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Improve your Reading + My New Favourite Pen

2020-03-30 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali, Ali Abdaal (channel) · recording, 17:16 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books and reading (also: Mindset, motivation and happiness, Tools, apps and tech) · mode: Review and recommendation

In Monthly Favourites for March 2020 Ali recommends Morgan Housel's blog post on reading with lots of inputs and a strong filter, the Emotions episode of the podcast Invisibilia, the Uni-ball Air pen, and fantasy audiobooks in the order Mistborn, Kingkiller Chronicles, Stormlight Archive, The Wheel of Time.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — The monthly favourites series makes a comeback

  • ★★ Ali brings back his monthly favourites series in these troubled times, with a blog post, a podcast, a physical product and a book series. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ Ali recommends Morgan Housel's short blog post on collaborativefund.com, How to Read: Lots of Inputs and a Strong Filter, which really resonated with him; he reads it out on camera. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Morgan Housel (quoted): Morgan Housel's reading strategy is to start as many books as he can but finish few, after hearing Charlie Munger say he does not read most books past the first chapter; reading is a chore if you insist on finishing every book. — 00:00:00

00:00:11 — Blog post: How to Read, Lots of Inputs and a Strong Filter by Morgan Housel

  • ★★ Morgan Housel (quoted): Morgan Housel writes that most books are adequately summarised in the introduction, not for you or not for anyone, and that grinding to the last page, a habit likely formed at school, turns reading into a ten-hour meeting and makes you less willing to pick up another book. — 00:00:42
  • ★★ Morgan Housel (quoted): Morgan Housel cites Mark Twain that a man who does not read good books has no advantage over one who cannot read them, and says every smart person he knows is a voracious reader, with astoundingly few exceptions. — 00:00:42
  • ★★ Morgan Housel (quoted): Morgan Housel writes that college tuition at $25,000 a year comes to roughly $100 per lecture, while good books, sometimes by the same professor, cost $15 and can offer several times as much life-changing insight. — 00:01:16
  • ★★ Ali repeats the point of his video How to Read More Books: a book is not a sacred thing you must start and finish; many of his friends are still 20% through Sapiens and feel they cannot read another book until they finish it. — 00:01:38
  • ★★ Morgan Housel's article corroborates a feeling Ali has had for years: reading a whole nonfiction book is kind of pointless once you have most of its ideas from a summary, the introduction or the table of contents, since most carry only a handful of key insights. — 00:02:00
  • ★★ Authors flesh nonfiction books out to tens of thousands of words, Ali says, because from what he has heard a book unlocks lucrative conference speaking at fifty thousand dollars a talk, so many nonfiction books are much longer than they need to be. (hedged) — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ If you are reading a nonfiction book and do not like it, or have already got the main idea, Ali says by all means just drop the book. — 00:02:26

  • ★★★ Morgan Housel (quoted): Because most books need not be read to the end while some can change your life, Morgan Housel says you need two things to get a lot out of reading: lots of inputs and a strong filter. — 00:02:54

    “You need lots of inputs and a strong filter.”

  • ★★ Morgan Housel (quoted): Morgan Housel argues for a low bar on which books to try: picking only books you are sure to like confines you to the same authors and topics, feeds confirmation bias and limits connections between fields and cultures. — 00:02:54

  • ★★ Morgan Housel (quoted): Morgan Housel's reading filter is ruthless: as in dating, a book you are not into after 10 minutes has little chance of a happy ending, so slam it shut and move on; quitting after three pages is no failure. — 00:03:25
  • ★★ Morgan Housel (quoted): Morgan Housel says lots of inputs and a strong filter apply to all data, research, conversation and learning: without inputs you are stuck in your own experience, without a filter overwhelmed by choice. — 00:03:57
  • ★★ Ali allows that confirmation bias may be part of why Morgan Housel's advice appeals to him, since it says what he already believes, but he thinks the theory of lots of inputs and a strong filter definitely has merit. — 00:04:23
  • ★★★ Since reading Morgan Housel's post, Ali tries to get loads of inputs when he reads but keeps an even more ruthless filter than before for not continuing past things he does not enjoy or that do not resonate with him. — 00:04:52

