Nassim Taleb also emphasizes the importance of never finishing a substandard book: The minute I was bored with a book or a subject, I moved to another one, instead of giving up on reading altogether when you are limited to the school material and you get bored, you have a tendency to give up and do nothing or play hooky out of discouragement The trick is to be bored with a specific book, rather than with the act of reading.

We learn ideas gained through experiences ours or others that remain unchallenged unless we make the time to reflect on them. It is a book about how everything we say or do or have is an explanation. And if its the latter, he adds, the more you can convey that to someone, the more likely they are to remember it and get some value from it., So, ask yourself: Why do I think this subject is so cool?. Perhaps youve been on the other side, too. We invent our explanations, and then they invent us. For books written in an unfamiliar country, try to understand the cultural context. Great explainers are able to put themselves in the audiences shoes and communicate from their perspective to make them see and understand things. No quick Twitter checks. I realized that while I am on the far right of the continuum, he was on the far left. Despite the passage of time, most us remember a lot about them. Another difference between these two types of readers is how the quantity of reading affects them differently. Did any important events a war, an economic depression, a change of leadership, the emergence of new technology happen during the writing of the book? If you are unsure how to simplify your thoughts, imagine that someone has just tapped you on the shoulder and asked you to explain the chapter you just finished reading. Youll remember more of what you read if you do the following seven things while youre reading. As an added bonus, as you watch your kids do an experiment that explains why mold grows, you can note their conclusions and pass them off as your own knowledge if you ever have another kid. Lets say you and a friend are in an art museum. If someone understands A, they will understand B, and this is why. In fact, theres an advantage to be gained from reading things other people are not reading. Books will have a greater resonance as they become part of an experience rather than just supplementing it. I could sense he was getting a little hangry because he asked what I was doing and how much longer until we could go eat. EQ vs. IQ: This is How to Improve Your Emotional Intelligence, 1 The Art of Explanation: Making Your Ideas, Products, and Services Easier to Understand by Lee LeFever, Good ideas. Active reading requires focus and the ability to engage with the author. One of the reasons that we read books is because they offer a rich tapestry of details allowing us to see the world as the author and go on the journey as they make connections and reflect. Notes are especially useful if you write on a regular basis, although everyone (not just writers) can benefit from making them. What are you assuming in terms of their level of understanding? The first time you write in a book can be unnerving, but in the long term, it leads to a rich understanding and a sense of connection with the author. Billy Collins has written a beautiful poem on the joys of marginalia: We have all seized the white perimeter as our own / and reached for a pen if only to show / we did not just laze in an armchair turning pages; / we pressed a thought into the wayside / planted an impression along the verge. He obviously understood the concept of snail mail, so I explained that email is just like sending letters in the mail but on a computer instead! And if that doesnt work, write a review on Amazon or Goodreads, or post about it on Reddit or anywhere else where people are likely to be interested. I always found that you have to assume the audience knows little about the subject being taught. Every concept or fact can be linked to countless others. Connections build on things people already understand to help explain something rather than starting from scratch. Lastly, thinking we know something more than we do can get us into trouble as well. Being in that igloo for 25 years he had missed out on the advent of email. Although its not always practical, matching books to our location and circumstances can be powerful. LeFever has a name for things not being adopted due to a lack of understanding: We came to call this an explanation problem, which is when the biggest barrier to adoption is not design, features, or benefits but communication. It explains death in a very beautiful, natural way that introduces your child to the idea of the circle of life with a gentle, welcoming tone.

No Politics. Like What would happen if the planet stopped spinning? or What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball travelling at almost the speed of light? Fair warning, many of the answers end with the participants of the scenario dying horribly, but his light, friendly tone and incredibly informative explanations turn What If? Self-Awareness: This is How to Be More Self-Aware! Make the picture as salient and distinctive as possible. As an example, take Helen Frankenthalers Cool Summer (1962). A digital system, such as Evernote, OneNote, or plain old Microsoft Word. Great explanations also lower the cost of understanding. Some of them will revolve around even more important topics like How can Superman fly? or Why doesnt The Flash burn up from friction when he runs that fast? Author James Kakalios does an amazing job of collecting all of the But how could they questions that kids nerd-out about when discussing their favorite superheroes and actually delivering thoughtful, science-based answers. Because ew. Their authors are a natural and irresistible aristocracy in every society, and, more than kings or emperors, exert an influence on mankind. Jot down connections and tangential thoughts, underline key passages and make a habit of building a dialogue with the author. Decide that for the time you will be reading, you will focus on the book and nothing else. You may feel tempted to explain every single thing you know about this particular work, telling her about the artists life and career, the materials and techniques used, the movement that the artist is part of, and so on. Please dont ask why! In fact, it can help all of us talk about the ideas, concepts, inventions and people that interest us. Stories is a big one, people love stories and they help release dopamine which helps with retention and memory. However, if you want to remember what you read, forget about keeping books pristine. There are no rules when it comes to choosing books.

