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- Rise of the Reader (Part II)
Rise of the Reader (Part II)
Matt Karamazov
March 08, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 27 minutes
“At the checkout, I signed up for a store membership card. I knew that to really shift my identity from a non-reader to a reader, I had to commit. Carrying the membership card around in my wallet seemed like something a reader would do.
Plus, I got a good discount for signing up, which made me feel better. By simply buying a few books, I could already feel my potential starting to grow. It was as if instantly, a switch had been flipped, and I was now on a very different path in life.”
“Imagine you woke up tomorrow and everything you never expressed gratitude for disappeared. Start now!”
“Could I consume billions of dollars of lessons by purchasing a $20 book? For sure.”
"I read the three- or four-star reviews, because they contain constructive criticism and are usually written with logic instead of emotion. Outside of web-based research, I also like asking my reading friends about different books or authors they've read. If I know someone has similar tastes and interests to mine, chances are pretty good that their feedback will go a long way in my decision-making."
“Don’t underestimate how much you can learn from yourself.”
“When people tell me I am reading too much, I like to tell them I only read for an hour or two a day, whereas I spend every other waking moment implementing what I have read. Although I am not literally focused on implementing what I have read for 15 hours a day, it does feel like it sometimes, and that is not a bad thing."
“There is the version of you tomorrow who will judge your actions from today, but there is also the version of you 20 years from now who will judge all your actions from this day forward."
“I would rather feel 60 when I am 80 than 80 when I am 60.”
“With my extra time, I was able to start servicing my future self. I call this working ON your life instead of working IN your life.”
“So, what is the ideal balance between tending to your current self and your future self? Totally up to you. For me, it is probably 80/20 - that magic ratio again. I spend 80% of my time on highly leveraged present-moment experiences, and 20% on being kind to my future self. The best part is that most of my highly leveraged present-moment experiences are also feeding my future self."
"As they say, suffer the pain of discipline or suffer the pain of regret. The part they forget to mention is that the pain of discipline is temporary, and the pain of regret lasts forever."
“You have a choice to view everything in life the way that benefits you the most."
“Success comes down to choosing the hard right over the easy wrong. Consistently.”
"The shorter your sleep, the shorter your life. The leading causes of disease and death in developed nations - diseases that are crippling health-care systems, such as heart disease, obesity, dementia, diabetes, and cancer - all have recognize causal links to a lack of sleep."
"Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless, and add what is specifically your own."
"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas."
"Memory is the cornerstone of our existence. It determines the quality of our decisions and, therefore, our entire life."
“You become the average of your social media feed.”
"It's not the happy people who are grateful; it's the grateful people who are happy."
“Everything is created twice, first in the mind and then in reality.”
"Travel offers a great perspective on your normal day-to-day life, highlighting what you don't look forward to going back to, and giving you a great opportunity to correct.
Sometimes, you just need to step away from the hustle and bustle long enough to see that you're not as happy as you want to be. Plus, traveling opens your eyes to how the rest of the world lives."
“Even if you don’t think you're being impacted by the negativity, remember, your subconscious is always on and consuming information."
"If something bothers you daily, it will bother you over 10,000 times over the next 30 years. Why tolerate that?"
“For the rest of my life, I am choosing never to shut someone out or refuse to converse with them because they have a different opinion than me."
The Bureau of Prisons in states across the United States of America project the number of prison beds they’ll need in the future based on third- or fourth-grade reading statistics. That right there tells you just how critically important this ability is to maintain (both societally and individually), and this book is about the state of reading in the digital age, and about what we stand to lose if that ability disappears.
Sample Quotes from the Book:
“For more than four decades, one of the single most important predictors of later reading achievement has been how much parents read to their child.”
“What will happen to young readers who never meet and begin to understand the thoughts and feelings of someone totally different?”
“Open a book and a voice speaks.”
Read the Full Breakdown: Reader, Come Home, by Maryanne Wolf
Your brain is the most powerful machine in the entire known universe, with more connections between your neurons than molecules in all of creation. Do you want to learn how to use it optimally for success, happiness, and growth? Yeah? Then read this book.
Sample Quotes from the Book:
“Most everyone limits and shrinks their dreams to fit their current reality.”
“When you teach something, you get to learn it twice.”
“Often our greatest struggles lead to our greatest strengths. My two biggest challenges as a child were learning and public speaking. Life has a sense of humor because I spend most of my life public speaking on learning.
I couldn't read, and now I teach people from all over the world how to read better. I struggled to understand my brain, and now I speak in front of audiences of thousands to help them understand the amazing tool they possess."
Read the Full Breakdown: Limitless, by Jim Kwik
If you left university with just a degree and a pile of debt, you were robbed. Universities today often force students to choose between learning and success, but it doesn't have to be this way. In this incredible book, former Yale professor William Deresiewicz discusses the true value of education, and lays out a plan for how you can get one - both inside and outside of the classroom.
Sample Quotes from the Book:
“What’s the return on investment on college? What’s the return on investment of having children, spending time with friends, listening to music, reading a book? The things that are most worth doing are worth doing for their own sake.”
