Business books are entertainment, not strategic tools

I believe that almost every single thing you read has some worthwhile knowledge or wisdom, as well as a slew of material that is wrong or irrelevant or based on values that I don't carry. This includes books, blog posts, and sometimes even short form social media posts.

The key is to read with an open mind BUT don't blindly take everything as gospel. Ask yourself "is this surprising?", or "is this new?" and filter it through the "does this apply to me now?" or "is the person who is saying this worth listening to?".

Throwing out any entire book is shortsighted. Even "bad" books have nuggets of wisdom or new ideas or concepts. Not everything applies to your situation. Some things might apply now. Some things might apply at some point in the future, and having read the book you have an arsenal ready to be deployed when the time comes. Some things will never apply.

If I read a book and have one new original perspective or "aha" moment, it's a net positive.

This is true, nearly every book has at least some useful or insightful bits, but our time is limited. If you're reading one book that's mostly uninteresting, you're also not reading all the other books that you could be reading instead. Now I'm not advocating for minmaxing your life down to the point of insanity, but I do think it's sensible to try and pick up good books over bad books — whatever that means to you.