Reading is beneficial . The best books are full of lessons that improve your life. Some books are so good, that you can’t get everything out of them the first time you read it. That is why it is best to have a reread list, a list of books that were so good on the first pass, you need to read them again.They simply have too much information to offer, and with each book you read, your perspective changes. With the reread list, you’ve documented a list of books that you plan on reading again.
Great books are teeming with information. They have references, graphs, charts etc. that can swallow you up or they have a lot of questions for you to ponder. Some books, like Prometheus Rising, are chocked full of both. Even with serious note taking, sometimes we are just going to miss something that is worth our time down the road. By putting the book on the reread list, you are noting that there is more to this than what you have on first n.
The human brain is great at taking information and sorting what is important. We wouldn’t be here if your brain, especially in the days before agriculture, knew how to discern friend from foe, an orange from a omnivore. Each time you read a book, your brain is going through this process, taking all the things that are happening in your life and scanning what you are reading to see what is important. Philosophy books are extremely important in this case, so if you read Zen & The Art of Archery or Meditations by Marcus Aurelius there are more lessons than the first reading will allow you to grasp. With each passing moment our perspective changes, so by keeping a reread list, we are acknowledging that there is something in this book that is important on the next glance.
By building your own library of reread titles, you give yourself the best chance of getting the most out of your investment. Its better to just give the book a second pass when your perspective changes and retaking the notes so you pick up all the great information it holds. When I do this, I tend to get that much more out of what I read, and I notice that my retention goes up. Each time I give a book a read, especially the great ones, I find something else that will help me get through my next issue in life.
Note: My reread list is public above with the book list link. I add to it often.
From the desk of Adam Thomas 