How to read a book and profit from it

"I've long wondered how I could read so much and retain so little"

Yesterday out of curiosity I asked my friend Mr. Google what were the top selling self help books? Then I wondered how many are sold?

Billions of self help books have been sold. The Secret had sold 8 million copies. So then this left me thinking, why aren't there millions of people reporting success and happiness from reading these books?

Being a voracious reader, it also occurred to me....how come I'm not some kind of self help genius? I've read hundreds of books. I should be a lot smarter than I am. What am I doing wrong? Don't get me wrong, I am quite happy and content with my life, but with all of this research I should be jetting around the planet in my own jet and exchanging thoughts with the Dali Lama.

Well amigos I haven't found the answers....yet! But i will share one little idea that helps me retain the good stuff I've read. Of course it's simple...that's what I do best.

Ta dumm.....here it is

Always read a book with a highlight marker at the ready. See something you want to retain, highlight it. That's it. To illustrate my point, I grabbed 4 books at random from my collection. Here are 5 quotes I found in seconds...

"anonymity is the enemy of civility. Given total privacy and a cloak of invisibility, many people become course. They do selfish things--things that they would never do if a friend (or a video camera) were watching." from Small is the new big by Seth Godin

"social psychologists learned long ago that if you make a committment and then share it with friends you are more likely to follow through than if you simply make the committment to yourself. Better yet team up with someone who is attempting to make the same changes as you are" Influencer by Patterson, Grenny, Maxwell, McMilland and Switzler

"you literally own nothing and no one. All that is composed will decompose; all that is yours will leave and become someone else's" Change Your Thoughts Dr. Wayne Dyer

"jealousy has less to do with how a person feels towards you and more to do with how he feels about himself" You Can Read Anyone by David Lieberman

And this is the technique I use when I'm looking for something to write about. I quick scan for highlighted quotes and I have an idea to expand upon. (and you thought I was smart)

Smile, life is like being in school only you are given the answers first

Eduardo

BONUS; "the surest sign that there is intelligent life in the universe, is that it has never tried to contact us" Calvin Hobbes