One of the mental constraints I have when I learn something new is that I can’t
get into the details before I get an overview.
When I go into the details wihout an overview I may understand them but I don’t
feel like I have remembered anything. The details dont have a place to hang in.
I have developed a system of quickly gathering an overview of any book I read.
Then I get into the most relevant details of of the areas I need to learn and
then I get into other chapters.
How to get an overview
- Read the introduction.
- Read the conclusion at the end of the book.
- Read the summaries/salient points at the end of every chapter.
By the end of this you get a pretty good overview of what is in the book. If
the summaries are well written then you will have a pretty good idea of the
important ideas covered in the book.
As you go through this process you may find yourself redoing the steps mentioned
a couple of times but that should be fine.
Most recently I have done this with “Thinking slow and fast”. Let me know
your experience of trying this with any books you read.