“The purpose of college, to put all this another way, is to turn adolescents into adults. You needn’t go to school for that, but if you’re going to be there anyway, then that’s the most important thing to get accomplished. That is the true education: accept no substitutes.
The idea that we should take the first four years of young adulthood and devote them to career preparation alone, neglecting every other part of life, is nothing short of an obscenity.
If that’s what people had you do, then you were robbed. And if you find yourself to be the same person at the end of college as you were at the beginning – the same beliefs, the same values, the same desires, the same goals for the same reasons – then you did it wrong. Go back and do it again.”
“This is your shot. This is your chance to become, not the person that you want to be, not the person you’ve decided that you’re going to be, but the person that you never could have dreamed of being.”
Read the Full Breakdown: Excellent Sheep, by William Deresiewicz
This is the most practical, down-to-earth, yet inspiring book about learning that you're ever likely to find. So settle in for a masterclass in skill acquisition as Nick Velasquez shows you how to master anything you put your mind to.
Sample Quotes from the Book:
“The principles we've covered - neuroplasticity, specialization, association, chunking, and automation - are the foundation of all learning.
Our brain rewires itself through practice, creating clusters of neural connections composed of associations between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that specialize in what we repeatedly do. When reinforced, these connections move from our conscious awareness to our subconscious, becoming almost automatic.
Then, our conscious mind is free again to process new tasks and add complexity to our growing abilities. Whether we go into French cooking, sculpting, or golf, these are the processes taking place behind the scenes as we learn. And they change the way we think as much as they change the physical structures of our brain."
“Our focus must be on the fundamentals of our craft: the moves, knowledge, and techniques that are most frequently used and that make the strongest impact. These parts form the base for everything else and are essential for mastering the skill."
"Meta-learning (learning how to learn) should be the skill that precedes all others. Knowing the principles and strategies of effective learning will maximize the time and energy we put into anything else, as well as optimize our work in improving and mastering our chosen craft."
Read the Full Breakdown: Learn, Improve, Master, by Nick Velasquez
The quality of your questions determines the quality of your life. That's also how you get the absolute most out of any book that you decide to read:
You ask great questions the whole time - as though the book was on trial for its life.
Here in this section are a few questions that can help guide and stimulate your thinking, but try to come up with your own additional questions, especially if you decide to read this book the whole way through...
#1: "What was the first book you remember that made a massive impact on you?"
#2: "What was your intention for reading the last book that you finished? Even if you didn't set an intention, do you remember whether or not the book made a tangible difference in your life?"
#3: "How teachable are you? Are you willing to cede control to a coach, teacher, or mentor, and trust that they know more about the road ahead than you do? Are you willing to follow their instructions to the letter, and to dive headlong into the work they demand from you?"
#4: "Do you have - or are you part of - a great support network full of people headed in the same direction as you are? If not, where can you find these people?"
#5: "Where in your calendar can you find just 15 minutes to read today? Can you block out that amount of time every day for the next week? The next month?"
#6: “Was the love of reading ever beaten (or bored) out of you by parents or teachers in the past? Did you used to love reading, but now can’t seem to get back into it? What can you do now that might help you rediscover what you once loved about books?”
#7: “What are some positive things (they could be ideas, possessions, accomplishments) that can be directly traced back to what you learned or encountered in a great book?”
#8: “Do you have a dedicated reading spot? What can you do to make it more comfortable and inviting, so you can’t wait to get back there and read some more?”
#9: "What was the last incredible, earth-shattering quote you found between the covers of a book? Have you ever considered that there might be thousands upon thousands of epic quotes out there just waiting for you to find them?”
#10: "What kind of example can you set for other people who may not have anyone else in their life who inspires them to read fantastic books?”
"Judge a man by his questions, rather than by his answers."
So you've finished reading. What do you do now?
Reading for pleasure is great, and I wholeheartedly support it. However, I am intensely practical when I'm reading for a particular purpose. I want a result. I want to take what I've learned and apply it to my one and only life to make it better!
Because that's really what the Great Books all say. They all say: "You must change your life!" So here, below, are some suggestions for how you can apply the wisdom found in this breakdown to improve your actual life.
Please commit to taking massive action on this immediately! Acting on what you've learned here today will also help you solidify it in your long-term memory. So there's a double benefit! Let's begin...
#1: Read What You Love Until You Love to Read
It's exceptionally difficult to make yourself do something that you really don't want to do.
Maybe it's obvious, but that goes double when it comes to reading: something "boringly educational" that most people were forced to do by teachers and adults who sucked all the fun out of it.
So, one of the very first things you need to do to become a Rising Reader is to strengthen (or create from scratch) your positive associations with books and reading. Learn to love it, or remember that you used to love it, but the idea is the same: read what you love until you love to read.
It's helpful to remember here that reading isn't a "competition," and there's no "Required Reading List" when you become an adult - it's completely up to you.
You can just read the stuff that you enjoy reading. And once you do, and you start to remember how much you actually enjoy it, then reading is going to become much more enjoyable for you, and less of a chore, and so you'll end up doing it more often. A beautiful, virtuous cycle!
