The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life

By: Steve Leveen

Narrated by: Steve Leveen

What would you read if you had the time? What would you learn if you could? Spend just three hours with Steve Leveen's Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life and you could gain a lifetime of greater fulfillment as a reader. The secret, as Steve will tell you, is to know how to fall, and stay, in book love. That's easy to do, once you give yourself permission to read your way.

This means knowing how to find the books that speak to your interests, passions, and desires. Being able to give up on a book with no guilt. Discovering the full power of audiobooks. And learning how to become an active reader: the athlete rather than the spectator.

The CEO and co-founder of Levenger, Steve was inspired to write this Little Guide to help repair what he calls his own ill-read life. What he learns, about reading groups, libraries, and even speed reading, may surprise you.

But perhaps the most important discovery is this: that a well-read life has little to do with how many or even which books you read. Rather, it has everything to do with a life well-lived.

©2005 Steve Leveen (P)2005 Levenger Press

Critic reviews

"Perfect for all of us who can never get enough time with good books. It not only urges us to indulge deeply and often, it shows us how." (Myra Hart, Professor, Harvard Business School)
"Readers and want-to-be readers will be encouraged by the advice to read more, more widely, and more systematically. And, as those readers gain confidence, they may read more adventurously. One can only be delighted that such a book is being published." (Michael Keller, University Librarian, Stanford University)

Wow!

My friend loaned me a copy of this audiobook (my very first) and I can't believe what I've been missing. I listened to Mr. Leveen reading his "The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life' on my drive to and from work and it inspired me to start reading again. I've already compiled a list of books that I want to read and am in the middle of my second one. One of Mr. Leveen's tips is that it is okay to write in books (except for Library books). It took me twenty minutes debating if I could actually do that. It was so liberating after I wrote my first note in the margin. Thank you!

Ehh...

A decent primer for anyone who reads little, but those who are already avid readers will already be doing most of what he suggests. The helpful section was the one on annotation. The rest was so-so.

Better on Paper

I love this little book. It stirred a desire in me to revamp my reading life by organizing it. Howver, I could not listen to this recording. It was so slow and dull ... I had to go buy this one as a book store. In my opinion, this is a book to spend more time with. This is a book I need margins to write in and a highlighter to underline in. By the book ... in paper form.

A must for everyone!

Like many people, I kept thinking that I didn't have any time to read. I listened to this audiobook while commuting to work and couldn't wait to get out of the car and practice some of the suggestions the author provided. I can now call myself an active reader. Thank you Steve Leveen!

If you Love to Keep Notes. & Lists...

A short book worth reading --I thought I was doing great by having lists of books I've read, wish lists, favorite authors and narrators -- but there is so much more one can do as a lover of books. The author suggests spending time after reading or listening to a book, about an hour , and go over in your mind to reflect and; if possible, going back to this reflection a couple of times more. He recommends writing in the margins of the pages as you read -- questions and answers, etc. He has a formula for this and many other approaches to keeping the memory of your book more alive than forgotten. One thing I will start to do, as an audio book listener, is buy the hard bound version and read along when I can (which the whole point of audio for me is that I don't HAVE time to read a book). However, what I am trying out right now on The Red Tent is to read the book on my iPhone Kindle application while listening to the book on my iPhone --it's great.. Also, I can highlight a word to look up, highlight a passage to read again and write a note in the Kindle application -- best of both worlds. I probably will not be able to do this for the whole book, but enough to get a much deeper understanding of what's going on when I'm lost in the audible.