--- title: Book: How to Read More Effectively description: Participate in the conversation by writing in the book canonical: https://time.com/3919181/reading-book-conversation/ author: Shane Parrish article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-22T11:00:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T08:30:32.202Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Why You Should Write in Your Books og:description: Participate in the conversation by writing in the book og:url: https://time.com/3919181/reading-book-conversation/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c3e7920a09d8a64/6988544235ba6fcae3c0db94/514408483-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: man-thinking-holding-pen og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why You Should Write in Your Books twitter:description: Participate in the conversation by writing in the book twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c3e7920a09d8a64/6988544235ba6fcae3c0db94/514408483-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why You Should Write in Your Books by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Jun 22, 2015 11:00 AM UTC  Close up of man thinking at desk Close up of man thinking at deskGetty Images by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Jun 22, 2015 11:00 AM UTC While I’ve posted this before as part of my series on [reading a book](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/how-to-read-a-book/), I wanted to draw your attention to this beautiful excerpt from Mortimer Adler’s [How To Read A Book](http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671212095/farst-20): --- > “” --- **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Farnam Street_**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/)**_._** **Join over 50,000 readers and get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/newsletter/)**.** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3919181/reading-book-conversation/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3919181/reading-book-conversation/"},"headline":"Why You Should Write in Your Books","datePublished":"2015-06-22T11:00:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:30:32.202Z","description":"Participate in the conversation by writing in the book","url":"https://time.com/3919181/reading-book-conversation/","keywords":["Books","Psychology","reading"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c3e7920a09d8a64/6988544235ba6fcae3c0db94/514408483-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shane Parrish","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c3e7920a09d8a64/6988544235ba6fcae3c0db94/514408483-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"man-thinking-holding-pen","caption":"man-thinking-holding-pen","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3919181/reading-book-conversation/","name":"Why You Should Write in Your Books"}}]}] ```