I needed this video. Sometimes I start more than one book and then another then another and i want to read them all and it almost paralyzes my reading.

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Absolutely, it's one of my greatest struggles too

Such insightful points. There's no point in reading as much as possible if we're reading just to check books off a list.

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Thanks, and for sure. It's tempting, but not why we read in the first place.

@folksurvival

5 ай бұрын

If anything it's detrimental to read too much.

I really agree with the tip to just read more. What feels like fomo often is really the guilt of not spending enough time reading. It was for me, too. I spent much time reading last year and my „fomo“ vanished.

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

For sure, there are times it's a result of our own decisions and we just need to be accountable for that

I have been suffering from FOMO about reading books for years, and I ended up buying thousands of books! Thank you for discussing this topic in detail and actually helping me with my FOMO! 🤩

@odysseas__

3 ай бұрын

Yep, it's the curse of the infinitely growing bookshelf. It's part of us all... Thanks though, really grateful for the tip.

Nice to see you also use Obsidian. I love Obsidian and I do take notes from books in it. But I was not matching my daily pages number. And than I realized it is not about the pages. I could read in 2 hours only 33 pg. But I noted, thinked, processed the input, I was learning. Learning is not directly proportional with reading. This is powerful. Thanks for making me realize that.

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

I like how you frame it with pages, and I totally agree

Good video bro. Your videos have gotten better over time. Keep up the work.

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Thank you, means a lot to hear that

I work full-time, but a few years ago I decided to read 10 pages in the morning of one book and 10 in the evening of another book. This isn't much, I know, but with this method I was able to read 24, 300-page books in a year (sometimes more).

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Small inputs, huge outputs. Good stuff

@10_Roads

2 ай бұрын

I do sort of the same technique, except I just read 2-4 pages every evening 😋

@jakealden2517

2 ай бұрын

@@10_Roads Even at that pace, you could read 5-7 serious books per year. And I do think it's better to read fewer books and actually think about them while you're reading than the number of books read quickly.

You have made some excellent points! I made an account on thestorygraph and entered only the books that are re-reads for me. About 350 as a good sample. The charts helped me determine what I enjoy most in a book. This was emtional, adventurous, dark, mysterious. Plus character driven. This process seemed a logical way to figure out what I like.

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Thanks, and that's a great idea!

@tiananesbitt7156

4 ай бұрын

@@odysseas__Adorable! Sub’d!

Excellent video, as usually. Your channel is one of the best I have found in a longtime.

@odysseas__

2 ай бұрын

Thanks, grateful for your words

Good points all. Here are two techniques I use to determine if I want to read a book: 1) Read the Amazon 3 stars. They'll often give a more balanced view of the book. 2) Three page random read. If it's a good book, random reads of a few pages will give me an idea if it's going to work for me. Of course, I never feel as though I have to finish a book. Even if I'm halfway through and am not feeling it, I'll abandon the book.

@odysseas__

3 ай бұрын

Nice tips, thanks

It's like going on a vacation - we won't get to every place in the world, it's impossible. All we have to do is to enjoy the moments and the context that we have chosen to please us, and the rest does not matter. You should be happy that you visited 10 new places a year, not sad that you missed the other thousands.

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

That's a nice way to see it -living in the present and enjoying the moment

This was a much needed video! My fyp and most of my feed is book recommendations which I'm actually grateful for but it's quite overwhelming, i have downloaded and then deleted a lot of books past 4-5 weeks and it has definitely taken a toll on my joy of reading, it's more chaotic to choose and i haven't even been able to read the genre i used to enjoy.

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Thanks! Glad to hear that. And yeah, it's tough to focus with so much content out there, but it's all we can do.

You my friend are amazing, thank you for all the good tips and please keep up the good work❤

@odysseas__

Ай бұрын

Thanks, wishing you well also

I stumbled across this video and your channel tonight and immediately subscribed. This is a great video! Thank you! Looking forward to discovering everything else on your channel 😊

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Thanks, that means a lot. And it's good to have you!

Love this! I find that having a focus or a purpose really helps me avoid FOMO. I have a channel focused on independent publishers, talking about books that are a bit under-the-radar. Because I want to tell people about books that deserve more attention than they are getting, I feel no temptation to read the latest book that everyone is talking about. I can experience those books through other people's descriptions of them. And then, I can have a very mission-driven approach to my own reading. Or that's the goal, at least. Great topic; thanks for the thoughtful approach!

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Thanks, and that's a great point. A strong purpose keeps you going regardless of any obstacles. And that's a noble mission too!

Wonderful video! I've been doing this for years, but until I saw this, I didn't realize that's what I'm doing. I also like your encouragement to read slowly. You make a good point, if you really learn from and absorb what you read and what you read is excellent, you are getting what you need to from your reading.

