Happy New Year! What better way to start the year off than to become a better reader? My guest today is Alex and Books. Alex is a writer, a podcaster, and now a course creator.
It was a fascinating conversation learning about Alex’s journey from a small blog that he started 4 years ago with about 200 people reading his content every month to where it is now with 20 000+ people, 70 000 followers on Instagram, and 15 000 on Twitter!
For the first time in public, Alex speaks about how he built the blog, and how he used Reddit and Quora. We also unpack the course Alex is creating. His goal is to teach people how to become a better reader. I can’t think of a more noble and useful skill to be teaching people. You will also hear a teaser for everything he is going to cover in the course.
“Quit books.” – Alex and Books
Please enjoy!
Full Episode
Guest Links
Show Notes
- Alex shares the story of how it all started for him – when he separated his shoulder in a mountain biking accident. (2:04-5:33)
- Why did Alex start the blog? (5:34-6:44)
- What made the switch for Alex? (6:49-10:10)
- Intrinsic motivation (10:11-11:28)
- How did Alex transform humble beginnings into a sustainable way to continue as a business? (12:27-13:30)
- “Books are decades of wisdom.” (13:37-15:50)
- What was Alex’s process when he first started to build his brand? (15:52-17:52)
- How much did Alex think about growth when he started out? (17:53-1951)
- Were there any specific moments when Alex felt like throwing in the towel? (20:00-21:30)
- What were the channels that helped accelerate Alex’s growth? (20:10-23:00)
- The key to SEO. (23:08-23:47)
- Is Quora still useful? (23:48-25:14)
- Reddit and Alex’s award-winning post: 5 Lessons From 3 Books About Slave Labor Camps. (25:30-27:34)
- How do gold stars work on Reddit? (27:35-28:21)
- How to rig the system. (28:26-29:46)
- The one hack. (29:47-31:00)
- When was the turning point for Alex? (31:03-32:40)
- Has the success of Alex & Books changed the way Alex consumes books? (32:42-34:31)
- How to deal with book FOMO. (34:33-36:21)
- How many books does Alex read at the same time? (37:42-37:58)
- Alex’s thoughts on reading to change your thinking. (38:10-39:22)
- Do books make you better at thinking for yourself? (39:24-40:14)
- What roles did mentors play for Alex? (40:210-43:11)
- Who are the stand-out authors Alex learned from? (43:18-47:08)
- How does Alex organize his information? (47:16-50:30)
- More about Alex’s The Art of Reading course. (50:36-54:13)
- How to filter through books to find the right one. (54:30-55:11)
- Does Alex recommend reviewing other content by the author to understand their book better? (55:12-56:19)
- How to get more books into your life. (56:21-1:00:18)
- How to get more life out of your books. (1:02:27-1:04:40)
- How to know how much to invest in a book. (1:04:42-1:06:02)
- Alex’s take on digital vs physical note-taking. (1:06:04-1:07:05)
- What Alex wishes he knew before getting started. (1:07:08)
Selected Links from the Episode
- How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie.
- Ryan Holiday
- Deadtime
- David Perell
- Anne Lamott – Shitty first drafts
- Paul Graham – Early work
- Seth Godin – Fear of bad ideas
- 5 Lessons From 3 Books About Slave Labor Camps
- Josh Specter
- James Altucher
- Angela Duckworth on TED Talks
- Tiny Habbits – B.J. Fogg
- Anne Bogel
- Ultralearning – Scott Young
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