Community | Book Club Reading When You Don’t Want To A Guide SOME PEOPLE DEVOUR BOOKS, tearing through them like a horde of tweens set loose in a candy factory. Other people take their time, savoring a single book like a fine meal – slow, deliberate and savoring every bite. If you read fast like I do, you can rip through your “To Be Read” pile quickly, but you often have to reread a whole book to retain any of the information in the long run. My colleague, on the other hand, reads much slower than I do, and if you’re like him, then you’re probably going to remember what you read a lot better. However, your TBR pile is probably taller than my 8-year-old. Regardless of the kind of reader you might be, sometimes the reality is you don’t want to read, but you have to. Deadlines loom, information stacks up and some books just aren’t fun. Don’t worry. We’re here to help. Engaging with Complicated Content Reading a book you don’t want to read is like waging war against distraction. Luckily, we just read Sun Tzu, so we know how important it is to plan our attack. First things first: Start at the end. No, further than the last page: Start by reading the back cover of the book. Then, go to the beginning and read the introduction. Why? Because those two sections will tell you exactly what to expect. Our time is precious, and we don’t want to wade through 200 pages of a book before we realize it isn’t what we need to be reading. • After you’ve read the intro, take a look at the table of contents. This is your road map. Identify the chapters that matter most to you and prioritize those over the others. How to engage with complicated content and still ascertain the most relevant information. By Jessica GibbonsRauch, MBA, CAS cosmaa / Shutterstock.com 56 • APRIL 2025 • PPAI
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