A system for reading across domains

I read across multiple domains on purpose, and over the years I've settled into a system that keeps it sustainable.

First rule: always three books in flight — one technical, one narrative (history or biography), one wild card. When one stalls, another pulls. Reading never fully stops.

Second rule: take notes in your own words, or don't bother. Highlighting is a placebo. The act of restating an idea is what moves it from the page into your thinking.

Third rule: revisit. A great book read twice beats two good books read once. My notes from the first read become the map for the second.