“BOOKS ARE THE SECOND BEST FRIEND OF HUMAN BEING

JUST NEXT TO HAVING A REAL FRIEND WITH YOU.”

In the previous issue of DERMATALK, we had conducted a survey by asking a question ‘How do you increase your knowledge other than your academic knowledge?’

In response to this question, we received many interesting inputs. Topping the list were these three:  by attending conference, by communicating with colleagues and internet surfing. While reading books, listening to audio books and watching learning videos were at bottom of the list with the respondents. However when I analyze my learning pattern, it reflects the opposite (books, audio books and learning videos are top of the list). After my article and tips in the previous issue of Dermatalk, I received several e-mails from various dermatologists seeking suggestions for good books on various topics like leadership, marketing and negotiation. As I responded them it evoked a thought in my mind why not to share the guidelines of how to choose a book which is worthy of your time.

Before we get into the guidelines, let us understand the primary purpose of reading.

It can be categorized under the following 4 factors:

  1. Reading for Entertainment:

This is a different genre which we do not discuss here since it is unrelated to the aim of this article.

  1. Reading for Inspiration:

Considering the position where you and I have reached, we ought to be self inspired, so I will shelve this category too.

  1. Reading for Information (How to…books):

The best investment of time is to read maximum number of blogs, books etc. on informative articles. One such example of informative reading can be this article

  1. Reading for Knowledge:

It is understood that you are investing a huge amount of time in acquiring and increasing your academic knowledge. But if we talk about the subjects like Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Management, Marketing, Sales, and Negotiation etc.; these topics are not taught in the medical college. All doctors need to acquire this knowledge on their own.

This is what this article is all about.

Here are some guidelines which will help to 

choose a book worthy of your time:

  • People say that never judge a book by its cover. However I believe that ‘One should judge a book by its cover too.’  The cover reveals many facets of the book. It also gives you an idea whether the quality of the content and the relevance of subject matter match our requirement.
  • You get a good idea about the book by its title, subtitle and the text written on the cover page.
  • The author’s biography is generally written somewhere on the flip side of the cover page. Glancing through his biography and his previous work will help you understand what is in store for you in the book.
  • Reading testimonials, about the book and the author, will assist you in deciding whether the content is worth investing your time.
  • If the book is divided into sub-topics, you can gauge the weightage given to each subtopic by the pages allocated to each topic and that way you can come to know the depth of each covered topic because sometimes the topic which you are inclined to would have been discussed superficially with less pages while other topics would have been discussed in depth which may not be of your interest.
  • Reading online review of books is also a good source of the information.
  • Randomly go through a few pages to get a glimpse of content and see if the content engages you and interests you or not.
  • Friend and peers recommendation is also a helping hand to choose a good book.
  • Highlights, colour-coding, quotes, images, chart sand bold captions in the book gets a thumbs up from me while choosing a book as it gives essence of the book in less time.
  • A take home message, summary of the chapter at the end of the chapter gives you food for thought and which helps instant cementing the knowledge which you just grabbed from the chapter.
  • Some short exercise or thought provoking questions at the end of chapter also helps you to instantly put the knowledge in practice which you just acquired.
  • In the FOREWORD or PREFACE section of the book, a brief about the topic of the book is given. This helps us in inferring the soul of the book.
  • Font size, font type, printing and paper quality and the language used are also important deciding factors. They hold an aesthetic appeal which enables us to read smoothly and keep us engaged.
  •  (Last…And the least 🙂 The price of the book in my case is of least importance because as the old adage goes, ‘a good book is worth a thousand friends’ – believe me when I say that any book can give you insightful information if you have got a learner’s attitude while reading. Even a single point grasped and implemented properly would be worth the price of the book. In my library of about 1200 books I have got a wide range of the books costing 60 Rupees to 7000 Rupees and in my opinion they all are worth the investment.

Hope this article helps to choose a right book which is worthy of your time for subjects like entrepreneurship, leadership, negotiation, marketing, team building etc. This is my contribution to build a better community of superior readers.

(P.S.  No matter however hard we try, there is always a chance of selecting a wrong book once in a while. What do you do then? As for me, I never feel guilty to put a book aside if I find the book uninteresting and irrelevant during the course of reading. I put that book aside without feeling burdened and start exploring new avenues. You too can do the same without feeling guilty 🙂