What you need to get started
Nothing. This is the cheapest course on this site. You already have everything you need. A few tools help, though.
A physical book (any genre)
Free from a library, or £8–14 newStart with something you're curious about. Curiosity is the most powerful retention tool — it creates the question that reading answers.
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A Kindle or e-reader
£70–120 for a Kindle PaperwhiteOptional but excellent for highlighting and note-taking without marking physical books. The Kindle highlights export is one of the most useful reading productivity tools available.
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A reading notebook
£3–6 (Leuchtturm1917 or Moleskine softcover)A small notebook dedicated to reading notes. The act of writing forces synthesis — you have to decide what was important and put it in your own words.
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Readwise (app, optional)
£5/month or £45/yearSyncs your Kindle highlights and resurfaces them as a daily review. Transforms passive highlighting into active recall. £5/month after trial.
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The library is still the best deal in intellectual life
Every UK resident has free access to a public library. Most UK libraries also offer free access to digital services: OverDrive (eBooks), Libby (audiobooks), PressReader (newspapers and magazines). You can read serious literature indefinitely for £0.
Theory, technique & terminology
Why most people read slowly
Most adults read at 200–250 words per minute — the speed they were taught in primary school. The limiting factors are usually subvocalisation (silently sounding out each word) and regression (re-reading words you've just read). Neither is necessary for comprehension. Skilled readers process whole phrases and concepts at a time, not individual words.
The four reading modes
Skimming
Scanning for structure — chapter headings, first and last paragraphs, bold text. Takes 2–3 minutes for a whole book. Tells you what the book is about and whether to read it deeply.
Scanning
Looking for specific information — a name, a date, a concept. Move your eyes quickly and stop only when the target word appears.
Active reading
Your main reading mode. Engage with the text: ask questions before reading each chapter, underline, argue with the author in the margins. Comprehension and retention both improve markedly.
Deep reading
Slow, careful reading of dense or complex material — philosophy, law, technical manuals. Accept that you'll read fewer pages per hour. The depth of engagement is what matters, not speed.
The SQ3R technique
SQ3R: Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review. Before reading: skim the chapter (Survey) and turn headings into questions (Question). During reading: read to answer those questions (Read). After: close the book and summarise in your own words (Recite). Later: review your notes (Review). Studied in educational psychology since 1946. Still the most evidence-backed reading comprehension method.
Retention: why you forget and how to stop
The forgetting curve (Ebbinghaus, 1885) shows we forget approximately 50% of new information within an hour and 90% within a week, unless we actively recall it. Spaced repetition — reviewing information at increasing intervals — is the most powerful known method for long-term retention. For reading: take notes in your own words, review them 1 day after, then 1 week after, then 1 month after.
Speed reading is mostly marketing
The claims of 1000+ wpm speed reading courses aren't backed by evidence. Research by Rayner et al. (2016) showed that reading much faster than 500 wpm causes comprehension to collapse. The best approach is active reading at 300–400 wpm with high comprehension, not passive racing at 1000 wpm with low retention.
Terminology
History
The codex — the modern book format with pages bound on one edge — replaced the scroll around the 4th century CE and enabled the non-linear navigation (flicking between pages) that makes indexing and referencing possible. Silent reading was rare before the 9th century CE. Reading aloud was the norm even when alone, partly because texts had no word spacing. Augustine of Hippo in the 4th century noted with surprise that Ambrose of Milan could read without moving his lips. Gutenberg's printing press (c.1440) made personal book ownership possible, creating the conditions for the private reading practices we take for granted. The public library movement in the UK began with the Public Libraries Act of 1850.
The reading practice
The goal isn't reading more books. It's building a reading practice that compounds. A 20-minute daily habit beats a weekend binge every time.
The daily structure
- Before sitting down: write one question you want this session to answer.
- Read actively for 20–25 minutes: underline, argue, question.
- Before putting the book down: write 3–5 bullet points in your own words. Not quotes, synthesis.
- Once a week: review last week's notes. What stuck? What did you forget?
How to choose what to read
Reading goals and recommendations
Abandon books freely
The sunk cost fallacy kills more reading habits than any other factor. You're not obligated to finish every book you start. If a book isn't working after 50 pages, set it aside. Time is finite and there are too many good books to waste hours on bad ones.
Your pathway to mastery
Building the habit — you're here
Month 1–320 minutes daily, consistent. Notes after each session. Beginning to distinguish reading from reading actively.
Developing a reading mind
Month 4–12Books in conversation with each other. Connecting ideas across subjects. Personal note system that you actually return to.
Reader as thinker
Year 2Choosing books with intention. Reading primary sources, not just popular summaries. Writing about what you've read.
Reading as practice
OngoingBooks as companions across a life. A library that is a portrait of the person who built it. The discipline of sustained attention.
The people to learn from
- Mortimer J. Adler — How to Read a Book (1940) — the definitive guide to the art of reading for understanding, not just information
- Shane Parrish (Farnam Street) — Best online writing on reading strategy, mental models, and applied knowledge
- Ryan Holiday — His reading and note-taking process (the commonplace book method) is practical and genuinely useful
- Anne Fadiman — Ex Libris — the best book about the love of books ever written. Read it and you'll want to read everything else.
Best resources
Community
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