Just pick up a book that looks good, on a subject you find interesting, and/or by an author you like, and start reading to experience the sheer pleasure of it. You don't have to finish the book, just enjoy it. And if that particular book isn't connecting with you, simply put it down and start another one.
Take all the pressure off of yourself to "optimize" your reading routine, or stay up to date with all the latest "must read" books, and just get back to your true love of reading. Being a reader is what's important, not necessarily what you choose to read. Follow your natural curiosity and your joy.
#2: How Rising Readers Choose What to Read
Once you've strengthened the positive associations you have with reading, you can branch out and become a little more intentional about what you choose to read, if you'd like.
For me, I've found that the best book to read is usually the one that solves my current problem. So if I'm looking for a new workout plan, I'll read a fitness book. If I need more leads in my business, or I'm planning on launching a new product or service, I'll read a book about that.
There's literally a book for every single problem, challenge, or opportunity you could ever encounter in this life.
Next, you could look at what kind of goals you have, and see if there's a book out there written by someone who's achieved something similar (Spoiler Alert: there is!), or you could just read a book written by somebody that you admire. The possibilities are endless.
There are plenty of fantastic sites where people go for book recommendations too. Seriously, you won't have to go far! And I mean, you could start to look at the "Best Book" lists, or "Top 20 Books for Entrepreneurs," or whatever. Nothing wrong with those at all! Just don't start believing that you have to read every book on that list. Many of the people who make up such lists are no smarter than you are.
I'll mention quickly as well that your next book recommendation will often come from the book you're reading now! I literally couldn't even count the number of times an author I was reading has referenced another book that seemed interesting (or dozens!) that I then bought, loved, and went on to find my next favorite book in that book. Reading is a giant rabbit hole that nobody has ever been to the bottom of, and that's never going to change.
#3: Know What to Do, and Do What You Know
One of the best decisions I've ever made was to start taking notes on every book that I read, something that I've been doing since 2014. Today, I have thousands of pages of notes from the 1,300+ books that I've read, and they've served me incredibly well. I highly recommend that you do something similar.
For one thing, taking notes will help you solidify your learning, especially if you put the key ideas and concepts into your own words so that they have more relevance to you. Direct quotes are fine - anything that I never, ever want to forget makes it into my notes - but the very act of reformulating what you've been learning into a way that you intuitively understand will work wonders.
Nick Hutchison divides his notes into action items, general notes, quotes, more research required, further reading, and miscellaneous, and I think that's a wonderful idea! I don't do this personally, but it seems to be working for him!
One thing I do is back up all of my notes in Google Drive, so that, for one thing, I never lose them, but also so that I can search my notes and find exactly what I'm looking for within minutes (or seconds), instead of running from notebook to notebook, scrambling to find whatever it is I wrote down somewhere.
All that being said, your notes exist to help you remember what you read, and in the case of many nonfiction books, to make your actual life better, so you're going to have to review your notes and come up with a system for implementing what you've learned.
What I've found most helpful is to track important habits and behaviors, then analyze them at the end of the week or month and determine whether or not they're taking me closer to the meaningful goals that I've set for myself.
What gets measured gets managed, and so you need to have some sort of system to be able to tell whether what you're doing is actually working. And if it's not, having your system and activities written down will allow you to clearly see what you're doing well and what needs to change.
Your system doesn't have to be perfect. After all, the slightly imperfect system that you actually use is always going to work better than the absolutely perfect system that you never use. So do the best you can (while realizing that your "best" is likely far greater than you could ever know), and commit to consistent, never-ending improvement over a long period of time.
Lastly, celebrate your wins! I don't do this nearly enough. I achieve so much, and then the internal dialogue is just like, "Of course I did it. It was expected." I don't give myself enough credit for the work I put in and the wins I've racked up, and so I'm suggesting instead that you, uh...not do that. Celebrate every victory! Do it for me!
Every time you conquer laziness, apathy, fear, and uncertainty represents forward momentum, and you deserve to be recognized for making the effort. Celebrate your wins. That's what Rising Readers do.
"The path to success is to take massive, determined action.”
Nick Hutchison stands as the visionary force behind BookThinkers, a growing 7-figure marketing agency that seamlessly bridges the worlds of authors and readers.
In just over 7 years, he has organically built a platform that reaches over 1,000,000 people each month. Nick’s podcast, BookThinkers: Life-Changing Books, is a global top 2% show that features captivating interviews with world-class authors such as Grant Cardone, Lewis Howes, and Alex Hormozi.
Through the use of his platform, Nick has helped hundreds of authors expand their reach to hundreds of millions of readers and drive significant revenue growth as part of their book campaigns. His services include short-form video production, podcast booking and social media book reviews.
Now, Nick has dedicated his life to helping millions of readers take action on the information they learn and rise to their potential through his books, speaking, and personal brand as a whole. This was the inspiration for his new book, Rise of the Reader, where he dives into the strategies for mastering your reading habits and applying what you learn.
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