My approach to selecting books 📚

A book is an anti-fragile way of information transfer. From clay tablets to the digital renaissance with the Gutenberg project, the book continues to pass on knowledge through generations.

Today, it’s definitely not the most effective tool to transfer knowledge. Still, thanks to its long-lasting history, a good book allows you to achieve what other mediums don’t. You can have a conversation with the author, who is long gone.

We all want to read more, but the secret is to read better. It means to better work with the text and better choose books to devote our precious time to.

Over the years, I’ve tried various techniques on how to select books. And the one I liked the most is the adaptation of the famous Barbell investment principle. Thanks to it, I avoid lousy ratings and recommendations that used to direct me toward all this business and self-help bullshit that proliferates in the book market.

Don’t get me wrong. There are some excellent books in these genres. But the majority of them reiterate one or two decent ideas over the hundreds of pages. With these, you’re better off if you just read the summary. Therefore, on the one hand, I read books that have stood the test of time. And on the other, I pore over what’s relevant to my work, current events, or life.

I’ve never been a great fan of reading. But I loved learning new things since I was little. That’s why, in 90% of cases, I read books to learn and find specific answers.

When selecting works, I balance the old and the new and interleave the topics related to the theme I want to find out more about. For instance, if I want to become a better investor, I consider investment books the worst way to achieve this goal.

To become a successful investor, you must develop a deep sense of insight and breadth of thought; you don’t need to know how to prepare a term-sheet. It’s not that it doesn’t matter; it’s just not a critical factor for your success. And to develop these senses, you must learn more about various relevant topics by interleaving them (e.g., psychology, technology, economics, etc.). Also, many studies have confirmed the effectiveness of interleaving as a learning method.

If you found my approach useful, perhaps you'd like to see 👉my recent selection of books 👈 that teach how to discover new ideas :)