As a lot of my readers know, I love reading books. I have also mentioned previously that, over the years two things happened to my reading list.
- First, I read less of finance theory and more biographies, interviews, practical investing methods etc.
- Secondly, I broadened out into many other subjects like history, communication, journalism, psychology etc instead of keeping myself solely fixed on finance/investing.
Lately, I have made another change. I am now identifying topics that interest me and instead of reading one or two books on the topic, I am reading four or five back to back.
This sort of started early last year when I wanted to learn about “Quantitative investment strategies”. I think I ended up reading at least 6 books related to such strategies. This year I started on “entrepreneurship and startups” and again read a bunch of books and then moved on to “digital marketing/growth hacking”.
I think this approach is pretty cool . By reading multiple books (also reading 2 to 3 books on the same topic simultaneously) I am able to quickly judge if a book is not worth finishing. Also I can connect dots between the topics much better and come up with my own interconnected theories on the subject by combining elements from multiple sources.
To see what books I read you can check out my Goodreads profile.
How was your reading habit at the early stage of your career especially at the time of pursuing CFA? I am finding it almost impossible to read something other than CFA L-1 curriculum because of doing a full-time job simultaneously.
Good question. I spent most of the time studying CFA textbooks. However I always took out time for other books including reading Epic Fantasy trilogy’s weeks before the exam as that helped me relax.
Vaiya,
Can provide some aspects from your side regarding how in between our regular tasks and readings ( exam based) a good long term (life) reading habit can be cultivated and nurtured? I really love to read but it appears that its hard manage time for that. Beside could it be contradicting towards our thinking process when we are heading ( reading) for a specific purpose likewise getting diverted from the primary focus.
I dont think there is a magic answer. It comes down to whether you enjoy reading as much as some other activities such as watching TV or hanging out with friends. There is always a trade off to be made. The key is to pick booka that are exceptional and will keep your attention.
Vaiya,
Can you provide some aspects from your side regarding how in between our regular tasks and readings ( exam based) a good long term (life) reading habit can be cultivated and nurtured? I really love to read but it appears that its hard to manage time for that. Beside could it be contradicting towards our thinking process when we are heading ( reading) for a specific purpose likewise getting diverted from the primary focus? To make myself clear, sometimes while reading 02 books of different genre simultaneously switching from 1 to another, one can be dominating which is not my primary focus.