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Comment by j_walter | Hacker News Reader

This book was given to me by the president of my company when I was promoted to management. It's a great book and like most of these types of books not all of the information applies, but it does a good job of explaining how to do a better job in a leadership role.

This book along with the following are good for any managers in a technical role: Checklist Manifesto, Team of Teams, Influence: Science and Practice, The New Rational Manager

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I tried reading this book, but I kept summarizing what I read into "You got here by being an a-hole. Now stop that".

I'm genuinely curious, is that what the book is about? Did I need to keep reading? Would you consider yourself an a-hole (note: I'm guessing you aren't because your CEO promoted you, and then gave you the book)?

I mean I don't think I am, but then again how many assholes really think they are. The book is more about how being a high performer can get you into a position like management, but that same mindset won't necessarily make you a good manager. In fact it can make it worse because you have a certain standard of work and realizing that you will never have a full team of people that meet that standard is very hard to overcome and manage.

I'm sure the book speaks to people differently, but I'd say it makes me more empathetic to my direct reports (and really many others in my life) as well as realizing and working on my own flaws.

To add to the list, I just finished Radical Candor, and I found it pretty good.

How do you get through books like these, especially if you're not a fast reader / native speaker?

I find that they have a core theme that could be explained in a few pages, but somehow they try to fill 200+ pages with the concept with examples, anecodotes and such.

Is it usually worth reading through the entire book or is there a 'life hack' to reading them faster?

I feel no shame sifting through non-fiction books. There is nothing wrong with not reading cover to cover. I tend to skip chapters or long anecdotes for concepts I have already absorbed, and I sometimes also apply speed reading principles (usually the first and last sentence of a paragraph are most significant, and the body of the paragraph provides supporting evidence).

We don't owe any book our time. I am very selective about what I choose to expose myself to, and I gravitate toward only novel information. I'll slow down when I don't understand something, and speed up 5x or entirely skip the fluff/fodder or non-new info.

Sorry this just gave me a flashback to my college writing course, where a common bit of advice included summaries of the paragraph in the beginning and end (basically) and details in the middle.

Is there a vast conspiracy to ensure that "good writing" fits a common format that's easy to speed read? :O

Or more likely, it's just a good way to format paragraphs, and speed reading tips just follow the convention.

Audiobooks. Listen to them at faster speeds.

And if that’s too much commitment you can usually find a talk/podcast episode that is functionally an audio-summary of the book. I’ll usually listen to something like this first and if I really like the content I will consider buying the audiobook.

I would say you just need to develop a habit of pushing through. Set a goal to read a few pages a day either during lunch (or cut it a few minutes short) or before you go to bed.

Sometimes those examples can hit close to home with a certain situation that you have seen in the past or may encounter in the future. I do skim them if they don't really connect to me, but it's worth at least reading the first few sentences of each.

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