8 Reading Habits I Learned from Ryan Holiday, the Stoic Book Master

08 Sep 2025 #books

I’ve been binge-watching Ryan Holiday’s Daily Stoic YouTube channel lately.

If you don’t know about his work, he reads and writes books for a living. He wrote The Obstacle is the Way and Life of the Stoics. And just the other day, I watched his appearance on Joe Rogan’s show.

After watching his videos with reading advice, here are 8 lessons I learned:

#1. Read physical books. That’s an excuse to spend less time in front of screens.

#2. Prefer old books. Focus on books that have stood the test of time. If they have survived this long, they will survive a whole lot more.

#3. Reread. I had to change my mind about rereading. I was against it when I tried to grow a large list of books I’d read. When we reread a book, our circumstances have changed. Every time we revisit a book, it’s an opportunity to learn or notice new insights.

#4. Have mentors to point you to more books. If you can’t find one, find a not-mentor instead.

#5. “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” That’s a quote attributed to Harry Truman, one of the U.S. presidents.

#6. Don’t speed read. To read faster, we need to read more. Simple as that.

#7. Interact with the book you’re reading. Reading a book is like a conversation with the author. Highlight, fold corners, and take notes in the margins.

#8. Use notecards for notes. After a break, go back to the parts you highlighted or the pages you folded, and turn those interesting passages into notes. Ryan’s note-taking system sounds like Luhmann’s Zettelkasten method.