Why reading the same book again (or several times in life) is OK
📖Books,✔️Productivity
I just maxed out my limit of audiobooks for this year’s Audible subscription and I still haven’t read all of the ones I purchased, but recently I decided to re-read some of the old books I already read before. Why would I do that?
Turns out I’m not so smart…
Out of all the books I’ve been reading I discovered that some are really, really good. Like Essentialism which I’ve read three or four times already and now I’m reading again and I still find some new thoughts and nuggets of ideas… even though I should have known this content by heart by now… But as Greg McKeown says, an essentialist life is not a goal that is ever completely reached - it’s a pursuit… it’s a journey…
That’s why as I’m reading more and more books I hopefully get smarter and wiser… and my mind gets different ideas… and is at different stages of evolution… that’s why every time I’m reading the same good book, I keep learning something new and hopefully keep getting smarter…
Answers need questions first!
As Clay Christensen once said:
“Questions are places in your mind where answers fit. If you haven’t asked the question, the answer has nowhere to go. It hits your mind and bounces right off. You have to ask the question – you have to want to know – in order to open up the space for the answer to fit.”
That’s why when reading these good books for the second or third time (or more) I am at different phase in my life and I have different questions or problems… and I find different answers.
Which books I recommend to read again?
Your mileage may vary, so please just don’t follow me blindly but if you really want to know, these are the 10 books I’ve been reading (or I’m planning to read) again recently:
- Essentialism by Greg McKeown (Audible, Amazon) The Disciplined Pursuit of Less but Better - highlights, The Podcast #112
- Getting Things Done by David Allen (Amazon,Audible)
- Start with Why by Simon Sinek Audible, Amazon
- Insanely Simple - Ken Segall Audible, Amazon
- Deep Work by Cal Newport Audible, Amazon Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World The Podcast # 46
- Anything You Want by Derek Sivers Audible, Amazon
- Why We Get Fat? by Gary Taubes Audible, Amazon, The Podcast #32
- The 10 Top Distinctions between Millionaires and the Middle Class by Keith Cameron Smith Audible, Amazon
- REWORK by [Jason Fried][jf] and David Heinemeier Hansson Audible, Amazon
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson Audible, Amazon A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
As my mentor Michael Hyatt says: “Readers are likely to be leaders” so happy reading and re-reading again!