To avoid information fatigue, read this book
Information Overload: Practical strategies for surviving in today’s workplace
David Lewis
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0140274650
Price: about £5
It’s easy to get deluged by data. Some is essential, but most is superfluous, and by trying to absorb too much of it we can enter a state of “analysis paralysis” and, in extreme cases, make ourselves ill.
This book is designed to help you sort the wheat from the chaff. It does so by going back to basics and examining the way people learn new concepts, memorise them and apply them to decisions or solutions. This may sound woolly, but it will make an immediate difference to your working life.
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Among other things it reveals: why the “step by step” approach to learning taken by schools can hinder development in adults; how to apply information quickly no matter how much you have to consider; and advanced techniques to improve your speed-reading and memory.
Information Overload was published in 1999 and is now out of print, but it remains unrivalled for the breadth, brevity and practicality of its advice. Secondhand copies are available for about 5. Alternatively, you could hire its author David Lewis – the man who coined the term “information fatigue syndrome” – by checking out his profile at www.absolute-speakers.co.uk
