How I Read Books: Maximizing Knowledge Without Re-Reading

In my teenage years, I wrote about why I didn’t read books and later why books are essential to read. Both essays make me smile now because, over the past years, I’ve essentially completed the equivalent of at least two fake master’s degrees. Thanks to reading, I’ve developed significantly more useful skills and knowledge.

Some books revealed and illuminated my problems, while others inspired ideas and solutions to address them. While mentoring my junior team leads, I realized that many people struggle to process information effectively. The worst thing that can happen is to read a book or attend training and not initiate any change afterward. Knowledge without action is meaningless. Later, you’ll only be able to boast about knowing a lot but achieving nothing.

Here’s how I read books to maximize their value. It’s nothing magical, but I hope it helps. By the end of this post, you’ll know how I use the same book’s information in multiple ways, retain it, and avoid inaction.

Highlighting Thoughts with a Pencil

Before I started reading more, I was always fascinated by Bill Gates and how the world’s most outstanding leaders manage to read hundreds of books yearly. I picked up the idea of jotting down ideas in the margins or underlining key points from Gates Notes’ blog or videos.

Previously, I naively thought I could remember significant points or passages. Still, now I strive not only to recognize and integrate ideas with my experience but also to pass on the information to colleagues or through blog writing.

Highlighting key thoughts helps me avoid re-reading the book, find important information quickly, and use it effectively.

Creating Written Summaries

While reading every book, I take notes in Apple Notes. There’s a well-grounded stereotype that many books (especially American ones) contain at least 30% diluted, abstract information that can be skipped.

By creating a written summary, I note the core ideas, thoughts, and quotes that resonate with me. Later, I reuse this knowledge to write my content, share it with employees via Slack, or incorporate it into internal training materials.

Here’s my summary structure:

1. Highlight Key Ideas: I consolidate the highlighted thoughts and sections from the book that I find helpful for future reference.
2. Reflect on the content: I write my reflections after finishing the book. This often includes identifying nuances in my behavior, changes I should make, or summarizing the book’s ideas alongside other known information, books, or training. I merge my experience and knowledge with the author’s ideas.
3. Create a To-Do List: I note actionable changes or things to do differently in red. The list is concise and has measurable indicators.

Writing summaries reinforces the information in my brain and adds an extra layer of “recording” it. Sometimes, you only remember the best thoughts in the second half of a book, and creating a summary is an excellent way to revisit the author’s ideas with a fresh perspective.

While this method significantly increases my time on a book, it has a meaningful impact. I’ve read that many avid readers do the same, so it’s worthwhile. I encourage you to try it, too.

Although I wish to write my book summaries by hand using an Apple Pencil, it takes far too long. My summaries are usually typed, though I occasionally take photos of diagrams or pages from the book.

Implementing Changes Immediately

If I come across great ideas or realize what I’m doing wrong, I immediately initiate a change—often the same day or the next. These changes might involve transforming business operations, updating instructions or processes, or creating new employee documentation or training materials. They are implemented the same week, often as mini internal webinars.

I filter and allocate information based on who it would benefit:

• Leadership roles: I conduct internal training sessions where I summarize the book and explain my new expectations. This reinforces the information in my mind.
• General staff: I share “mini summaries” or snippets from my notes, selecting short, valuable insights for them. These brief texts, read in a minute or two each morning, strengthen the company culture and encourage daily growth.

Personal development is built on small changes. If even one text creates a slight positive behavior change in an employee, I’ll be glad my efforts weren’t in vain.