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This reading strategy will transform how you pick books and make you an expert in anything


Establishing a reading habit is a superpower, and being well-read allows for a great expanse of knowledge. Once you establish the habit, taking the next step involves picking a theme or topic to guide your strategy on how you pick your books. 

This can bring the dual benefit of breadth and depth of knowledge by first picking a specific topic to learn more about, and then tackling it from multiple perspectives.

It’s a simple idea, but picking a theme, then reading two or three or four books in the same theme can transform you into an expert in a new topic. 

That theme can be something broad or narrow. Historical events or eras in a specific location are good touchstones — “World War II” or “1920s Paris” or “21st century Manhattan” — or you can choose a topic like money, food, travel and so forth.

I’ve also picked single authors I wanted to learn more about and read multiple books of theirs consecutively.

Here’s the strategy put simply: 

  1. Pick a theme or topic you want to learn more about
  2. Use the theme to inform how you select your next two to three books

I recently read three books, for example, broadly about investing and money. Each fit the theme but approached it with different angles. 

First I read The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, which is about personal finance, improving your mindset and habits when it comes to money, and creative ways to be frugal while practical. 

Next came Central Banking 101 by Joseph Wang, a deep-dive into the Federal Reserve — how our money and financial system operate, the intricacies of currencies, and a history of American banking. 

And finally, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefèvre, is a fictional, first-person memoir by a stock market trader that was written about a century ago, before regulators had full grasp of the market. It’s a fascinating glimpse into winning and losing as a day trader, and enduring debt and financial embarrassment.

Each book is unique from one another, and there’s actually little overlap as far as details. But in completing all three in succession, I feel extremely comfortable speaking about money and finances more broadly — more than I could have by reading any title as a standalone.

Curious people are successful because they never stop learning, and they are often habitual, voracious readers. But those who are less naturally curious can still set a daily reading habit and reverse-engineer the same results. 

In each case, once there’s a precedent for reading — which, again, demands building a habit first, and reading only what you want to read — there’s additional upside in being strategic about the books you choose. 


If you’re interested, here’s my reading list of some of my favorite and most impactful books I’ve read. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it’s a good place to start. 

One Comment

  1. I used this approach when I was studying. I found more than 4, sometimes you could get overloaded and it would impact on my ability to form my own ideas. I’m now asking myself why I’ve not done this since. Thanks for the reminder

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