“People who say, ‘I don’t have time for reading’ are too busy not succeeding.”
-Sean Stephenson #Sean365
During the pandemic in 2020 I took this picture of my office:
Yikes!
And I made a promise that I would clean up my mess.
Note that I am not including an “after” picture because my office is only messier…promise not kept (hey, it’s only been four and a half years).
But thinking about it today, I wear my mess like a badge of honor. 🙂
I wrote a post at the time, “Surviving your library” …and I continue to survive mine…and now I will justify (once again) how I do that.
Joseph Epstein, an essayist of note, and author of 31 books, wrote a piece that has as its thesis:
Every superior writer I have known, or known about, was a slow reader.
Since 31 books should qualify Mr. Epstein as a “superior writer,” I accept his thesis with confidence…and will use it as justification (at least in this blog post) for being a slow reader (of which I am one) …and at least a competent writer (of which you can be the judge). 🙂
He goes on to tell us why slow readers make better writers:
The reason is that writers read differently than non-writers.
People without literary ambition might ask what a book means, whether it is significant, whether it gives pleasure.
Writers ask these additional questions which slow them down considerably:
- How exactly did the author achieve his effects?
- What from his work can I appropriate (i.e., steal?)—for my own writing?
I have no “literary ambition” that I know of beyond this blog and my books…but I have some writing ability…and maybe I can attribute that to the fact that I am a slow reader.
And unfortunately, in my case, that also comes with being a rabid accumulator (of books).
Do you buy Epstein’s thesis?
Let’s explore it a bit before you rush to judgment.
With a bookcase that looks like mine (and there’s another one on the other side of my office, equally unkempt) you might assume that I’ve read many of the books–and you might then assume I invented speed reading because I often quote from the books on those shelves.
In that case, your assumption is wrong.
But you would not be wrong if you assume that much of what I’ve learned is from those same books, very few read in their entirety, but all that I’ve read was read slowly.
I am both an incredibly slow–and picky—reader.
Slow means slow…although I am up to “2.0 speed” with audio books.
Since I speak at 3.0, that was easy to master.
Picky means that because I am so slow, to get the most out of a library as large (and messy) as mine, I’ve learned some lessons that allow me to absorb the content (with retention and contentment) from most of the books I own.
I am a little embarrassed that I have not read many of the books you see in the picture above cover to cover…but I am proud to say that reading non-fiction books cover to cover is overrated.
This has less to do with how slow I am and more to do with my pickiness…and the quality (or lack of quality) of many of the books plays a role too.
That’s part of being picky.
I’m just happy that Epstein has added some “embarrassment protection” saying that being slow has made me a better writer, picky or not.
And Marty Edelston, my mentor for 34 years, who published the largest circulation consumer newsletter in America, once over one million subscribers strong, added another angle on pickiness when he said to me:
“Fiction is not worth your time. We don’t need to escape but we always need to learn through business books.
And the only way to read non-fiction business books is never to read them cover to cover.
There is probably one thought or one chapter in every business book that is worth reading.
Putting that into your computer (i.e., your brain), and then sharing it with the world, is the greatest service you can do.”
He had to read this way to serve his audience…since our newsletters and books were the “greatest hits” of everything he heard and read.
I had to do it to survive my library.
Even if you disagree with him about the notion that you can skip reading all fiction, you still might agree with the notion that it’s usually only one paragraph or one chapter that’s truly meaningful in every non-fiction book.
I know I do…especially with a bookcase like the one above (and being such a meticulous/slow reader).
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to the “one chapter per book theory” until much later in my career.
(MAJOR EXCEPTION: Check out the P.S. which talks about a book that doesn’t fit ` into this theory… and how a “franchise” was created from a book that must be read slowly…and has hundreds of ideas worth absorbing]
The result of this “slow and picky reading mashup,” that I’ve written today, by conveniently manipulating the teachings of both Joseph Epstein and Marty Edelston, is to give excellent cover for owning a lot of books, being a slow reader, and not reading most of them in their entirety.
While still getting a ton of value out of every one of them.
And learning to write competently (if Epstein’s theory is sound and competent is a word you would attach to my writing ability).
I’m grasping a bit because I want some benefit for being such a slow reader…while looking for the big idea in every book I read.
On Epstein’s two key points regarding how writers read, I fit the bill.
Do you?
- How exactly did the author achieve his effects?
Is this something you do while reading?
I feel like it’s the only thing I do when reading non-fiction.
I’m obsessed with how the author created his or her thesis.
And this obsession carries over to how I watch, and “listen to scripts,” of every movie I watch.
I also ask the authors and screenwriters I “read” these questions, albeit not to their faces):
Was your creation from personal experience or observation?
How much was based on intuition and/or connecting the dots from a variety of sources?
Did the author invent something themselves (the rarest form of achievement)?
- What from his [her] work can I appropriate—a euphemism, of course, for “steal”—for my own writing?
I’m doing this right now with Joseph Epstein by reading his article slowly and writing this post. 🙂
Seriously, I would ask in response to this question, what isn’t derivative in all our work?
