"Hard" Reading made less-so

I like reading non-fiction books physically. I highlight passages, underline key points and dog-ear pages. (Sometimes I even spill coffee or drop part of a sandwich on then!)

I guess I'm pretty hard on my books. But I treat them with the greatest of respect.

What's fun is to go back so many years later and re-read them to see what struck me as important way back when. Oftentimes, when I realize how far I've come in my understanding of certain topics ... or that I STILL don't have a clue ... it makes me laugh right out loud! I guess I'm easily amused.

Along these same lines, a client recently asked, "How many books do you have to read to become an expert on a topic?"

Here's how I replied:

Hmmm. Well, if the topic is how to play tic-tac-toe, I think one book - probably one page of one book - would be sufficient. More complex issues would require more reading. Quantum physics, for example.

Then, there's the issue of how quick of a study someone is and how clearly the information resonates for them. Example: I could read about calculus from now til the end of time and suspect I would NEVER become an expert. Contrast that with my son - he's been doing calculus for, what, two weeks now? And he already gets a lot of it.

Okay, so with those disclaimers in place. I'm going to pick a number, and that number is ... seven.

Here's the rationale: 1-2 books to familiarize yourself with the topic; another 2 or 3 to dig in deeper (that's 3-5 so far); another 2 really nail it (that's 5-7) and maybe one or two more to confirm that you didn't miss anything or to add some additional subtlety to your knowledge.

So how would YOU answer the question?