Before and After You Learn Effective Reading Strategies for Nonfiction Books
Avil Beckford 
In the blog post, you'll experience before and after you learn effective reading strategies for nonfiction books. You'll end up saving time.
So far in this series of blog posts, I’ve covered “15 Things You Never Knew About Reading Nonfiction Books” and “How I Came to Teach Courses on Effective Reading Strategies” and “10 Common Mistakes Professionals Make When Reading Nonfiction Books.” In today’s blog post I write about before
and after you learn effective reading strategies for nonfiction books.
Reading nonfiction books is a skill that can be developed and improved as you learn effective reading strategies. But the best way to learn about them is to read this article. You’ll get the opportunity to see how your life will change after using these reading strategies.
Before You Learn Effective Reading Strategies for Reading Nonfiction Books
In most Western countries, when you first learned to read, you were taught to sound out the words. And to read every word on the page. But as you grew older, these reading strategies no longer served you. Despite that, no one taught you how to read differently, to better serve you as an adult. So, most professionals are stuck with the status quo when it comes to reading nonfiction books. And they read in an inefficient manner, which lacks structure and focus, causing them to waste time.
Most people read at an average rate of 250 words per minute. With rapid technological advances, and the constant changes taking place in the world around us, to succeed, professionals need to be learning agile. They have to unlearn and relearn skills. And they have to digest and process new information a lot faster. The answer is not taking a speed reading course to process the words faster on a page. A better option is better reading techniques.
However, there are a few things that every professional needs to know about reading nonfiction books that can impact their reading speed. First, publishers have word counts. Therefore in many instances, authors add additional information that doesn’t aid in your understanding of the text. What happens is many nonfiction books end up being much longer than they need to be. Have you experienced deja vu while reading a nonfiction book? The same information is repeated several times.
Second, in a PhotoReading course I took with Learning Strategies, Paul Scheele, cofounder and trainer cited a study by Russell Stauffer, which found that only four to 11 percent of the text on the page of a nonfiction book carries meaning. That’s about one important sentence on each page. Without understanding better reading strategies, you’ll waste time reading a lot of nonessential information.
Third, the 80/20 Rule applies to reading. You can read 20 percent of the text of a book and understand 80 percent of it. The trick is to discover which 20 percent to read. Without knowing and understanding effective reading strategies, you could find yourself drowning in information. And you’ll spend hours reading the average nonfiction book.
After You Learn Effective Reading Strategies for Reading Nonfiction Books
It is easy to skim through a nonfiction book and get the gist of what it’s about. However, the content might not be as deep and you might not get all of the information that you need. Effective reading strategies can help you to read more efficiently so that you can understand and retain more information.
First, you’ll set a goal before reading any book. It’s important to know what you want to get out of the book so that you can focus on those things when reading. Second, you’ll read actively by making connections between what you’re reading and other things that you know about the subject matter. Third, it’s important to take notes while reading because it’ll help you remember more information later on.
I tell my clients to view a nonfiction book as a problem-solving tool. And when they have problems to solve and questions to answer, they know to read five books on the topic to get multiple points of view and diverse perspectives. These are some of the things you’ll automatically do after going through the training.
You’ll digest and process the information found in nonfiction books faster because you’ll know how to focus on essential information. You’re engaging in intelligent and strategic reading by focusing on learning what you need to know. Instead of simply reading a book cover-to-cover. You’ll have a system in place that ensures you get the most from the time you have to read nonfiction books. And you’ll know which 20 percent of the book to read to understand 80 percent of the text.
“Avil's approach to learning from business books is game-changing! I buy more books on sales and leadership than I can ever find time to read. What I learned from her course was how to properly evaluate if a book will advance my highest priority goals. Then, once I have selected the right book, I can now quickly pull out the essential information relevant to me. It sounds simple, but you need a method and some discipline to do it right. I will read the majority of business books her way going forward. Thanks, Avil!” Brendon Montgomery, VP Transformation, Rangle.io
“Working with Avil and the Portage Sales team on how to extract the most valuable pieces of information and key concepts from non-fiction books has been an absolute game-changer. I used to spend a lot of time reading sales, marketing and professional development books from cover-to-cover, and would find myself 'tuning out' and finishing entire sections without actually internalizing the content. Avil's approach enabled me to think critically about what resonates the most for me, and what I can immediately be able to apply both personally and professionally - while making the most of my time.
Furthermore, pairing this approach with group discussions took the learning to a new level. In discussing common themes and 'ah ha' moments with other participants, it was clear that there were a few common concepts that were weaved throughout multiple books relating to sales success and effective sales strategies. The core learnings have stayed with me several months later, and have shaped the way that I approach my business and my team's strategies for sustained success with our client partners. Thank you Avil!” Priya Trivedi Patel
You can be like Brandon and Priya and achieve your goals by learning and using effective reading strategies.
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