5 Things You Didn’t Know About Book Summaries

Professionals read summaries to save time, but why outsource your thinking? Here are 5 things you didn't know about book summaries.

Introduction: Things You Didn't Know About Book Summaries

Book summary services are cropping up everywhere. And some of them are very good. I subscribe to a couple of them, but use them in very specific ways. Many professionals are overwhelmed with the busyness of life, and to keep up with their reading, they rely on book summaries.

Reading a book is nearly always better than reading a summary of it. But if it means not reading at all, then a book summary is not a bad substitute for you. I know some people who have a hard time focusing while reading a book, so they stick to book summaries instead. I get that, I really do, but I have 5 things you didn’t know about book summaries that I'd like you to seriously consider.

Content: 5 Things You Didn't Know About Book Summaries

The First Thing You Didn't Know About Book Summaries

Many book summary services focus on summarizing bestsellers: For me, this is highly problematic. In my opinion, because a book is a bestseller, doesn’t mean it’s a good book. It could be. But it could be a bestseller because it was written by a well-known person. Or perhaps the book had a big promotion engine behind it. If a book doesn’t have enough substance to it in the first place, what will the book summary be like?

Some of the best books I’ve read were off the beaten path. And I learned so much from them because they weren't saying the same things that other books were saying. That's a very good thing.

The Second Thing You Didn't Know About Book Summaries

Many book summary services focus on summarizing business books: This point is somewhat related to the one above. Sadly, most business books should be a 20-30-page journal article. And guess what, many started out that way, and the concept was very well-received. Then someone got the “brilliant” idea to turn the article into a book. To get to the publisher’s word count, the word padding is very evident.

The other point I’d like to make is that over a decade ago, while interviewing highly accomplished people for my book, Tales of People Who Get It, I discovered that the most successful and highly accomplished people seldom read business books. They devour books that make them think. And in their opinions, it’s not very often that a business book makes you think.

The Third Thing You Didn't Know About Book Summaries

A summary of a specific book you’re interested in may not have the information you need: Think about this for a second, a book summary is the distillation of the ideas in a book. This means that the summary is much shorter than the book. The implication is that a lot of the original text gets left out as it should. Before someone reads a book, I recommend that they write down a one-sentence purpose for why they want to read the book. The other piece of advice is to formulate the questions you want the book to answer.

Relying on a book summary often means that it will not satisfy your purpose, or give you all the information you need. A book summary is a person’s or a team’s perspective. Therefore, what they view as essential or non-essential information will likely differ from yours. So, this is something to keep in mind.

The Fourth Thing You Didn't Know About Book Summaries

The most highly accomplished people use book summaries as a complement to the book: Many people use book summaries as a replacement for reading the book. Highly accomplished people use book summaries to decide whether to read a book. I always recommend that before you read a book, you read the summary first to get the helicopter view of what the book is about. This is important because when you read the book, you have a place to hang the information. This aids in remembering more of what you learn.

As previously stated, it’s important to preview a book before reading it, so you can decide which sections to read. Some book summaries summarize by chapters, this makes it easy to see which chapters and sections of the book to focus on.

The Fifth Thing You Didnt Know About Book Summaries

Read more than one summary of a book. This allows you to get multiple perspectives on a book. Remember I mentioned that a summary is someone’s distillation of a book, so you want more than one viewpoint. When you do this, you increase the chances of getting more of the kind of information that you need from the book.

Final Thoughts: Things You Didn't Know About Book Summaries

Summaries of books have their place in a professional’s life. And I just mentioned five things you didn’t know about book summaries. One suggestion I have for you, is that instead of spending so many hours on social media each week, develop the habit of listening to one or two summaries. You’ll be feeding your mind with what the author, Rohit Bhargava calls “brainful” media. Book summaries provide an easy way for you to refresh your memory on a book you already read. And it’s also a way to decide which books to read.

And that’s where I come in. I created a membership site with what I call Bookish Notes. A Bookish Note is more than a book summary. Yes, each Note has a summary in it, but it’s loaded with book groupings, lessons I’ve learned from reading so many books, and some even have a mini-workbook, so you can apply what you learn. And finally, I’ve grouped the Bookish Notes by themes, turning them into courses. What this does, is that it helps you to fully understand a topic of interest. For instance, there's a course, Creativity, Innovation, and the Art of Getting Ideas. If you look at the list of skills the World Economic Forum says you need to thrive up to 2025, there are several skills related to getting ideas. My course moves you from understanding what an idea is to being able to spot them to applying them

I’m building out the membership site right now. Get in as a foundational member. There are courses on getting ideas and how to learn. Eventually, you’ll find courses on time management, goal setting, selling and much more. I have a list of courses that I'd like to start with, and they're critical skills that will make you more marketable and valuable.

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Categories: : Reading, book summaries