How to Read (Or Avoid Reading) A Boring Book

Whether you’re writing an academic essay, doing research for an article or just trying to better your understanding of a subject, you will at some point in your life have to read a ‘boring book’. If your subject area is science, politics, or just anything that is detailed and complicated, it is near impossible to find a textbook that is enjoyable to read. You get to that stage where you’ve read an entire page but none of the information has gone in or you have that annoying sensation where you keep reading the same line over and over again without being able to stop. If you try these basic hacks, you may find that reading becomes a lot easier.

1- Google Books – This is probably the cleverest hack. Say you had to research the ‘UN convention on human rights’,  you would type the key words into Google, then select the Books filter. This will bring you a list of every book with those keywords in.

Then, click on a book and Google will have automatically highlighted every single page in the book with that key word in so you can skip all the boring stuff and get straight to the parts you need. This simple trick can save you hours of reading and unnecessary effort.

2 – If you truly want to read the full book, try the simple but easy to forget ‘little and often’ method. Don’t sit for hours and sicken yourself because then you won’t be learning effectively. Read a couple of pages in frequent instalments and you’ll finish it in no time.

3 – The Haribo trick: Once you read up to a sweet, you can eat it. It’s as simple as that.

4- YouTube – Sometimes you’ll have to read texts with words and theories you’ve never heard of. YouTube is full of tutorials, explanations and demonstrations for almost every subject matter. Say you need to learn about something that not many people have even heard of, there will still usually be a YouTube video explaining the term. Even if the videos aren’t 100% relevant, it is always useful to hear any new terminology used in context.

5- Audio books – These are hard to find for textbooks but if you need to read a novel for a literature class, you have a good chance of finding an audio book. This is especially effective if you’ve left revision till the last minute and only have one day to read a book. Audio book files usually last for a few hours and are often faster than you can read yourself.

6- Eliminate distractions. Go somewhere you can’t be distracted, like a library or a quiet space. When you’re with friends or in your room with your TV on and all sorts of other possible distractions around, the reading process will just be prolonged and more difficult than it has to be. Switch off your phone, make sure you have plenty of snacks and drinks and make sure that you’re in a situation where you have nothing to do except read the book.