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Thanks, I really appreciate it. It's a hard lesson, even for me, and I'm sure it will pay off if you can stick to it

@MkwesiW901

Ай бұрын

Reading to explore rather than reading to learn has also been a big help for me imo. I wanted to ask, what kind of stuff would you cant to see if Odysseas has his own community group? What exclusive content would be great to see.

Very reassuring advice which I will be following - thank you 🙏

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Much appreciated and I hope it works well for you

Thanks! Hoping 2024 is a better reading year for me than 2023 was! Can't believe I'm just finding your channel now, excited to see your other videos!

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

I appreciate it! I remember your zettelkasten video popping up in my home feed and helping me understand how it all works... crazy to see you here now.

@morganeua

5 ай бұрын

@@odysseas__ Very cool!

I like to watch book recommendation channels, and if there is one book that get's promoted a lot I'll check it out. I think too, the more you read the better you understand what you enjoy and are looking for-- which makes it easier to spot and pick the next book.

Thank you! This was very good.

@odysseas__

4 ай бұрын

Thanks, I appreciate it!

It helps when you don't read contemporary novels. I'm stuck reading in the 19th century and happy to be so. However, I love contemporary light novels on audio. Good video thank you.

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

I agree, we ought to turn to old books for wisdom more often. And thanks too!

so insightful, thank you 👍

@odysseas__

2 күн бұрын

Much appreciated

Thank you 🙏 A real needed food for thought. I have a FOMO of information in a book, which makes me sometimes read so slow, that I am loosing the flow and ability to focus. So I have decided to read a good book more then once. The first reading is then a quick skimming of the information without delays. The second time is extracting the important information.

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

I appreciate it! And I love the sound of that approach

Great advice! Pretty much what I am doing this year. Or planning to do.

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Thanks, hope it goes well for you

Good video, one of your best.

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Thanks, I truly appreciate it

Loved this! Subscribed.

@odysseas__

4 ай бұрын

Thanks, good to have you

Very helpful. I find bibliographies useful in guiding me to my next books.

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Absolutely, lots of interesting things there usually

This channel MUST grow

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Haha cheers

Interesting vid! This is pretty unique to readers, too, this addiction to knowledge.. Architects aren't like, "I have to see every Dutch Colonial ever made!" Artists don't obsessively seek out every piece of art from every medium. Yet as readers, we have this feeling that unless we read everything that exists, we won't understand being human. The trick I think is that no one will ever understand being human, like it's some kind of objective truth, but reading something today will at least give you a silhouette of the full truth. Read today. Don't worry about reading tomorrow.

@odysseas__

2 ай бұрын

That's an interesting take I've never heard, and it's so true. We just do our best and should relish in the results

Great video. Because this fear is very real for readers. One strategy I use is to realize there are whole genres I'm not that interested in. Thanks for this!

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

That's a good point, and thanks!

The greatest part of the video was the part where you invited us to imagine entering a bookshop and experiencing FOMO! That alone made me realize some point about myself, thanks!

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Glad it helped!

My method to increase the number of finished books is listening to audiobooks at from 2 to 4 times the speed of recording, depending on the narrator's speed. I sometimes need to slow down to x2, there were a few books I was comfortably listening to at x4. On average, x2.5 is my usual speed. I use it for fiction books read/listened to solely for pleasure or for non-ficiton books I'm going to read later and I use the audiobook version to familiarise myself with a book initially so I can dive more deeply and take notes later while reading. This strategy (reading books I want to learn from and listening to books for pleasure) has allowed me to finish 100+ books a year for the past 4 years. I finished 2023 with over 130 read/listened to books. To anybody interested in trying, may I suggest increasing the speed slightly and making sure you're not missing anything, getting used to it and then increasing the speed again. I listened to a 13-book series in 2 weeks in December and it was like binging a TV show.

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Sounds alright, especially if it doesn't hurt your comprehension.

I'm new to your channel and thanks for this insightful video!

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Thanks, good to have you!

Thank you

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Much appreciated

Meditations really is a great book. I remember my last year Summer blasting Air Suite No 1 by Bach and reading it while chilling out.

@odysseas__

4 ай бұрын

That's the life

Ok, this was REALLY helpful and really good. I’m not just saying this! FOMO is so real but luckily I do read the classics…and yet I still feel fomo to some degree….but you helped me to parse this out. Damn good stuff!

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Thanks! Happy to hear you found value

Om my goodness, that was great. I'm a 72 year old woman who has been an avid reader since tge age of 5!, and yes I am a sufferer of book FOMO. I walk into a Waterstones and I run around like Tom and Jerry, piling up the books on the counter. Only when I get home and realise these books (on the whole) are rubbish, I feel bad. I know the genesis like......so why the blazes do I buy other genres!?! So I will watch your vid numerous times, especially before going into my second home, Waterstones in Wells. I'm also going to read one book at a time, and slower. Thank you so much. Its also lovely to have someone from the UK talking about books. Jx

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Thank you! I get that feeling too, so I hope it helps the next time around

Completely concur with the third point. Though I have not been victim to FOMO, I have made reading a part of my daily discipline. I see reading as a workout for my brain, if I am putting in an hour on average every day then I am doing well enough. Knowing that I am doing what is in my hands to do is one way of achieving contentment, which leaves no room FOMO.

