The speaker found that while writing a book on talent, they read few books but instead focused on absorbing a large amount of knowledge from articles. They expressed the opinion that books are overrated for understanding talent, and suggested that it's more effective to learn methods, read in clusters, and avoid obsessing over single books. They also highlighted a few exceptions like Dean Keith Simonton's work and Malcolm Gladwell's 'Outliers,' but overall emphasized the importance of reading in the context of a specific project.