How to read more books

I’ve read roughly a book a week for a few years, and I can tell you it’s doable. I didn’t always read this much. When I started, I read fewer than ten volumes per year, but making it a goal made me switch gears and achieve what I once thought was impossible. I want to explain what I did to become a prolific reader, and what I learned in the process, so that, with a bit of effort, you can do it too. I promise, it will be worth it.

First of all, you don’t have to make time to read. What you need to do is read every single time you are not doing something else. In today’s world, most people pick up their phones as soon as they get a moment of inactivity. Serious readers pick up their books instead. So an effective way is to replace the time you spend in front of a screen, like PCs, smartphones, and TVs, with time spent reading a book.

This is probably the most difficult part. I had to remove all social media and streaming apps from my iPhone. I removed Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, etc. When I started, I found myself picking up the phone and immediately noticing that something was missing, since the only things left to do were to check the weather and read boring emails. After a few days my brain started remapping itself, and I felt less pressure to immediately reach for my phone as soon as I had nothing to do. I also wear a cheap analogue watch so I can check the time on my wrist and I don’t have to reach for my phone.

Once you remove these distractions from your smartphone, you might find yourself a bit uncomfortable with having nothing to occupy your mind for ten minutes. This is the perfect time to boost your reading habit. You need to make sure you always have a book with you everywhere you go. I usually read a few pages as soon as I wake up, and do the same before falling asleep. I read while cooking lunch or dinner, or while eating breakfast. I love using public transport, especially trains, because I get time to read while someone else is driving for me.¹ I always have a book with me when I go out with my partner, even if I don’t usually end up reading it. If she has to run an errand and I have to wait, I don’t waste time with nothing to read. I have become good at walking my dog while reading — I even got complimented for that by a stranger — and I make sure I never go to the bathroom without a book.

“I love the smell of book ink in the morning.” — Umberto Eco

Carrying a book wherever I go can become problematic, depending on its size. The best solution I have found is to use an ebook reader. They are thin devices that can fit in a pocket and are able to store hundreds of books. For a reader, an ebook reader might be one of the best inventions ever, considering how expensive books have been throughout history and how difficult they have always been to carry around. Ebooks, by contrast, are cheap. Moreover, you can have a backlight for reading in the dark — it doesn’t strain the eyes — and you can highlight text, take notes and get definitions for words. However, it’s not really a replacement for a book. After a while, always reading on an ebook reader feels like reading the same book, even if the story changes. I like to alternate digital books and physical ones, and I always prefer paperbacks since they are easier to carry around and cheaper to buy.

I tend to read multiple books at the same time, since having only a single option can be boring. Sometimes I get so into a book that I put the others on pause because the story is taking up all my attention, but in general I like to have a few books that I read in parallel. I generally mix fiction and non-fiction to have a broader choice.

What to read is a difficult question. I once read a phrase somewhere that puts it quite well: “read what you like until you like to read.” My suggestion is to read broadly, changing genres and subjects, because there are well-written books in every genre. Varying the topics can expose you to different perspectives. And sooner or later, you will understand which genres you like more.

“It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones.” — Umberto Eco

Another secret is to not be scared of quitting books. I definitely start way more books than I finish. But I don’t consider an unfinished book a failure or a bad book. I think that certain books require the right time to be fully appreciated. So if I don’t finish a book today, I might try reading it again in the future. I still remember having abandoned Siddhartha by Herman Hesse at least three times after the first few pages, before finally finishing it and considering it one of the most formative books of my life. Somehow I wasn’t ready for it the first time, and I had to wait for the right moment to fully understand it. Also, I believe there are way more bad books out there than good books. If you feel that you are not enjoying a book, it feels boring and makes you think you are wasting your time, just close it and move on. I have closed books by authors that I loved, because they weren’t as good as the rest of their work.

If you are a serious reader, you need a library with physical books. So try to stack copies of books on your shelves for later. When I buy new books, it is mostly because I need a specific one I cannot find otherwise, or because I want to support local independent bookshops. However, I generally buy more used books than new ones. I usually find them in the book section of used stores, at markets, book fairs, and sometimes in the book boxes that I find around the city.²

An effective method to push yourself to read more is to set some goals. You can pick a reasonable number of books for the month or the year and try to reach it. Tracking progress is a well-known trick used to form new habits. Goodreads, for example, has what’s called the Reading Challenge, which helps you keep track of how many books you read in a year. I found it motivating to put in the effort to stay on track with the number I wanted to read. However, counting the volumes is not a healthy way of reading. It’s much better to read great books and take the right amount of time to understand and reflect on them rather than rushing to finish books just to increase the final count. You need to enjoy the process and get a good outcome from your reading.

Writing a review is also a great method to make a book stick in your memory. Taking highlights and notes while you’re reading is a good thing, but revisiting them alongside your thoughts in a written document is something different. Reviewing books is a great way to become better at understanding what the messages contained in the books are and what the key elements of the story are. In addition, if you like writing, it’s a good reason to practise.

One of the duties of a serious reader is to find what to read next. I always have a long list of books to read, but I don’t stick to it all the time. I like to be immersed in something new and discover new authors or genres. I usually use two things: Goodreads and YouTube. The first one helps me form an idea of a book before I get to reading it, thanks to reviews and comments from people I follow. YouTube, on the other hand, is great for listening to book reviews to get recommendations. There are many great channels out there, and I watch quite a few of them. One of my favourites in English is Better Than Food, which has reviewed books for more than a decade.

What inspired me to try to read more was this video, where Max Joseph explains that becoming a serial reader is just a matter of making a daily habit of reading a few pages, with surprisingly good results. Also, Ryan Holiday — a famous author — has recently published a good guide on how to read more books with his own tips and tricks.

One last recommendation: avoid hacks. Avoid speed reading. And don’t try to force yourself to increase your reading speed. It will come naturally the more you read. Avoid summaries and summary services. It might be okay to use them after you read a book to make sure you didn’t miss some parts, but reading a summary does not equal reading a book. Avoid audiobooks too. Big corporations want to grab your attention by trying to market audiobooks as books for busy people, but don’t fall into the trap. A book is just boring black text on a white page because that’s how it’s meant to be consumed, and it requires your full attention. Listening to audio while cooking or cleaning or whatever you do is not the same thing; you are not fully focused on the content. Also, reading is faster than listening, so use your time wisely.

Footnotes

1. I consider driving a huge waste of time. Sometimes it can be fun and adventurous, but I think life is too short to drive to work every day. ↩︎

2. In Australia, some people put a wooden box with a door in their front yard and fill it with books, so that everyone passing by can pick one up or leave their own books for other readers. ↩︎