Re-read any book in 20 minutes

I had this exam in university. One book, 340 pages, and I had to know all of it. So I started highlighting just to survive. When I read it the second time, I could skip most of the pages. Just the yellow parts, straight through.

That was about 10 years ago. I never stopped.

Now I have about 20 books with highlights. Fiction, non-fiction, doesn't matter. If something resonates, I mark it. I actually use the highlighter as a bookmark, so I have them scattered everywhere, sticking out of half-open books around the house.

After I finish a book, I go through it one more time. Only the highlighted parts. Takes me 15, maybe 20 minutes. And every time I find things I already forgot about. Things that resonated when I read them but I never acted on. So I write them down, turn them into to-dos.

Once friend was at our place and confidently saying something I knew was wrong. I remembered reading about it, knew which book it was in. Within 3 minutes I found the exact passage because of the highlights. Without them, I'd have just sat there knowing I disagreed but unable to back it up.

This is actually the core idea behind Edicek. The ability to go back to things you consumed and actually use them. Not just read and forget. Most of the time you're not reading into emptiness. You read so you can use the value that book provides. Highlighting is the simplest way to make that happen.