business and

8:32self-development literature toward more

8:34complex works : philosophy , science , and

8:36fiction . And now , when I look at my

8:38book database , an interesting picture

8:40emerges . This is a database I've been

8:42maintaining for many years , almost

8:44since the very beginning of my reading

8:45experience . Currently , it contains over

8:48200 books , for each of which I record

8:51the author's title , length , language ,

8:53genre , format , and start and end dates .

8:57Now , I can even estimate the ratio of

8:59book sizes in different categories

9:01simply by their number .

9:03Business , science , and self-development

9:05— there are over 100 books , while

9:07philosophy only has 28. Although , I'm

9:10sure these 28 books took much more time

9:12than all 100 plus on the above topics .

9:16For the same reason , this is much more

9:18complex literature , a deeper and more

9:20comprehensive intellectual exercise ,

9:22and , accordingly , higher-quality

9:24results in the form of concrete

9:25benefits that we receive as a result .

9:29And since after reading , I rate each

9:31book based on how much it influenced me

9:33, we can use the same criteria , using

9:34my database , to rate books in different

9:36categories . For example , I have four

9:40books rated " top " in the philosophy

9:42category out of twenty-eight , while in

9:44the first three categories , I have only

9:46six top books out of a total of about

9:49120. Overall , 80 % of my books are rated

9:51" five " or " top " in the philosophy

9:53category . Sixty books are rated " top "

9:56in the fiction category , and 40 % in all

9:59three remaining categories I listed

10:01earlier . This once again speaks to the

10:05quality of the literature I've read , at

10:06least in my purely subjective

10:08assessment . Incidentally , I've uploaded

10:10this database to my private Telegram

10:12channel . You can see everything I've

10:14read there , along with my ratings , and ,

10:17of course , you can use it to create

10:18your own database . I'll leave a link to

10:21the Telegram channel below in the

10:22description . As a result , these days ,

10:25almost any self-help book feels like a

10:275 kg dumbbell . It barely sparks

10:31interest and is finished in a couple of

10:33sittings . And afterward , you feel as if

10:36you haven't done any complex mental

10:38work , but simply wasted time for the

10:41sake of checking off another box and

10:43adding another book to your database .

10:45So today , if I pick up a new book and

10:48discover during the process that it's

10:51too basic and simple , I don't finish it

10:53. I question the effectiveness of this

10:55activity . If the answer is no , I finish

10:58the book , skimming it in half an hour ,

11:00or I analyze it with AI , searching for

11:02any new information or insights it

11:04might contain .

11:06But there's no point in poring over it

11:08and wasting hours just to check off a

11:10box at the end . You might argue that

11:13there are many other purposes for

11:15reading besides acquiring knowledge and

11:17information . I agree , there are many

11:20purposes . We can read to develop

11:22vocabulary , speech , and diction , just

11:24to read fiction , like watching a TV

11:26series . But the fact is that simple

11:30books for our level are less effective

11:32at achieving even these goals , while

11:35moderately challenging books have a

11:37richer stylistic range , vocabulary , and

11:40lexicon , which ultimately make them

11:42more effective for us in achieving

11:45these and any other reading goals . I

11:48used to think that books were primarily

11:50for informational purposes , and that we

11:51should read as much as possible to get

11:53our fill . But today , there is far more

11:56information than we can physically

11:58process , and it's practically free . You

12:01can get an explanation for almost any

12:02question in a couple of minutes . The

12:04shortage today is attention . This is

12:06precisely the main value of books . They

12:09change the way we think and our ability

12:12to concentrate . And that's why this

12:14ability is hard to come by . Not through

12:17money or time , but through discipline ,

12:19mental effort , and the effort we

12:21experience in the process . So , there's

12:24no need to read as much as possible , no

12:26need to try to read quickly , no need to

12:28finish a book just because you opened

12:30it . And you definitely shouldn't turn

12:32reading into another pretty number to

12:34add to your list of accomplishments .

12:38You need to read in a way that truly

12:39impacts your thinking , because it's not

12:40books that change us . A book is a

12:43trigger , but the thought process we

12:46initiate in our heads changes us . I'll

12:50tell you about how I read today , how I

12:51work with AI , how I work with notes ,

12:53how I choose books , and my entire

12:55reading system in general in a separate

12:57episode . So , subscribe to the channel

12:59so you don't miss out . And as a

13:01reminder , you can find my book database

13:03and template in my private Telegram

13:05channel . I've uploaded it there ; the

13:06link is in the description . Also , visit

13:08my main Telegram channel . There are

13:10even more life moments , thoughts , and

13:12useful information there . The link to

13:13it is also below . If after this episode

13:16you read fewer books but think about

13:18them more deeply , then all this was not

13:20in vain . Read , preferably a little ,

13:24thoughtfully , slowly , but profitably .

13:27And only good books . See you in the

13:30next issue . Until then .