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📚 Read Slowly - Take Notes - Apply the Ideas ​ You're reading this with 8,457 other critical thinkers.🙌🏻

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How to Read Slowly for a Better Reading Experience

👋 Hey Reader,

I'm not crazy enough to suggest that reading slowly is for everyone--but it does improve my experience with books.

Three reasons I enjoy reading SLOWLY:

1. It takes all the pressure off. By deciding to read a book slowly, the goal is no longer to finish and move on to the next book. It’s to enjoy this book—however long that might take. The trick is to make that decision before each reading session.
2. It increases comprehension. By slowing down, you give your brain enough time to catch up. Think of it like this: when you drive 70 mph on the freeway, you see the factory on the side of the road. When you drive 10 mph, you notice the workers, the looks on their faces, and what they’re eating for lunch. You hear the music on their radio, smell the salt from the factory, and see the guys next to the truck whistling at the ladies as they walk past.
3. It improves your life (At least it has mind). By slowing down, your brain learns the art and craft of slowness—that’s a good thing. It’s exhausting to keep up with the speed of the world. When we slow down, we do better, more enjoyable work.

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Let's try it.

I'm going to give you the opening passage to the book we're reading in book club starting Feb 17. It's Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin.
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​Here's the opening paragraph:

Now that you've read the passage, I'd like you to read it again, but this time do the following things:

1. Decide to read is slowly. I mean SLOWLY. You’re not in a rush; no one is timing you. I want you to stand next to our protagonist with that drink in your hand and stare at his reflection.
2. Pay attention to the nouns and verbs. Great writers like Baldwin choose nouns and verbs that work hard for the story. A few in this passage that I love include:
   1. Nouns: night, drink, reflection, arrow, ancestor, past.
   2. Verbs: leading, darkening, gleams, conquered
3. Take a moment to think about the following phrases:
   1. The most terrible moment of my life.
   2. My face is like a face you have seen many times.

Having done this, read the passage one more time and see what you get out of it. My guess is that you noticed a few more details. Maybe you thought about the position of the bottle by his elbow, or maybe you started thinking about the symbolism of reflections and ancestors from a dark past.

Either way, you read the passage slowly. How did it go? Reply to this email and let me know what you thought of this week’s message.

📚 Until next time, read slowly - take notes - apply the ideas.

-Eddy

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New This Week: ​

Book Recommendation Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin Listen to the Podcast Read Like Socrates: How to Choose Books That Actually Make You Better | EP 124 What We're Reading in Book Club Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

Book Recommendation

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

*Note that Giovanni's Room is an adult novel with adult themes. It's an exploration of sexual identity, and is often on the "Banned Books" list.

Giovanni’s Room is a novel about identity, desire, and the terrifying cost of refusing to listen to your own inner voice. The protagonist, David, travels to Paris with his fiancée and is forced to confront a truth he has spent his life avoiding—that he cannot keep living a lie about who he is or whom he loves.

James Baldwin is one of my favorite writers because of his honesty. He tells a devastatingly human story with clarity, beauty, and emotional precision. Writing as a gay Black man in the 1950s, Baldwin had every cultural reason to remain silent. Instead, he chose courage. He wrote what he saw, what he felt, and what many people were too afraid to name.

This is not an easy novel—but it is a powerful and unforgettable one. If you decide to read it, I hope it stays with you the way it stayed with me.

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Listen to The Podcast

Read Like Socrates: How to Choose Books That Actually Make You Better | EP 124

I used to think reading more books was the goal. Then I encountered a moment in Plato’s Protagoras where Socrates warns that what you learn will either help or harm you—and you can’t take it back. That changed how I choose what to read. In this episode, I explain how I pick great books, how I avoid wasting time on shallow ideas, and how readers in real life—busy people with jobs and families—can build a reading life that actually makes them wiser. I also share one book recommendation that has deeply shaped my thinking.

Update From Book Club

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What We're Reading

Edition: Baldwin, James. Giovanni’s Room. Everyman’s Library, 2022. ISBN 978-0-593-68896-0

​Get Your Copy Here​

Reading Pace: 15 pages / day

Dates: 2/17/2026 to 3/3/2026

Online Meetings Held: Tuesdays at 8:30 EST

Three questions to consider while you read:

1. How does Baldwin depict the tension between desire and societal norms?
2. What role does setting—particularly Paris—play in the emotional and moral landscape of the novel?
3. How does David’s internal conflict reflect broader themes of alienation and belonging?

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📚 Ready to Join Book Club?

If you want to read deeper, remember more, and meet people who love late-night philosophical conversations as much as you do… come read with us.

You get:​
✓ All weekly notes
✓ All recordings
✓ Access to our live Tuesday discussions
✓ A thoughtful community of readers

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Hi, I'm Eddy. How Can I Help? Feel free to respond to this email. Let me know how I can make your experience in our reading community better, or if you have questions, I'm all ears. ​ As always, read slowly - take notes - apply the ideas. -Eddy

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