Read Widely Of course. “Read Widely” is a simple but profoundly powerful piece of advice. It’s not just about reading a lot of books; it’s about actively diversifying your intellectual diet to become a more knowledgeable, empathetic, and creative thinker. Here’s a breakdown of what it means, why it’s so important, and how you can actually do it.
What Does “Read Widely” Actually Mean?
It means stepping far outside your comfort zone and your usual “lane.” It’s the deliberate choice to explore:
- Different Genres: If you only read modern literary fiction, try a sci-fi classic, a gripping mystery, a fantasy epic, or a romance novel.
- Different Formats: Don’t just read novels. Explore poetry, short stories, essays, long-form journalism, and plays.
- Different Perspectives: Make a conscious effort to read books by authors of different genders, nationalities, races, cultures, and time periods than your own.
- Different Subjects (Non-Fiction): Dive into history, popular science, philosophy, biography, economics, or a how-to book on a skill you know nothing about.
- Different “Quality” Levels: Read the acclaimed Pulitzer Prize winner, but also read the bestselling page-turner. There is value in understanding what makes both types of books successful.
Why is Reading Widely So Important?
The benefits are immense and touch every aspect of your life:
- Builds Empathy and Understanding: Fiction, in particular, is a powerful tool for walking in someone else’s shoes. By reading about experiences vastly different from your own, you develop a deeper understanding of the human condition.
- Fosters Creativity and Innovation: Creativity is often about connecting existing ideas in new ways. The more diverse your “library” of ideas, the more raw material you have for innovation. A programmer might find a solution in a biology book. A marketer might get an idea from a history of ancient Rome.
- Improves Critical Thinking: When you read different arguments and perspectives on the same issue (e.g., reading about a historical event from two opposing sides), you are forced to evaluate evidence, identify bias, and form your own nuanced opinions.
- Makes You a Better Communicator: Exposure to different writing styles, vocabularies, and sentence structures naturally improves your own speaking and writing. You unconsciously absorb new ways to express yourself.
- Prevents Intellectual Stagnation: It’s easy to get stuck in an echo chamber where all your information and ideas reinforce what you already believe. Reading widely is the antidote. It challenges your assumptions and keeps your mind agile.
- Provides a Deeper Context: You can’t truly understand a topic in isolation. To understand modern politics, it helps to read history and philosophy. To appreciate a new technology, it helps to understand the science behind it.
How to Start Reading Widely (A Practical Guide)
It can feel daunting, but here are some manageable steps:
- Set a “Variety” Goal: Instead of just a number-of-books goal for the year, set a goal like: “This year, I will read at least one book from five different continents, three different centuries, and five genres I never usually touch.”
- Use The “5×5” Method: Pick 5 genres you’re unfamiliar with and find 1 highly-recommended book in each. Your list might be: 1) A Science Book, 2) A Classic, 3) A Memoir, 4) A Graphic Novel, 5) A Book in Translation.
- Follow “Opposite” Recommendations: If you loved a fast-paced thriller, ask a friend who loves dense historical fiction for a recommendation, and vice-versa.
- Join a Diverse Book Club: A good book club will naturally push you to read books you would have never picked up yourself.
- Mix Long and Short: Don’t feel like every book has to be a 500-page epic. Read a collection of short stories or essays between longer novels.
- Leverage Your Library & Librarians: Librarians are experts at helping you find your next great read. Tell them the last book you loved and that you want to try something completely different.
- Explore Different Formats: If you’re struggling to find time, try audiobooks for memoirs (often read by the author) or non-fiction during a commute or chores.
The Deeper Layers of “Reading Widely”
It’s not just about checking boxes on a genre list. It’s about the mindset you cultivate.
- Reading as a “Symbiont”: Think of your mind as a host, and ideas as symbiotic organisms. The more diverse the ideas you host, the richer the internal ecosystem of your thinking becomes. They interact, cross-pollinate, and create new, hybrid thoughts.
- The Adjacent Possible: This concept, from theoretical biologist Stuart Kauffman, suggests that innovation happens by exploring the doors right next to you, not by leaping to a distant room. When you read a book on Renaissance art, it might open a door to the history of pigments, which opens a door to chemistry, which opens a door to the economics of trade routes. Reading widely systematically opens more adjacent doors for you to walk through.
- Combatting “Weaponized” Narrowness: In an age of algorithms and targeted media, our information diets are often weaponized to confirm our biases and keep us engaged (and outraged). Reading widely is an act of intellectual self-defense. It re-humanizes the “other side” by forcing you to engage with their best arguments, not their worst caricatures.
Advanced Strategies for the Avid Reader
- You’re already reading. How do you take the “wide” approach to the next level?
The “Cross-Training” Method:
- The Problem: You’re a novelist struggling with plot. You only read books on writing.
- The “Wide” Solution: Read a book on military strategy (The Art of War), a biography of a famous explorer, and a treatise on game theory. You’ll find models for conflict, structure, and stakes that are far more powerful than any writing manual can provide.
Read the “Canon” and the Counter-Argument:
- Don’t just read a foundational text. Read the critiques of it.
- Read Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, then read Karl Marx’s The Communist Manifesto.
- Read the Iliad, then read The Song of Achilles (Madeline Miller).
- This builds a dialectical understanding, not a dogmatic one.
- Go Back in Time: Read a scientific textbook from 50 years ago. Read a newspaper from 100 years ago. This provides a humbling and powerful perspective on how “settled” knowledge and “obvious” truths change over time. It makes you question what we hold to be true today.
- Read the Source, Not Just the Summary: It’s easy to read a hot take on a philosopher’s ideas. Instead, struggle with the primary text itself (even if just a key essay). The friction of the original language is where real understanding is forged.
- “Wasteful” Browsing: Deliberately spend time in a library or bookstore with no specific goal. Wander the aisles. Pick a shelf at random and read the titles. This serendipity is the engine of discovery, which algorithms have all but eliminated.
Overcoming the Common Challenges
“But I Don’t Have Time!”
- Reframe: You don’t need to finish every book. Give yourself permission to sample. Read the introduction and the first chapter. If it doesn’t grab you, put it down. The exposure alone has value.
- Use “Junk” Time: A 15-minute audiobook session during your commute or walk adds up to multiple books a year.
- “I Don’t Understand Dense/Complex Books!”
- Use Scaffolding: Before tackling Kant, read a beginner’s guide to his philosophy. Use secondary sources as training wheels. The goal is engagement, not flawless comprehension on the first try.
“It Feels Like a Chore!”
- Read one chapter of the dense history, then reward yourself with a chapter of the thrilling mystery.
- Set a Mini-Goal: “I will read just 10 pages a day of this poetry collection.” Small, consistent efforts conquer large tasks.