A few years ago, I was talking to a friend about taking notes and reading selectively. I explained that it is critical for readers to be able to spot important information in a book. They need to figure out what is essential and non-essential information. My friend responded that most people do not know how to do that. She added that the reason she knows how to tell whether information is important or not is because she took a philosophy logic course in university.
I also took a logic course. Before my friend raised the issue, I had never thought that people would not be able to tell the difference between what's important and what's not. This made me pause because the skill of spotting what's essential is necessary if you want to read faster by focusing on what matters. The 80/20 rule says that if you read 20 percent of the book, you will cover 80 percent of the message. Your ability to distinguish between essential and non-essential information will help you to determine what 20 percent of the book to read.
Have you read?
Good Note Taking Techniques When Reading
Selective Reading: What Books to Read and Which Sections to Read
Clues to Important Information in a Book
If you are a student, your professor will likely tell you what information is important, then you can focus on that content in your textbook. Information in bold is also a clue, but what if you're not a student? There are other ways you can determine which passages in a book to zero in on in a book.
I have said it several times in blog posts that you need to determine the reason why you are reading a book. Are you reading for entertainment, information or to further your understanding of a topic? This post will focus on when a reader is reading for information or to further his or her understanding of a topic. In that case, more than likely you have questions that you want the book to answer.
Take the time to list the questions that you want to answer and have them close by when you are reading. Before you start to read the book, take the time to scan and preview it. Depending on the length of the book, and the level of difficulty of the subject matter, this process usually takes 20 to 45 minutes. After scanning and previewing a book, you will have a sense of whether the book is worth reading. And you will also know what sections to focus on.
You will also know what the key concepts in the book are. Key concepts are also important information. When you are finally reading the book, answers to your list of questions are essential information. In the book, How to Get Ideas
by Jack Foster, the author has clues to identify big ideas. In this case, these clues would also be essential information. Please let me know what you think.
How to Identify Big Ideas (Important Information)
- Solves problems.
- Helps people in some way.
- Saves, fixes, and creates things.
- Makes things better, cheaper, and more useful.
- Increases revenue.
- Saves time.
- Make processes more efficient.
- Improves the company's reputation.
- Prevents liabilities.
- Cuts costs.
Depending on the list of questions that you need answers for, some of the items on the how to identify big ideas list could fall into that category.
Next Steps: How to Spot Important Information in a Book
This is a short article that I hope you will find useful. I will continue to look for other information that provides clues to spotting important information in a book. Here are action steps that I would like you to take.
- Choose a book that will help you to perform your job better.
- List questions that you hope the book will answer.
- Spend 25 to 45 minutes scanning and previewing the book to decide what sections to read.
- Practice figuring out what is important information in a book.
- Join the Strategic Reading Challenge if you are looking for a way to read more books in 2019.
This article contains Amazon affiliate links, which means if you click on a link and buy any of the books from Amazon, the company will pay me a small commission.
