Ness Labs Best Books of July 2023
This is your July 2023 guide to discovering the most insightful, inspiring, and transformative books on mindful productivity, creative growth, holistic ambition, and developing a healthier relationship with work.
reading
How to make more time to read
Many of us would like to have more time to read, but life can get in the way of picking up a book. You will find plenty of well-meaning advice online, such as “remove all social media apps from your phone”, “don’t watch TV in the evening”, but the recommendations are often unrealistic. So what … Read More
Designing a better reading experience with Ben Springwater, co-founder of Matter
In this interview, we talked about the challenges of online reading, the power of curation, the little details that make the difference to create an enjoyable reading experience, how the recency bias hurts our information diet, why the team at Matter cares about interoperability, and much more.
Reducing information anxiety with the founder of Summari
Ed Shrager, founder of Summari, discusses how Summari helps you navigate the modern media landscape by consuming more content in less time.
How to take notes while reading a book
It’s easier to take notes when we’re listening to content. That’s because our hands are free and we can focus on writing down whatever seems important to remember. However, when reading a book, taking notes interrupts our reading flow. It means there is a fine balance between taking too many notes—and reading extremely slowly—and taking … Read More
Interview: Using books to navigate life with Juvoni Beckford
A few months ago, a tweet popped up on my timeline, where Juvoni Beckford shared an incredible achievement: reading 450 books over the course of a decade. As someone who loves reading and thinks that everyone would benefit from reading more books—whether fiction or nonfiction—I was understandably impressed by Juvoni’s consistency. Juvoni Beckford is a … Read More
Building an antilibrary: the power of unread books
Tsundoku (ç©Ťă‚“čŞ) is a beautiful Japanese word describing the habit of acquiring books but letting them pile up without reading them. I used to feel guilty about this tendency, and would strive to only buy new books once I had finished the ones I owned. However, the concept of the antilibrary has completely changed my … Read More
The hermeneutic circle: a key to critical reading
For a text to be interpreted, you need a text and an interpreter. This may seem obvious, but too often we forget that our interpretation of a text is shaped by our pre-existing beliefs, knowledge, and expectations. Hermeneutics is the branch of research that deals with interpretation. When we interpret a text, it’s not a … Read More
How to go on an information diet
While it’s important to stay informed, too much information can become confusing, anxiety-inducing, and plain counter-productive. The same way you try to eat healthy to improve your physical health, going on an information diet is a way to control what you consume to take care of your mental health. It’s not the same as a … Read More
How to read a book
When I was a kid, my parents struggled to understand why I always looked so tired. We had a curfew and were usually pretty quiet after bedtime. What was happening? Well, I was reading. Sometimes until dawn. Treasure Island, The Lord of the Rings, His Dark Materials, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, The Count … Read More