Answer: Not very much.
This is not the same thing as saying that our writing is void of anything innovative or new.
I simply believe that invention is overrated…but combining everything in your experience, observations and connecting the dots gives you a first mover advantage when writing to your audience on expressing a previously foreign concept and making it real to them (i.e., understandable).
You didn’t invent it–but by becoming the messenger for that concept with your reader is what makes it significant.
Note that I didn’t stay “steal” (or Epstein’s euphemism “appropriate”) …because if you are a regular reader of mine on Sundays you know that I believe that “stealing is a felony but stealing smart is an art.”
And we all know that the worst thing we can do is take credit for someone else’s invention, innovation or even a quote…and you always receive more kudos and respect when you give the credit for the idea before putting your unique spin on it.
Your teacher, mentor (or even a stranger—I don’t know Joseph Epstein) gets the props…and then so do you.
I also believe that Epstein’s take on why a slow reader may be a better writer gives new hope and a new angle for someone who can’t get through a non-fiction book in its entirety.
But does it really make you a better writer?
Regardless, at a minimum, reading slowly enables the reader to get a different take on what is read.
Now this doesn’t mean the reverse is true—that reading quickly will make you less than a competent writer.
I know many speed readers who can process the same insights as slow readers—and many of those rapid readers are in fact good writers.
Marty was a hybrid:
Slow to find the key ideas and then fast to put the book down and share the ideas he found with thousands, even millions, of people.
After “appropriating” Joseph Epstein’s essay into this essay of my own, I want to get your opinion.
If you see yourself as a competent writer, email me and let me know if you are a slow reader or a rapid reader…and how you see that affecting the way you write.
And of course, you can tell me if this is a waste of time to explore…and then I can simply move on to looking for more essays to steal that might be more interesting. 🙂
I have no choice contemplating this since I’m afraid I will always be a slow reader…and now I may have a reason to stay that way.
I am also content that I’ve gained so much from all I’ve read, even if it’s mostly from an avalanche of paragraphs and chapters rather than complete books.
And no matter what, I need to clean my office.
Warmly,
Brian
P.S. Gene Schwartz’s Breakthrough Advertising is a book that must be read slowly.
In 1984, when asked about his masterpiece, and the impact it had made until that time, he said:
Since it was published in 1966, I have had people coming to me regularly to tell me that they directly credit reading this book with making millions of dollars.
This is amazing enough, but even more remarkable is the fact that—when I look back on it—not one of these people was a copywriter.
Here is a book that is called Breakthrough Advertising…and yet was used by men and women who were not in the business of advertising at all, to make more money than most of us ever dream of accumulating.
How did this happen?
And why is the book even more of a phenomenon (and just as timely…100% relevant) despite being written close to 60 years ago?
Note: Since Gene’s death, I have sold over 30,000 copies in more than 75 countries…to the astonishment of Barbara:
“Gene is more popular today than he ever was during his lifetime. And he was popular then too!”
I underlined the sentence above regarding the readers of the book who had the most success with it because it holds so much promise for all of us:
“…not a single one of these people was a copywriter.”
If you take the time to learn the process that Gene lays out in the pages of Breakthrough Advertising, copywriter or no copywriter, marketer or no marketer, it’s like putting stairs in front of whatever marketing hurdle you’re facing.
It won’t remove the hurdles you face when selling your product or service; but it will give you a proven, decades old process to step over them with ease.
Breakthrough Advertising is a dense read…so if you’re interested in some additional, optional training with the book, I can provide that for you as well.
Check out the special offer in the P.P.S.
But at a minimum, I hope you will consider buying a copy today…but only if you agree to spend time reading it slowly.
Go to this page and buy this one-of-a-kind masterpiece.
P.P.S. Whether you have a copy of Breakthrough Advertising or not, I am announcing today that registration is now open to the “7th Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp.”
The first 6 were epic…and the 7th promises to be the best one ever.
The timing will be perfect after you have finished your slow read of the book…or even if you are a new owner and haven’t finished it yet…or if it’s sitting on your bookshelf, gathering dust rather than millions of dollars. 🙂
The next “Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp” begins on October 15th…with six (6) live calls on Zoom over 3 weeks, going a mile deep into this amazing book.
With exercises, hot seats (related to your business) …plus insights into how one of the greatest copywriters and Renaissance Men who ever lived became that way.
Click here to read more about it and reserve your seat.
And if you need to buy a copy (or an extra copy) of the book, there is a special offer on that page that offers a discount on the book with a paid registration to the Bootcamp.
Sign up for the Bootcamp if you are ready to matriculate into your personal Ph.D program for Breakthrough Advertising.
As Gene wrote above, you don’t have to be a copywriter to learn from him and the concepts he wrote about.
I consider it a privilege to share the wisdom of Gene Schwartz with you in a variety of ways…so as many people as possible can adapt Gene’s breakthrough (pun intended) thinking into their businesses.
Can’t wait to see you on October 15th.