AIProductivity

A New Way to Read Business Books with LLMs

How many books have you read that were 80% fluff and 20% actionable insight? Too many authors stretch a single good idea into 300 pages.

I’ve started using a new method to extract value and save time. Here’s my 3-step process:

  1. I start by reading a couple of chapters to understand the author’s style and core concepts.

  2. Then, I delegate to an LLM, asking it to create a concrete action plan based on the book’s principles for a specific situation I’m facing.

  3. Finally, I “pressure-test” the output. This isn’t about getting a simple summary. I do a deep dive to ensure quality with questions like:

  • “Are you sure this is from the book and not a hallucination?”
  • “Verify that you’ve incorporated all key ideas relevant to my situation.”

This process transforms reading from passive consumption into an active extraction of an action plan. It filters out the noise and leaves only the signal.