Long story short...
Not so long ago, I used to drop many books in the middle, which caused me a lot of frustration and even reduced my will to start new books. The most common reason for dropping books was not a lack of commitment or not enough time to read, but discovering after a few pages that the content was not exactly what I was looking for when I started reading the book.
I still believe that there is nothing wrong with dropping books in the middle if they are not adding enough value for you, but I have decided to use a different strategy based on a few tips from Jeff Su on this video to create more engagement, reduce the friction of reading as much as I can, retain more knowledge, and invest my time wisely.
Three steps to read more books
Understand how did I came to the book: The first step on creating more engagement is understand how did I came to the book. When you receive a recommendation from a friend you have much more chances to complete that book, not just because you now have somebody to discuss about it but also because somehow you may have created a public commitment.
Write down the first Impressions: Before read the actual book I like to watch some reviews on Youtube, like this one from Ali Abdaal reviewing Atomic Habits, or read the book summary using one of the many existent services (Blinkist, Shortform, etc). With this in mind I can take notes and make sure the book is still in line with my expectations.
Decide how I will consume the book: One of the things I changed on my mind was accept the fact that consume books don't necessarily means read it. You can define your commitment level based on the information you collected so far, decide if the topic still relevant for you, and choose the more suitable format to consume the full book (Paper, E-Book or Audible). Eventually it is also OK decide to not read the full book if you feel you already have enough from the book summary.
"Any type of consumption, including passive consumption, like listening to audio-books is better than not consuming in the first place - Jeff Su
Two steps to retain more knowledge
Write down and revisit your notes: Once you have created the habit of reading and you are committed to a specific book it is always a good to take notes from it. But, to reduce the friction, I always give preference to e-books instead of hard covers, this way I can highlight meaningful information and take some notes directly in the book and use some services like Readwise to collect these notes from my Kindle and revisit my learnings once in a while.
Organize and express your learnings: Depending on the book and my commitment level I also like to write down takeaways and define some actions. You can think on different ways to apply the learnings on your life or at work, write down a new article on your blog, like I did with The Coaching Habit book, or choose any other option to express your learnings, as soon as you put them in practice.
But be careful...
Do not complicate to much and always put your habit of reading in the first place
"The first rule on reading books, it is always better to read and not taking notes, than not read at all - Jeff Su