To learn efficiently, you need to know how to separate the signal from the noise. In other words, too much information is no information.

The reason I don't highlight in books anymore is that highlighting encourages over highlighting. If you highlight too much, you won't recall anything, because your brain will think everything is equally important and it will become overwhelmed.

Instead, you need to be selective. Think of your highlights as answers to questions your future self might pose:

• How will I use this?

• What was the main point of that section?

• What was that great quote about the topic I wanted to come back to?

Instead of highlighting, these three methods work better

Method 1: Sticky Tabs

I used to think these are ugly, but sticky tabs are actually great. They're easy to use, you can remove them if you want, and they are bright and attention grabbing like highlighter marks.

I use only one or two (at most) per page. They're just a reminder to revisit the page and look for goodies. Usually I place the sticky next to the section that's most interesting for future reference.

Method 2: Reading Marks

To get more specific, I use what I call reading marks. These are simple marginalia that tell my future self why I found a passage interesting. I use simple letters and symbols to keep things clean, fast, and efficient. For example:

Q = A quote I liked and might want to reference later

? = I don't understand/need to revisit

M = Would be good to memorize

! = Important point

Method 3: Curly Brackets & Underlining

Curly brackets, look like this: { or }. Unlike their typed version, drawn curly brackets can be any size. They're perfect for focusing attention to a specific section of the page that's especially important, such as quote that runs for several sentences. In that case, for example, I might bracket the quote to the side and put a Q next to it.

Underlining, like highlighting, should be used sparingly. I only use it for short sentences of extreme importance or to emphasize a specific word, name, date, or number that might be of high interest. You could use a highlighter for this part if you prefer it. Just resist the temptation to over highlight.

These three methods have significantly increased both my reading speed and comprehension. They're also make it super easy to turn read information into notes and power summaries later. I create a summary after each reading session, from memory, and then fill in the details later by referencing the reading methods above.