00:05:22 — Podcast: the Emotions episode of Invisibilia

  • ★★★ Ali recommends the Emotions episode of the podcast Invisibilia, which really resonated with him; it was the first episode of the show he had heard, and he gathers the show goes deep into the invisible things we take for granted. — 00:05:22
  • ★★ The Emotions episode of Invisibilia tells the story of a lorry driver and a family killed when their car crashed into his lorry, and of the emotions the parents and the lorry driver went through. — 00:05:48
  • ★★ The Emotions episode of Invisibilia interviews an expert, whom Ali remembers only as Lisa, who has written a book on where emotions come from, turning on its head the idea that emotions form as reactions to events. — 00:05:48
  • ★★ According to the Emotions episode of Invisibilia there may be only four main internal feelings, which Ali recalls as something like pleasant, unpleasant, arousal and inattention. (hedged) — 00:06:29
  • ★★★ The Emotions episode of Invisibilia argues that every emotion built on these internal sensations is a story we tell ourselves, learned from society, and that where a society has no word for an emotion people do not feel it, which Ali finds completely mind-blowing. — 00:06:51
  • ★★ In the example from the Emotions episode of Invisibilia, someone shutting a door in your face gives a feeling your body knows only as slightly unpleasant, which you interpret as anger and respond to with anger. — 00:07:26
  • ★★ Ali calls the whole Emotions episode of Invisibilia an absolute marvel, so well done and really highly produced. — 00:07:26

00:07:53 — Physical product: the Uni-ball Air, his new favourite pen

  • ★★ A few weeks ago Ali saw Marius, a fifth-year medical student from Cambridge on placement with him, writing with a Uni-ball Air; Marius said the pen changed his life, and Ali at once bought a pack of 12 on Amazon Prime. — 00:07:53 · Cambridge, Amazon
  • ★★★ The Uni-ball Air is Ali's new favourite pen: it glides over the paper really nicely, and he uses it with his Leuchtturm1917 notebook, now his favourite way to write in it. — 00:07:53 · Leuchtturm1917 notebook
  • ★★ Ali is still writing in the same Leuchtturm1917 notebook and has filled loads of pages; he has a video coming out soon, if it is not out already, on how he uses it as a sort of analogue to-do list. — 00:08:39 · Leuchtturm1917 notebook
  • ★★ The Uni-ball Air can make handwriting quite messy if you are not careful, Ali says, but it lets him write fast: writing is still about 10 times slower than typing, but less slow than with a fountain pen, which annoys him because it does not flow. — 00:09:01
  • ★★ Ali would not say the Uni-ball Air has changed his life, but it makes writing in his notebook a little more pleasant, which he finds worth sharing. — 00:09:01

00:09:49 — Audiobook series: The Wheel of Time and the order for fantasy audiobooks

