Before And After You Learn How to Actually Use Book Summaries as a Professional Development Tool

This blog post demonstrates how to actually use books summaries as a professional development tool. They are powerful as a complement to books.

So far in this series of blog posts, I’ve covered 5 things you know about book summaries, how I came to use book summaries to teach a course, and 5 Common Mistakes Professionals Make With Book Summaries. Today, I turn my attention to Before And After You Learn How to Actually Use Book Summaries as a Professional Development Tool.

Before You Learn How to Actually Use Book Summaries as a Professional Tool

Most professionals use book summaries as a substitute for reading a book. They do this because of lack of time or because they find it difficult to focus when reading a whole book. If the two options you think you have, are to read a book summary, or not read at all, then I want you to choose to read a book summary.

I’d rather you read something than nothing at all. However, I might add that you have more than those two options. The problem is that you’ve never been introduced to them. Book summary services have done an excellent job of marketing their product. They talk about how much time you’ll save, and they use words like compressed knowledge and concise knowledge. They also spend time in their marketing material letting subscribers know the time and care they put into summarizing each book.

And yes, most of them give you the option to buy the book if you enjoyed the summary. But let’s be realistic here. You’re a busy mom, working full-time, who also has to take care of her parents. Or you’re a busy business owner, trying to put out multiple fires. Are you seriously going to read the book when you have an already over-scheduled day? I think not.

And you know something, as I mentioned before, my readers didn’t read the books I summarized because they thought I had done such a marvelous job in summarizing. That didn’t make me feel good, because my mission was to get more people reading. Nearly always, people will take the easier path.

My Observation

Because book summaries by nature are short, many professionals consume at least one each day. They feel good about their accomplishment, and they’re ahead of those who don’t feed their minds with any kind of information. The problem I have is that book summaries don’t go deep enough into a topic for you to sink your teeth into it. And why should you outsource your thinking to another person when critical thinking is a critical skill for success?

The other thing is that most book summary services focus on summarizing bestsellers and business books. Because a book is a bestseller, doesn’t mean it’s any good. It could be. But it could be a bestseller because it had a strong promotion engine behind it. And in speaking to dozens of highly accomplished people, they tell me that they seldom read business books because they don’t make you think.

Now you may be consuming the summary of a book that’s not necessarily very good. How is that really helping you to develop personally and professionally? How is that helping you to solve the problems you face as a leader. This is something worth thinking about.

After You Learn How to Actually Use Book Summaries as a Professional Tool

I tell my clients that book summaries are important, but not in a way that most people think. You see, I say that it’s important to read a good book summary of a book before you read the book. The book summary gives you a helicopter view of what the text is about, so that when you read the book, you have a place to hang the information. These aid remembering the information.

The other thing is that when you read a good summary, you get clues about which chapters and sections you need to focus your attention when reading the book. Summaries of books that go chapter by chapter are gold mines for the reader.

When I summarize books, I don’t do it chapter by chapter. However, I add insights based on my life experiences. In fact, a few years ago, when the BBC was going to interview Jeffrey Archer for the 30th Anniversary of his book, Kane and Abel, they searched the internet for summaries of the book. And guess what? They found mine and asked me to submit a question for Jeffrey Archer, which I did.

Have you read?

Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer, Book Review https://theinvisiblementor.com/kane-and-abel-jeffrey-archer-review/

I’m not competing against book summary services. Instead, I’m doing something different. I use what I call Bookish Notes to create courses, so you get access to different books on a topic of interest. And you’ll be pleasantly surprised by my book choices. A Bookish Note is not a book summary. A book summary is included in the Bookish Note. What people have told me is that they like to read the section where I tie my wisdom to the text of the book.

I got some positive feedback from people I met in the New Zenler course to launch your first course. And other people who know me have access to my work, say that I’m their secret weapon. What they mean is that they use the information in my book summaries to learn and grow.

Join Art of Learning: Growing Professionally, Realizing Your Potential Today!

Categories: : Reading, book summaries, personal development