Have you ever had this experience? asks physicist Dominic Walliman in a TEDxEastVan Talk. K.I.S.S. We ask weekly questions on the assigned reading, and responses are diverse and thoughtful. The best technique for notetaking is whichever one works for you and is easy to stick to. I cannot remember the books I have read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.. It sounds really, really stupid, but in fact, you can read a page of text, right? If your reading session is over, this helps synthesize what you just read. Over the years, you will build up a bank of wisdom to refer to in times of crisis, uncertainty, or need.

Thankfully, not all of your kids questions will deal with sex and death. So, by knowing how to explain things better you can reduce the cost to others of figuring it out which makes them more likely to buy what you are selling. Please share your thoughts in the comments below! Whether you are selling a product, an idea, or a vision, the fact of the matter is that if you dont know how to explain it properly the other person wont buy it! We have turned our lives over to our pundits our experts, our celebrities, our advertisers and entertainers, and our fashionistas. Active readersmake better decisions because they know how to get the world to do the bulk of the work for them. Using industry-specific words or jargon can cause our explanations to fail. Some people prefer to record notes on index cards or in a commonplace book; others prefer a digital system. Hes the founder ofBuildingaLibrary.com, a website Must-Have Board Books for Babys First Library, How to Read Aloud to a Child That Wont Sit Still, The Best Informational Books for Toddlers, Picture Books to Help Teach the Value of Honesty, 11 Excellent Early Chapter Books With Diverse Protagonists, 4 Reading Roadblocks and Strategies for Helping Kids Overcome Them, Books for Advanced First and Second Grade Readers, 12 Must-Read Fantasy Adventure Tales for Tweens, 9 Essential Coming-of-Age Novels for Tweens, Risky Quizness! Leaders and Leadership: Searching for Wisdom in All The Right Places, Website by Integritive Web Design :: Asheville, NC. If your kid comes home with some hard questions about the Puritans after their annual Thanksgiving pageant, this is an excellent resource to have in your home. So, I needed to be careful with my explanation. The more you write, the more active your mind will be while reading. A wonderful introduction to a hard topic that parents of any background and faith can embrace. It presents kids with 40 fun, engaging experiments they can do to learn more about the nature of the universe AND it teaches them all about scientific concepts along the way (so you dont have to). Passive readers who read a lot are not much further ahead than passive readers who read a little. But each map was incomplete, and I would only locate the treasure if I read all the books, and so the process of finding my best self was an endless quest. Copyright 2018 reserved by primeyourpump.com. The best time to start rereading a great book is right after finishing. And books themselves seemed to reflect this idea. So James Loewen walks us through the popular version of American history and explains why so many of the historical facts kids learn in school wouldnt exactly hold up on Snopes.com. However, there are cases where it is effective to establish context, then tell a story. This is How to Use the 5 Elements of Effective Thinking! The things youre looking for, Montag, are in the world, but the only way the average chap will ever see ninety-nine percent of them is in a book.. As you are reading a book, write your chapter summary right at the end of the chapter. Has the book been translated or reprinted? Where can I apply it? See our Privacy Policy. (This article on how to read a book is a brilliant introduction to skimming.) The idea being is to take that big, complex, bunch of details and turn them into one big understandable concept that is a stepping stone to future comprehension. A lot of success in reading boils down to preparation. Nancy Pearl advocates the Rule of 50. Theres no better way to finish this article than with the wise words of Henry Thoreau: Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations. You can do this by not assuming what people know, using the most simple language possible, taking a step back and looking at things from the biggest picture possible, skipping the details and focusing on the big ideas, swapping accuracy for understanding and connecting the general ideas to stuff the audience already understands. Explaining hormones, private parts, and getting hair in unexpected places can be an awkward conversation for everyone involved, which is why books like Its Perfectly Normal are a godsend to parents. You were talking about something relatively complex and you could practically see the moment that your listener checked out. The more interesting and relevant we find a book, the more likely we are to remember its contents in the future. Your email address will not be published. The more you can communicate your enthusiasm to others, the more likely they are to feel that way too. You see a painting you love and one that you studied in college but you can see that your friend doesnt quite know what to make of it. The last stepping stone is the conclusion which simply wraps up the package, puts a bow on it and summarizes what we discussed. This allows our brains to learn not only the authors abstractions but to learn when those abstractions are likely to work and when they are likely to fail (thanks to the vast amount of details). What other fact-based books have you enjoyed sharing with your kids (or reading yourself)? Farnam Street participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising commissions by linking to Amazon. No Spam. Upon completing a book, grab the nearest (willing) person and tell them about what you have learned. We are their prey. You are probably wondering if he had been living in a cave for the last 25 years to not know what an email was, and I assure you he most certainly has not. After you try it the first time, youll realize its not easy. Ive spent a lot of time helping my kids unlearn the rule that books are not to be written in. The goal is to gain as much wisdom as you can. And the very existence of the attentive, critical reader provides the spur for the writers work. Youll have to remove or explain the jargon, describe why this information has meaning, and walk them through the authors logic. Then I could head out to dinner with my Uncle Albert who was in town visiting. This entails reading the first 50 pages of a book and then deciding if it is worth finishing. Its no good leaving a gap and starting from there because theyre not going to follow along., If youre in doubt about what your listener already knows or comprehends, simply ask. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), How to explain anything to anyone: 4 steps to clearer communication. To get the most out of each book we readit is vital to have a plan for recording, reflecting on, and putting into action the conclusions we draw from the information we consume. And the problem was epidemic. (Score!). Then, ask your friend to look at the painting as if it were a landscape. Dont just go away with a vague sense of oh yeah, I should totally do what that author says. Take the time to make a plan and decide how to implement key lessons from the book. Having a deliberate strategy to get better at anything we spend a lot of time on is a sensible approach. The bibliography can also indicate the tone of a book. Pearl writes: And if, at the bottom of Page 50, all you are really interested in is who marries whom, or who the murderer is, then turn to the last page and find out. The idea is to start the explanation with a few declarative statements to get the audience to agree with you to increase their confidence that the explanation is headed in a direction they can understand to give them context. In The 3 Secrets That Help Me Write and Think, Robert Greene describes his notetaking process this way: When I read a book, I am looking for the essential elements in the work that can be used to create the strategies and stories that appear in my books. It gives the author confidence to explore new forms of expression, to blaze difficult and demanding paths of thought, to venture into uncharted and sometimes hazardous territory. There are times when stories are not appropriate due to the subject being explained, and the amount of time available amongst other factors. The words of the writer act as a catalyst in the mind of the reader, inspiriting new insights, associations, and perceptions, sometimes even epiphanies. Thousands of life-changing tools and ideas were not being used because they lacked clear explanations of their value. 1.