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Well said!

I do extensive notes as well, doing the painful job of summarizing the book with as much detail i possibly can fit in. Needless to say i read 3 times slower than i could, but i don’t know a better way to learn👍

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Good stuff!

I like the "make fomo irrational" idea. A lot. A couple of months ago I discovered booktube (soso so behind the times) and I had to remind myself that some people consume content to put it back out into the world. I am not doing that. I am reading for enjoyment in the evening. My competitive side came out a few times and I was trying to figure out how to read 200+ books in a year - while maintaining my current relationships and hobbies. It would be untenable. I like my life. The change I'm making is that I'll have a Kindle and a reading journal. I really like reflecting on previous books but since most of them actually live at the library I makes notes.

@odysseas__

4 ай бұрын

Thanks, and you make a great point. A lot of reading is about living true to yourself, choosing the goals that truly matter to you

Please become an actor so I can watch you save the world! We deserve it!

@odysseas__

4 ай бұрын

Haha I can't imagine myself acting

How to Read a Book by Adler is a good one. Currently reading Walt Whitman’s America by Reynolds. Picked up The Betrothed by Manzoni the penguin classics edition and a new translation by Michael F Moore. I always have a hard time deciding on which translation to use. New subscriber

@odysseas__

4 ай бұрын

Thanks, and it's true. I had that issue with the old Greek books

Very good advice, i stick mostly to the classics, i read two or three books at a time, its worked for me, and i can highly recommend a youtuber, Benjamin McEvoy, to direct you in the right path.

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Thanks, and that's a solid plan there! Also subbed to him recently

I tend to go deep in a subject, not wide. Therefore if the book is in one of my main interests I will read it. But I will probably pass if it is not-unless it is a truly great book that is a solid choice and widely recognized

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

That's a fair approach. I like to have a few subjects I am more well-versed in, all while keeping most reading broad.

one of the problems is FOMO and buying books.. my TBR (in paper ) is around 3000 lol :\ and I do read a lot, around 120 books per year but my TBR is increasing. My goal of 2024 is buy less than read...

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Yeah I feel you.. As long as the reading gets done, you're doing well, but that's still a great goal to have.

I wanna start reading but I don’t know where to start

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

I'd start with something easy and fun, without worrying about whether it teaches you anything. If it's non fiction, then something that gets you excited

I read between 80 to.135 books in year.

@odysseas__

Ай бұрын

That's impressive man

I only read the very best books

New fear unlocked

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Haha my bad. I hope I solved it too at least..

I love books but I am not going to get old and think I should have read more books, hopefully I will get old and think I have lived life, loved people, not books

@odysseas__

Ай бұрын

I get you, but you can do both. One helps the other.

Books read for learning must be read slower and more carefully than novels. Imo

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

I agree, I think novels are best read faster, or at least for longer, so you can get immersed.

I listen to audio books at 5x tempo and Alvin and the Chipmunks reading Moby Dick is deeply weird.

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Haha I bet

"Most books suck" - 😄

I need an AI brain.

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

You already got one, but better

Most books are crap

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Or at least, not worth reading over something else

Incredibly stupid advice.

@odysseas__

4 ай бұрын

Why?

@dallasisgood

4 ай бұрын

@@odysseas__ the most likely cause would be that the person giving the advice is an idiot.

Most self-help books are garbage and derived from better source material. Most fantasy is not very good. Most books are garbage and written by people who don't read very much. Its rewarding when you find an author whose work you like. Read widely. Mix it up. Mix classics with horror and philosophy and history books and psychology. The advice in the video is very good. Many thanks.

@odysseas__

5 ай бұрын

Well said, and thank you

another way of narrowing down books that you may have thought were interesting but have a average rating of under 3 stars (or 3.5 if you have the heart to) on online platforms🫢 so instead of just going for what has the most praise, you also know what to "avoid" i.e. books that you deem are not worth your time based on the ratings :) i think there is some merit in reading mediocre books (when it comes to fiction at least) because i feel that saying all books which are not exceptional by our own standards, should be rendered useless a bit unfair. they can in some way be helpful when figuring out what exactly does & does not work. nevertheless, i agree with the gist of what your stating since some people may be overwhelmed and want to extract every bit of wisdom from every book they encounter which is - as you say - irrational. this video will help a lot of my friends asw, tysm !!

@odysseas__

3 ай бұрын

Much appreciated, and good points. Especially if you plan on doing your own writing, it helps to see what makes books bad, or lacking in some areas at least