Speed reading sucks, try deep reading instead

We live in the age of more:

More money, more information, more fun, more calories, more sex, more friends, more whatever.

Unfortunately, more isn’t always better.

Some time ago, an algorithm on the internet discovered that I am an avid reader and started to enrich my browsing experience with ads for the app Blinkist.

The main goal of Blinkist is to provide short summaries of non-fiction books by condensing them into approximately 15-minute reads.

Its marketing message goes like this: “CEOs read more than 50 books per year. And so should you.”

In my opinion, this advertisement sums up everything that is wrong in our modern society.

To quote Nassim Taleb:

“If a book can be summarized, it’s not a book but a magazine article; don’t read it and don’t read its summary.”

I guess our modern relationship with Information is similar to our relationship with food. Petrarch recognized that already a long time ago when he said “like our stomachs, our minds are hurt more often by overeating than by hunger”

James Clear put it even more bluntly

“A body filled with junk food struggles to move well. A mind filled with junk thoughts…