One of the benefits of our virtual reading group is that people are forced to actually think about what they are learning. If you want to introduce some STEM into your kids nightly comic book time, this book is a great way to do it. Instead, try to focus on the bigger picture (pun intended). Rick. Have you used any of these strategies for how to explain things better? When you pick up the book tomorrow start by reading the previous two chapter summaries to help prime your mind to where you are in the book. Well for one, we didnt just passively read those books. Its part puberty primer/part reference book that allows you to sit down with your kid and get informed about uncomfortable topics together. Use these strategies when you need to know how to explain things better. David Macaulay is the patron saint of explaining things. By submitting my email, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Penguin Random Houses Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. When were speaking about a subject were very knowledgeable about, we may tend to be carried away with the impulse to get everything right. Sometimes, though, an emphasis on the facts can occur at the expense of comprehension. Whatever we say or do or buy explains who we are. The Fairness Principle: How the Veil of Ignorance Helps Test Fairness, Hayes translation of Marcus Aurelius Meditations, The 3 Secrets That Help Me Write and Think, Quack This Way: David Foster Wallace & Bryan A. Garner Talk Language and Writing, Why did the author write this? It takes only a few minutes to nibble away at a challenging text. There are four simple steps: choose a concept; teach it to a toddler; identify gaps and go back to the source material; and review and simplify. Some helpful questions to ask include: What are you reading this book for? Mention how, much like Jackson Pollock would drip paint, Frankenthaler would stain her canvases. Check out the entire book. Active readers avoid problems. Fun Trivia Books for Kids Ages 8 - 12, Your Bookish Horoscope: YA Books for Every Zodiac Sign, A Reading Rainbow: YA Novels That Explore Sexuality and Sexual Identity, Irresistible YA Rom-Coms Sure to Brighten Your Day, By submitting my email, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Penguin Random House's. Whatever your state of affairs, someone has been in the same place. And you find gold, so to speak, effortlessly, just as in rational but undirected trial-and-error-based research. The Rule of 50 has an interesting feature: once you are over the age of 50, subtract your age from 100 and read that many pages. Some of the key ways we can use them include: As a general rule, people who love reading never, ever finish a crappy book. As LeFever says, knowing how to explain things better is a skill that we can all learn to master, and it can help bring ideas to life.

He completely understood which lead to a bunch of other questions. The options for cataloguing your notes include: Schedule time to read and review these notes. Good reading habits not only help you read more but help you read better. Making an effort to form our own links is a fruitful way to better remember what we read. Referring to the time before the internet, Nicholas Carr writes in The Shallows: In the quiet spaces opened up by the prolonged, undistracted reading of a book, people made their own associations, drew their own inferences and analogies, fostered their own ideas. Self-Awareness: This is How to Be More Self-Aware! Some people recommend making your own index of key pages or using abbreviations (Maria Popova of Brain Pickings writes BL next to any beautiful language, for example). When this has happened, you probably felt bad like you just werent smart enough to understand what they were saying and youve wasted that persons time. This is part of the Feynman technique. A commonplace book (again, ideally organized by topic, author, or time of reading). They have never read this book and lack any idea of the subject matter. The questions simply move from Why should I care about this? to How can I use this? 1. Thats the genius of How to Be a Scientist. Walliman has made this a speciality he writes childrens books and makes YouTube videos about quantum physics, nanotechnology, relativity, rocket science and other traditionally dense topics and hes come up with four principles that can help you effectively communicate complex concepts.