I read 6 books at once. That seems like a lot I hear you say. How do you possibly take it all in? I hear you ask. Valid points and valid questions. In truth, you can only ever read one book at a time so why on earth would I not read one book, finish it, and then start the next?
I am a big believer in having multiple books on the go at once. Let’s build it up from the ground up to explain why.
- There are many times at which I do not want to read anything beyond simple reading for pleasure or relaxation. For example, right before bed I do not want to read anything that requires hard work to understand or is going to impact me deeply. So I always have a novel or fiction book on the go.
But I don’t want to only be reading fiction…
- Being a husband and being a father are the two most important roles that I have in life, beyond being a Christian. So I always want to be thinking through ways to grow in the area of family life. So I tend to always have a book about marriage, family or parenting on the go, in addition to my novel.
But I also want to be growing in other areas of life and godliness…
- I don’t want to fall in to the trap of thinking that my whole Christian life is expressed through my family. In fact, that is just one part of it. So, I always have another book on the go about Christian Living. At present I reading through, one at a time, a list of books on pride and humility.
But I don’t want to just read Christian books that are about Christian living…
- It is my conviction that what Christians need is theology. This is what shapes the mind, the heart and the ‘affections’. So whilst most books published these days are ‘accessible’ books on the latest hot topic of Christian living, I believe that more than this we need deep theology.
But we can learn a lot about Christian living and theology by learning about Christian history…
- Knowing how Christians have understood and applied the Bible throughout history is essential to avoid our theology, ministry and practice become skewed by what’s ‘relevant’. So, I tend to have either a book on church history or a biography on the go as well.
But I don’t want everything I am reading about for study and learning to be purely Christian in it’s theme…
- Therefore I tend to have one book on the go that is about something else. Often these relate to work or productivity in some form or another but not always.
So, I have 6 books on the go at once. Different times of day, different levels of energy, different sized slots of time etc etc all lend themselves more or less well to reading different kinds of books. With 6 books on the go at once, there is always something I can read that is well suited to my current situation.
How do I take it all in? Simple. As I read books that aren’t novels I will underline passages as I read that resonate and make notes as I go. When I have finished a book that isn’t a novel, I will set aside an hour to review it. I’ll go through all of the underlines or highlights and all of the notes I made and try to write a chapter by chapter summary of the book. Now I have a website – I’ll publish these summaries along with a review.
So there you have it – read books….6 of them.
