Read More

It seems people always want to read more than they do, and I’m no exception. Usually I set a yearly goal with Goodreads which I haven’t actually hit too often. And my goal for the last several years has been 20 books, which doesn’t seem like an extraordinary amount – it seems like I number I should be able hit.

So how do we read more? Most of that time that question gets translated to how do we read faster? Most people want quickness. There are apps to help you read faster, apps to get you the key ideas from books, and of course all kinds of speed reading techniques – use your finger, start reading each line on the third word, etc.

Most of these things seem to suck the joy out of reading. I don’t profess a love for reading, necessarily – I have to force myself to do it similar to eating healthy and exercising. However, whatever joy I can get from reading I’d like to keep.

I’ve been thinking that instead of reading faster, we should be reading slower. Read slower to enjoy it more. Read slower to let what your reading sink in better. Read slower to think about what your reading, take notes if you want, and reflect.

So one way is to spend more time reading. One quote from Ryan Holiday that I read several years ago that has stuck with me is:

If you want to read more books, spend more time reading.

– Ryan Holiday

I can’t find the exact citation for that, but he says something similar in this tweet. However, I like the first quote better.

I think not only spend more time reading, but also consistent in your reading. I’ve been thinking about a 10 pages per day goal to consistently hit.

10 pages seems pretty reasonable. If you read 10 pages every day of the year that would be 3,650 pages! You could read the following books in a year:

That’s not a bad year of reading. So, 10 pages a day I think is a good start and a small enough goal that you could consistently hit, but also enough where you can read some good books.