Reading for Meaning (A Thread)

You were taught how to read aloud as a child, but you were probably never taught to read for meaning.

Reading for meaning means reading things with purpose.

It’s a useful reading hat to put on when you’re dealing with information dense writing, like textbooks, non-fiction books, blogs and academic papers.

Reading for meaning means reading aggressively.

You have questions and you’re looking for answers.

Your purpose for reading could be to increase your understanding of some theme, getting clarity about a topic you’re confused about or answering a burning question.

Finding your purpose for reading something is as easy as asking:

“Why am I reading this? What do I want to learn?”

That question primes the mind to look for information which is relevant to your purpose.

Here's my 7 step system for reading for meaning:

Notice how you don’t just read once over. Here we make 4 or 5 passes over the text in one reading.

Remember that you don’t need to read a book from start to finish.

You don’t need to read every word or every page.

You don’t need to finish it all in one sitting and remember every single line.