Hey!

Chris here. Welcome to Blueprint—the newsletter to help you build a winning engineering team.

In a lot of online circles today, it's in vogue to rag on books. Many people go so far as to brag about how they avoid reading altogether.

But here's the critical insight that these people miss: The knowledge that we gain from reading compounds.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that realizing this changed my life.

All of us have a limited amount of time to glean knowledge and wisdom over the course of our lives. You can only have so many experiences and expose yourself to so many things.

But when we read, we get to be in the head of somebody else. It gives us the ability to accumulate knowledge and wisdom that spans many lifetimes, and do so in a condensed and useful way.

Here's what makes this compounding effect so powerful—and how you can leverage it in your life. 👇️ 

📒 DEEP DIVE

The Compounding Value of Reading

Why reading widely and often is one of the best investments you can make.

Borrowing Lifetimes Through Books

Think about Isaac Newton. He spent an incredible amount of time developing expertise in geometry, calculus, and physics.

But in a pretty short period of time, I can read his writings and get to about the same level of understanding he spent decades acquiring

Any knowledge that's been acquired throughout human history, we can learn in a very short period of time today because people who came before us condensed it into writing.

But to extract this knowledge, you have to know how to approach a book.

Here's what works for me.

How I Actually Read

Over the course of the last 10-15 years, I've developed a reading practice that's been very helpful for me.

I typically have 5 or 6 books going at once. I change based on what's interesting for that particular day, and the variation itself I find helpful. I don't have any trouble going back and remembering what I read before, so it works fine.

I also tend towards paper books because, as I read, I'm always writing in the book. Honestly, my books are destroyed when I get done.

And while my notes and scribbles might be nonsense to anyone else, they're a big part of how I retain so much of what I read.

But they're also incredibly helpful when I want to go back and reference something I read. Someone will ask me a question, and I know I read about it.

So I'll pull out the book and easily thumb through the areas I've highlighted or notes that I've taken and find the exact spot that touches on a particular scenario someone's dealing with.

Building Your Mental Toolkit

This is important because what you're ultimately trying to do is use the book to build a mental tool set that helps you navigate the world.

Charlie Munger is famous for using this approach. He read widely and gathered a bunch of different models that have helped him understand the world (and the market) better.

Now you do have to be a little cautious here. It can be dangerous to latch onto any one model too tightly. You need lots of models, or else you're liable to become the guy with a hammer to whom everything looks like a nail.

We should all aim to read lots of perspectives on lots of different topics.

Reading All Sides

This is especially true if you ever find yourself interested in a controversial topic.

The process I've found most helpful when I've been in these situations is to read the best writing from each side of the issue.

This can be difficult for a lot of people because they attach themselves to a given perspective and don't want to question their own beliefs.

But that's exactly what makes it so important.

It's very easy for us to get into a mold where we think one way forever. But often, we just think like that because we haven't been exposed to the other argument.

Anytime you're reading about something you find yourself interested in, it's worth reading the best of the other perspectives.

Permission to Stop Reading

Here's one final reading opinion that some people may just go nuts about:

A lot of authors try to hit a certain page count solely to appease their publishers.

If you've read any business books written in the past 10 or 15 years, you know what I'm talking about.

You've read all the meat of the book, you understand all the core concepts of what's going on, and all of a sudden, they're repeating themselves and giving no new information.

I handle this in a very straightforward way: I stop reading the book.

I probably do this with 1/2 to 2/3 of the books I read. Because, unless I'm reading purely for pleasure, my goal is to gain knowledge and wisdom.

So when that stops, I stop. Simple as that.

🎙 EPISODE OF THE WEEK

It’s been a crazy but good year with lots happening—family moves, business growth, and plenty of irons in the fire. Because of that, we’re taking a short break until the fall.

We’ll be back this fall with brand new episodes. In the meantime, dig into the archives—there’s a ton of valuable content waiting for you.

Thank you for listening and for supporting this journey. We’re proud of what’s already been shared and can’t wait to bring you even more when we return.

BEFORE YOU GO…

This all boils down to a simple fact: The more knowledge you can consume from other people during the course of your life, the better off you're going to be.

And that's fundamentally what reading is.

Done right, reading enables you to gather lifetimes of insights that can eventually compound into better decisions in your own life.

So during your next bit of free time, put down your phone and pick up a book.

It might just be the best investment you ever make.

Talk soon,

Chris.