#239 I juggle six books at once—and here’s why it works

We share a six-book reading stack and explain why switching between genres—biography, classic epic, mystery, gothic, and marketing—makes ideas stick. We show how fast first reads, slow second reads, and simple note-taking turn reading into a useful habit.

• six-book list from Lucas to Homer to Hopkins
• how the chapter-by-chapter “buffet” system works
• why second reads deepen insight and recall
• Daniel Pink’s note-taking approach we use  https://youtu.be/vhZ6QAYlA_g?si=6d9GU0e3sWRZW1iq
• parallels between Appointment with Death and Mexican Gothic
• book recs from David Senra’s Founders podcast  https://open.spotify.com/show/7txiovdzPARhjm18NwMUYj?si=469d2cf689e2472e
• new arrivals: 

Sam Walton https://www.amazon.com/dp/0553562835?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title 

Ogilvy on Advertising  https://www.amazon.com/dp/039472903X?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

 • invite for listener book feedback via email

Please like, subscribe, share, tell your friends and family about the podcast
If you’ve read any of these books, send me an email: scott@scottownsend.info

Chapters

• 2:01 Welcome & Today’s Plan
• 2:13 The Six-Book Reading List
• 2:54 How I Read Multiple Books
• 3:27 Second Reads & Note-Taking
• 4:20 Christie vs. Mexican Gothic Parallels
• 5:15 Recommendations from Founders Podcast
• 6:01 New Arrivals: Sam Walton & Ogilvy
• 6:27 Feedback, Email, and Subscribe

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 1:02

Welcome to the Scott Townsend Show, brought to you by Dizoman Productions.

SPEAKER_00: 1:09

Welcome back, everybody, to the Scott Townsend Show. Thanks for tuning in, listening. Today we're going to be talking about some books that I'm reading. Uh riveting conversation, I know. But no, these are some really interesting books. And uh I wanted to share them with you. Number one, George Lucas, a life by Brian J. Jones. Then we've got The Iliad by Homer, of course. Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie. Uh see here. Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins, Mexican Gothic by Sylvia Moreno Garcia, and Source Code by Bill Gates. These uh one, two, three, four. So six books. And you know, how do how do I read all these books at once? Well, I just do it, uh, I'll do one chapter out of one book and then I'll go to the other chapters. Kind of like a buffet, you just kind of pick and choose what you want to do. Sometimes I'll linger on one book or I'll just read a chapter and then go to the next book, read that chapter, then go to the next book and read that chapter. It just kind of keeps it interesting. Uh, sometimes, like yesterday, I got uh dug into uh George Lucas A Life, uh, that book, and that was that's really super interesting. A couple things about this reading list that I mentioned today. Appointment with no scientific advertising and Mexican Gothic. I'm reading for the second time. Uh there's a lot of stuff in books. You know, I read them, I read them pretty quick on the first go around, and then I'll put it down and pick up another book. But there are more and more books that I would rather just uh you know read normally at first and then go back and do a slower read, take some notes. Uh Daniel Pink had a good YouTube video on how to how to uh take notes while you're reading. So I try to exercise that. Uh so yeah, those two books I'm reading for the second time, and I plan on doing more second readings in the future. Uh something else interesting about this reading list is Appointment with Death and Mexican Gothic. They're very similar in that they have a central family, and this family is dominated by one particular individual. And so the the settings, of course, are different, but it's almost as if Silvia Moreno Garcia read Agatha Christie's book and just kind of twisted it, spun it a different way, and then um wrote her book. But yeah, both of them, both of them are good books. I enjoyed Mexican Gothic, uh, referred to me by my uh niece, nephew, niece, Tanya. So thanks, Tanya, for that. And these other books, Bill Gates and Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins. Claude Hopkins and this Bill Gates book are have both been recommended by David Sinra, who uh hosts the podcast called Founders. It's a super interesting podcast about entrepreneurs, millionaires, billionaires, and how they got to where they are and how they how they did it. So he'll read a book and uh dive into that book in book or books based on his research on an individual. So I'm getting a I'm getting a lot of uh book ideas from the founders podcast. Today, here's two other books that uh I I have been influenced to read through that podcast, Founders Podcast. And that is uh Sam Walton, Made America, that came in today, and Ogil V on advertising that also came in today. So I'm interested in jumping into those books, especially since now I'm in retail. I'd love to see what Sam Walton has has to say. The the guy who really did a good job with retail, to say the least. So yeah, that's that's what I'm reading. And uh, if you've read any of these books, you like them, or you've got anything to say about them, you know, you can always send me an email, scott at scottownsend.info. And other than that, uh please like, subscribe, share, tell your friends and family about the podcast. Hope they hope you enjoy it. Hope I think they'll enjoy it. Thanks for listening to the Scott Townsend Show. Have a great day. Everything's gonna be all right, and we'll talk to you later.

SPEAKER_01: 6:00

The Scott Townsend Show is a D So Man production. For more episodes, visit the Scott Townsend Show YouTube channel, listen on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.