Workout for the mind
Workout for the mind
Do you skim articles or dive deep? We tend to rush, but true understanding, the kind that leads to wisdom, requires friction.
Are you going to read this text in full, or will you just quickly skim it?
Being in a rush has become the new normal.
However, true understanding, the kind that leads to wisdom, requires time and friction.
Before I explain why, a short update from the PIRATE family.
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2. The software development is build-in-public. That means VisualMakers will write and publish posts and updates about the development.
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I spoke to students at two universities these past weeks.
One of the questions I asked the students was the number of books they read a year.
The vast majority reads less than a handful.
That’s in line with the current overall median. And the numbers (in the US) have been dropping in the last decades.
Assuming you read 5 books a year and have 60 more years to live that’s 300 more books you will read in your lifetime.
Is this a lot or not? You decide.
But more importantly, which books will you choose to read?
Fast food for the mind
Before the rise of the internet, information used to be scarce.
Physical knowledge was limited, a full encyclopedia was a treasure, and living rooms resembled libraries.
Now, information overwhelms us. Our email inbox is always full. Just as our social media feed.
To cope with the mental overload, we crave summaries. A book should be a blog post. A blog post should ideally be a 30-second TikTok video.
Ironically, at the same time, we hunger for the next snippet of information. At least, as long as it is easily digestible.
We are basically saying: “Just give me less so that I can have more.”
It's like being on an information fast food diet, filling up on empty calories.
This rapid consumption creates the illusion of being informed and learning something useful.
But information isn't knowledge, and knowledge isn't understanding.
As we skim and devour summaries, we hoard trivia in a mental attic and mistake it for wisdom.
How you read and consume information matters, not just what or how much.
Missing the essence
The answer isn’t to just consume longer pieces. Not all long-form content is created equal.
We've all encountered books that are essentially glorified self-help pamphlets or thinly veiled marketing materials. Too often it’s a key message that could have been a blog post, bloated by the author to “justify” the book.
And yes, the world overflows with information, and many books just regurgitate the same content.
This is not about those books.
This is about books with truly transformative ideas. Those that truly change our perspective. Many of which have been written decades and centuries ago.
The summaries of those books might contain - at first glance - similar information as the book itself.
However, their effect and impact is vastly different.
Reading a summary - or viewing a five-lesson TikTok video - of a great book is like listening only to the famous four-note motif of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and thinking you know the depth and intensity of the full piece.
It’s missing the power of the full composition: the interplay of instruments, the building tension, the emotional crescendos, the delicate resolutions.
Just like reading a one-page summary of Lord of the Rings will let you only understand the main plot of the book. However, it won’t let you feel and experience the journey. You will miss the essence and the depth that makes this book a masterpiece.
Similarly, reading a summary of David Deutsch’s “The Beginning of Infinity” will give you a peek at his main ideas. But it will only be a glimmer of the mind-changing perspectives the full book has to offer.
Or to take a movie analogy: It’s like watching the Matrix movie trailer and skipping the movie. You get a glimpse of the story but miss the whole experience.
You get the point.
Tools to refine our understanding
Great books aren't vending machines dispensing knowledge, but tools that reshape you as you engage with them. Journeys that refine our understanding.
More than a task to complete, great books are an exercise to work through.
Finally, great books are those you want to read again.
While some dismiss rereading, true wisdom rarely sticks after a single pass. It needs time to grow. It morphs and transforms.
Just because you've heard something doesn't mean you've understood it. Just because you understand something doesn’t mean you have internalized it.
If you are looking for wisdom, you should read (or watch/listen) and connect with the content in-depth.
Reread those 5-10 books that deeply resonate. You will recognize the content, but every time you read it you will understand different aspects of it.
In a sense, wisdom is found in between the words and sentences. It develops inside of you as you read.
Just like push-ups are a workout for your body, reading is a workout for your mind.
Just like with a workout for the body, there is no shortcut. You have to put in the reps.
The "friction" and "resistance" of wrestling with a great text shape your thinking and how you perceive the world.
Wisdom isn't found. Wisdom is grown.
Happy reading!
🏴☠️
Be kind 🙏
Manuel