  • ★★ Ali has been listening to Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series on Audible nonstop for many months, perhaps more than a year, and has just finished book six. — 00:09:49 · The Wheel of Time, Audible
  • ★★ Robert Jordan has died, Ali thinks, and Brandon Sanderson took over writing the last few books of The Wheel of Time. (hedged) — 00:09:49 · Brandon Sanderson, The Wheel of Time
  • ★★ Brandon Sanderson is Ali's favourite fantasy author of all time, ahead of J. K. Rowling, to whom he apologises. — 00:09:49 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Since late 2017 Ali has always had a fantasy audiobook on the go on Audible: first Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series, then Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicles, The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear. (hedged) — 00:10:26 · Audible, Mistborn, Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Ali and other fans are anxiously awaiting the third Kingkiller Chronicles book, which he names as Doors of Stone or Walls of Stone. — 00:10:26
  • ★★ After the Kingkiller Chronicles, Ali took about a whole year to get through the first three books of Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive, listening from 2018 to mid- or late 2019. (hedged) — 00:10:55 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★ Ali and other fans are anxiously awaiting the fourth Stormlight Archive book, which he thinks should come out in November 2020. (hedged) — 00:10:55 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Ali thinks his order was a good one: Mistborn is a good gateway drug into fantasy, long but high-impact, while the Stormlight Archive is very long and can be slow, so a background in fantasy helps you get through it. — 00:11:18 · Mistborn, The Wheel of Time
  • ★★ The Wheel of Time is absolutely huge, with over 12 books, Ali thinks, starting with The Eye of the World; he is on book seven and avoids looking at the titles so as not to meet spoilers. (hedged) — 00:11:47 · The Wheel of Time
  • ★★ Long fantasy series follow a formula, Ali says: they start small, in a village with one character, and as the series goes on more of the world and more characters come in and the main characters grow more powerful. — 00:12:17
  • ★★ The first Wheel of Time book follows Rand, Perrin and Mat from Emond's Field in the Two Rivers, a tiny village like the Shire in The Lord of the Rings; a woman wizard tells them they are chosen ones, and after an attack they set off to train and defeat the Dark One. — 00:12:45 · The Wheel of Time
  • ★★★ If you have not yet started on fantasy audiobooks, Ali says do yourself a favour and go in this order: Mistborn, then the Kingkiller Chronicles, then the Stormlight Archive, then The Wheel of Time. — 00:13:17 · Mistborn, The Wheel of Time
  • ★★ Ali listens to about 20 to 30 hours of audiobooks a month on Audible, one or two hours a day; these days only when driving to and from work, as social isolation has ended his gym visits. (hedged) — 00:13:17 · Audible
  • ★★ Even at two hours a day the fantasy books take Ali months or years, so following his recommended order would sort the next three to five years of audio entertainment on the go; and Brandon Sanderson keeps churning out novels. — 00:13:53 · Brandon Sanderson
  • ★★★ Ali regrets switching Mistborn from Audible to Kindle because it got so good: he tore through it, and since he reads fast and skims a lot he missed the savouring he gets when he listens on Audible. — 00:14:18 · Mistborn, Audible, Kindle
  • ★★ Another nice thing about fantasy audiobooks, Ali says, is that their climaxes last for ages, while a TV show's climax lasts a few seconds or at most a few minutes. — 00:14:47
  • ★★ Ali calls the Stormlight Archive an absolute masterpiece of really long climaxes; he still gets tears in his eyes thinking of the end of book one and what happens with Kaladin and Dalinar. — 00:15:15
  • ★★ When he reached the end of the first Stormlight Archive book, Ali, just home from the gym, sat on his sofa for about four hours until three in the morning listening to it. — 00:15:42
  • ★★ Ali says that once he has finished The Wheel of Time and started more series, he will keep recommending loads of fantasy audiobooks on the channel as he goes along. — 00:15:42 · The Wheel of Time

00:16:05 — Audible link, sign-off and the evergreen monthly favourites playlist

  • ★★ Ali calls his monthly favourites videos fairly evergreen, perennial recommendations rather than things relevant for one month only, so viewers can go through the series from January 2018 for books, articles and podcasts. — 00:16:05

In the description and comments

  • ★★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked for a lockdown day-in-the-life vlog, the channel says it is coming soon. — creator comment
  • ★★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked for the release date of Ali's second Skillshare class, the channel answers that it comes out the next day. — creator comment · Skillshare classes
  • ★ Ali Abdaal (channel): To get handwritten notes from an iPad into Notion, the channel's answer is to take a screenshot and paste it in. — creator comment · Notion, iPad
  • ★ Asked for a video on the video games he plays, Ali says he does not really play video games. — creator comment
  • ★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked whether the American spelling "favorites" in the video is there for search reasons, though Ali is British, the channel says yes. — creator comment
  • ★★ Asked whether he reads only self-improvement books, Ali says he reads way too much fiction and romance too. — creator comment

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: How to Read: Lots of Inputs and a Strong Filter · Invisibilia · Morgan Housel · The Wheel of Time · Uni-ball Air

Also: People: Brandon Sanderson · Charlie Munger · J. K. Rowling · Mark Twain · Patrick Rothfuss · Robert Jordan

Works: Mistborn · Sapiens · The Doors of Stone · The Eye of the World · The Kingkiller Chronicles · The Lord of the Rings · The Name of the Wind · The Stormlight Archive · The Wise Man's Fear

Organizations: Amazon · Collaborative Fund · NPR

Concepts: social distancing

Places: Cambridge

Characters: Dalinar · Kaladin

Products: Audible · Evernote · Kindle · Leuchtturm1917 notebook · Notion

Only in the description or credits: iPad · Skillshare classes

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