Know What You're Looking for in a Book

The table of contents is more than just a list of title chapters.

It’s a map.

The table of contents is a guide designed to prepare you for the unchartered land you’re about to enter.

Let’s take a book by Greg McKeown called, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less as an example. (a terrific book by the way)

If I open up to the table of contents, I discover the second chapter is titled,CHOOSE: The Invincible Power of Choice.

Now, some titles are going to provide more clues than others, but I can glean from this heading the author may discuss how decision-making is a powerful tool.

By having a sense of what the chapter is about, even broadly, I’ve armed myself for greater inspection. I now have an idea of what I’m looking for.

This can be a very effective way of reading because just as facts can serve us in better understanding a topic, they can also inhibit our comprehension.

The truth is, not everything is important. Some ideas matter more than others. Not all books need to be read from cover to cover. Many manuscripts will take one idea and spend the next 200 pages harping on it with no original or distinctive insights. If you’ve already found what you’re looking for, sometimes it’s a better use of your time to move on before finishing the book.

Knowing what you’re looking for is the first step.