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Is Too Much Reading Bad For You?

by edavis on 24/06/09 at 2:49 pm

Let me start off my saying that I love to read.  I’ll read anything I can get my hands on.  This includes books (I enjoy the business variety), newspapers, magazines (Fast Company is a must), blogs, tweets, retweets, status reports, RFPs, street signs, funny t-shirts, takeout menus, movie credits, and even those tags one finds on mattresses.  Basically, you can say that I love the printed word.

But, do I read too much? Do I read so much that I fail to put this newfound knowledge into action? On occasions, this was an unequivocal “Yes”.

There were times where my goal was to finish a book or an article just for the sake of finishing it. I found myself so focused on finishing the damn thing that I completely forgot about my intentions in reading it in the first place! Did I critically analyze these works to gauge what was bogus and what sparked my interests and made me think differently? Did I give any thought on how I could put these new ideas into use, even for a nanosecond?  Nope.  I just checked it off my list and moved on to the next thing to read.  Talk about a wasted effort!

Luckily though, I had the sense knocked back into me.  Recently, I took a class in New Venture Creation (working on the MBA) where I had the fortunate pleasure of studying under a forward-thinking, unconventional, cutting-edge professor.  Let’s just say that this professor oozed entrepreneurship and creativity.  He talked the talk and walked the walk.

In our first class, he went over the required readings for the semester that consisted of Guy Kawasaki’s Art of the Start coupled with some articles from the Harvard Business Review.   For a graduate business course, this was considered an extremely light reading load.

The professor’s premise was simple.  First, the readings were designed to not only educate, but to inspire us.  Anyone who has read Guy Kawasaki can certainly attest that his works do exactly that.  Secondly, he assigned a light reading load because he wanted us to spend more time doing AND learning from this doing.  It was essentially read, learn, apply, learn, read more, learn, adjust, apply, and repeat.

By the end of this course, I was able to utilize all facets of my business education—from finance to marketing to leadership to strategy—to develop a real and concrete business idea and plan.  There was no way in the world I would have learned as much as I did if I only read about creating a new venture.  Application was the key!

So, I’m not saying that reading too much is bad. In fact, I am saying quite the opposite.  You should ALWAYS be reading and learning.  But, you should read with a purpose.  After you read something, do some critical thinking and ask yourself if what the author wrote is complete garbage or if he makes some keen observations and has valid arguments.  Ask yourself (and this continues to mean you Mr. Davis) if there are any lessons learned that you can apply to you next project, your career, or your life.  If so, give it a shot.  Apply this knowledge.  Monitor what happens.  Take corrective steps if need be.  But don’t just read something and do nothing.  That’s like cramming for a test and forgetting everything within an hour.  It just doesn’t make sense.  A great quote from Guy Kawasaki’s Reality Check sums it up perfectly:

A truly good book teaches me better than to read it.  I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint.  What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.

–Henry David Thoreau

Reading takes time and effort.  Don’t waste your time or effort and have nothing to show for it. Read, react, and act.