Patrick Collison's Manifesto on Reading

Listen to the full interview here: fs.blog/knowle...
Stripe co-founder and CEO, Patrick Collison, is a voracious reader. In this clip, Collison explains how he chooses what books to read, how he takes notes on books, and his philosophy on quitting books.
OUR FREE NEWSLETTER: fs.blog/newsle...
📈 OUR MOST POPULAR INTERVIEWS
🎬 The Full Story of Naval Ravikant: • The Angel Philosopher ...
🎬 Bill Ackman - Getting Back Up: • Bill Ackman: Dealing w...
🎬 Secrets to Healthy Relationships with Esther Perel: • Secrets to Healthy Rel...
🎙 Listen to the show
iTunes: podcasts.apple...
Spotify: open.spotify.c...
GET IN TOUCH
🌍 Our website - www.fs.blog
JOIN OUR COMMUNITY
fs.blog/member...
ABOUT THE KNOWLEDGE PROJECT
Like the mentor you’ve always dreamed of having, The Knowledge Project shares timely yet timeless lessons for work and life. Past guests include Naval Ravikant, Daniel Kahneman, Jim Collins, Angela Duckworth, Seth Godin, Melanie Mitchell, & Esther Perel.

[@enmarcanete468]

Praise God For This Beautiful Words Of Wisdom , Why Reading Is Still More Enjoyable And Strategically Good For Us If We Will Be A Successful Person Today...God bless you more Sir PATRICK COLLISON...

[@Enhancedlies]

ahhh this is exactly, exactly how i approach reading! and i have been feeling like i'm an idiot, or wasteful or whatever about buying books and skimming and starting and not finishing etc. and hearing thats normal is fantastic news haha

[@mulheresemaesinternacionai8982]

Oh, Patrick 😉

[@DJSTOEK]

🖤🖤

[@thtakapu]

I typically have to speed up podcasts to listen at 2x speed, but with Patrick I keep it normal lol

[@thelegitakuma]

same😂 with me

[@matogogeorge2038]

Ben Shapiro as well Lol

[@thefulcrum]

That's me with Huberman. Sometimes 0.5x

[@chingunanderson8229]

I agree with a lot of the advice here. I prefer to read books chunked by topic. For example, I would read a couple books on evolution. Once I feel satisfied with my understanding of evolution, I will then move on to books on a different topic.

[@iamrohit5180]

Have you read the book "How to read the book"? It mentions three or four types of reading such as introspectional reading, skimming etc. Do you agree with advice mentioned in that book? Whatever patrick mentioned is also mentioned in that book. In "How to read book", Author stresses on reading things which people genrally ignore such as table of contents, forward, cover, backcover. Author says by doing these things you can decide whether book is worths your time or not.

[@chingunanderson8229]

@@iamrohit5180 I have a copy but ironically, I never finished it. So, I can't comment on the book's general advice. What I find useful is to ask questions such as "why am I reading this book?" and "what am I trying to get out of it?". Going to the evolution example, I want to study evolution because I think it is integral for understanding human nature. I also remind myself that I don't need to have an expert level of understanding; just a good understanding of the fundamentals. So, I'll read books that give a good overview such as Why Evolution is True? and not read an entire textbook. I'll skim or skip things that get too nitty gritty in a book like The Selfish Gene. But of course this goal won't apply to someone who is doing a PhD in evolutionary biology; they will have to understand all the nitty gritty stuff.

[@chingunanderson8229]

I also find youtube and graphic novels such as "Introducing Evolution" to be great complements. I would say this is the best time in humanity so far for self-learning!

[@SamTuke]

I'm wondering what posture / position Patrick does all this reading in. Sitting or laying for hours supporting hardback book weight isn't comfortable or healthy. Walking with your arm outstretched supporting a hardback sounds physically challenging. I like audio books for this and other reasons.

[@tarunrao23]

Thats such an important point keeping books all over place. Nice way to teach kids and encourage reading

[@sosnovskihvadim]

also in his house wasn't phone, internet (he ask parents for pay for sputnik internet) and maybe tv (or they had tv, i don't know) so if you want you kids to read you should to make it an inviting space

[@maxmaton5117]

"Used hardbacks are really cheap on Amazon" - isn't this guy worth $7 billion 😂

[@chrisparcel3652]

Not to be the nerd here, but none of the 7 Billion is liquidated cause he hasn't sold his company or went public. Most of his money probably comes from salary.

[@maxmaton5117]

@@chrisparcel3652 I'm well aware of that. I'd still wager that he has enough liquid wealth to afford new hardback books.

[@pouetpouetdaddy5]

and he should pay overpriced because he worth 7 billions?

[@Neonb88]

This is more thoughtful than Newport's advice and process, I'll have to revisit it

[@AdanSensei]

Wonderful

[@Umami_World]

Sam Harris said it first :)

[@strangersinlondon_]

I was waiting for the bit on quitting books. Anybody point me to a timestamp or a link to another reference?

[@CenterforSpiritualLivingTucson]

he doesn't talk about 'quitting books' exactly. he talks about not feeling compelled to read books all the way through, or even read them in the order that they author wrote them. he samples books, and always reserves his option to decide on how relevant the author's viewpoint is to him at that moment.

[@yingying92]

You may be referring to the discussion with angellist founder

[@thefulcrum]

you may be referring to Ryan Holiday