Literary Gluttony - How to Consume More Books This Year

rzabcio says on January 8th, 2008 at 10:23 am

From my experience - great idea is a mobile phone Java book software, like ReadManiac or mjBookMaker (both at first shots in Google). These programs create J2ME (Java for mobile) application from any text given in standard txt file (disadventage: without graphics).

I can have book always in me and read it in public transport, in bed without a light on or in… the toilet (the best place ;)). Last page is remembered, so I don’t must to find it. Small amount of text on the screen is adventage - with paper book I often get loose and read again the same paragraphs as earlier.

This make reading books EXTREAMLY fast. While I used to read a paper book in a month or two, finishing mobile edition takes one or two… weeks. I have “eaten” more books through last year than through all my further life!

(Sorry for my English - it’s not my every-day-language - only technical-programming.)

rzabcio says on January 8th, 2008 at 10:28 am

Sorry! Should be: “past life” of course. Or “previous life”. I’m not sure…

One more disadventage: there is not a lot ebooks, from which the text can be extracted. Especially in Polish.

Hayden Tompkins says on January 8th, 2008 at 11:23 am

The biggest tip to reading more…get rid of your cable.

Sean says on January 8th, 2008 at 12:30 pm

I believe you overestimate the level of knowledge in the population. I’d hazard that 3-5 books on a subject will give you far more knowledge of that subject than most of the population. And, depending on how you define the word, I’d go so far as to say that 10-20 well chosen ones will make you an ‘expert’ on most subjects.

It is always astonishing to me when I come across the all-too-familiar person who hasn’t read a book since the last one was assigned to them in high school or college. What do they feed their brains?

My problem is deciding which one to read next. Oh, and how to stop myself from adding more to the to-be-read pile!

Brian Buck says on January 8th, 2008 at 12:58 pm

50-70 books a year? Wow, talk about throwing down the gauntlet!

I have a long commute so I have found audiobooks to be great. Without giving an ad, there is a great subscription model audible book club where prices are the best I have seen. $15 a month gets me one book where the averge audio CD is $25-$30. The files are greatly compressed also which is nice for my iPod.

Chris in A2 says on January 8th, 2008 at 1:34 pm

You can read for pride, but what you are doing is making yourself a well-read individual. As most of us who paid (or are still paying!) tuition for a liberal arts education know (read: this is a belief we cling to desperately), being a well-read individual is a great asset when networking. You tend to be familiar with a wide variety of topics which potential employers and clients can find valuable.

Reading can also expand your vocabulary and teach you how to string a sentence together. (Watch, someone, somewhere, will now fault my grammar =^P).

LUke says on January 8th, 2008 at 1:37 pm

I don’t think I could read in short 2-5 min bursts (eg. in a line or waiting to pick someone up.) Unless it’s a non-fictional book. I like to take my time to get back into the story and really appreciate the book if it’s fiction. I suppose that’s easy within 5 mins anyway once you’re an experienced reader. I don’t read a lot of books. But I’m really trying to change that.

I feel sometimes that I borrow/buy a book because I enjoy the idea of reading it and not so much the actual reading. But I do know that once I get past that barrier of the first few chapters I’m loving it.

Truthteller says on January 8th, 2008 at 2:24 pm

great discussion! Count me as in as one who reads a book per week. I do it for several reasons;

1) I’m looking to expand my knowledge so as to become an expert (in my own estimation)

2) I really enjoy reading, I would much sooner read than watch mind numbing TV (unless their is a Victoria Secret show or a hockey game on)

Here is my most valuable reading tip!

Read with a highlight marker at your side. I highlight anything that seems important to me. Later I can cherry pick the good stuff without re-reading the whole book. Also, I can thumb through a book and see whether it is worth the bother to read it again by the amount of highlighted sentences.

Edward

Becomre More Productive - Facebook Group says on January 8th, 2008 at 2:39 pm

I have shared this blog post in “Becomre More Productive” Facebook group.

candice says on January 8th, 2008 at 5:03 pm

My resolution last year was to ramp up my reading.

I used three tricks:
1) I take the subway to work. Now, instead of reading the bumper sticker of the person in front of me, I get lost in a book on my way to work. My employer pays for my pass since it’s cheaper than a parking pass. I get lower stress, more time to read and less wear on my car.

2) I started asking more friends about their favorite reads and lined up the books on my bedside table. It’s nice to have someone to discuss the novel with. It adds some depth to the experience to share your thoughts with someone else who has read the same thing.

3) I turned reading before bed into a ritual–half an hour and then lights out. It is a good way to slow your brain down.

Also . . . some more junk foody books I get on my ipod as audiobooks. These I save for only the gym–the only way for me to find out what happens next in the cheesy thriller is to get on the treadmill.

K says on January 8th, 2008 at 7:59 pm

After college I didn’t read a book for several years. I can read and comprehend just fine - My problem is that go back over the same sentence many times. If I’m distracted even a little, I instinctively re-read the sentence over before starting a new one. Needless to say, it takes me forever to get through a book. I hope this isn’t a dumb question, but if I keep at it, will I get faster? Thanks

Jonathan Frye at Leadership Jot says on January 8th, 2008 at 8:00 pm

Scott,

Good topic and good suggestions. I slightly disagree with “speed reading.” While it will certainly help you read more, I have found that different book require different styles of reading. If a book is highly technical, than you should read slower in order to gain more of the knowledge without having to re-read and review the book in order to understand the topic. You can speed read a novel or, most, biographies, because the book is laid out like a story that is best absorbed quickly.

Especially for heavily detailed books, I follow the SQRRR:

Scan: look over the chapter to see what it is about.
Question: develop questions from your scan to answer when you read.
Read: read.
Recite: audibly recall key notes from the chapter.
Review: scan the material again to tie it all together.

Regards,
Jonathan Frye
Blog: Leadership

Anurag says on January 8th, 2008 at 10:26 pm

Hello,

I personally read a lot (i am working as software engineer. Needs to constantly keep updated in fast changing IT induxtry). As I am following the minimalist philosiphy also, I never buy any book.

I read the books online or softcopy on my machine (by the way, I am glued to my machine from 9 to 9).

My suggestion here is to read for problems. If I face any technical issues at work, I browse on the web and read the best material available either in books, online forums or blogs.

Reading online can be very stressing at times but it has its advantages -
1) Access to lot of material.
2) Search functioanlity in Adobe Acrobat (By the way, lot of books are freely available for download. A good link is http://www.flazx.com)
3) Click and jump to referred link.
4) Using text to speech recognition software for listening to books..(I didn’t find any good one freely available)

mary says on January 8th, 2008 at 10:35 pm

Great topic! I love to read, and while it’s been hard to maintain my leisure reading habits while in school, I still try to read or re-read one book a month. Now that school is done for me my goal is one book a week or every couple of weeks.

I take the train most places and I have found this to be an excellent time to read. I also try to read every evening before going to bed, and on weekends.

My greatest detractor from reading - the internet!

Reese says on January 8th, 2008 at 10:46 pm

When I talk to others my age (24) about hobbies, and they learn one of mine is reading they usually admit that the last book they read was in high school. I find that very unnerving (and it also tells me that I can never have much of a relationship with this person).

I read a disappointing 36 books last year, yet somehow I managed to watch nearly 300 movies. I got this year of on the right food though, I’m already on my fifth book.

Steve says on January 9th, 2008 at 3:12 am

50-70 books per year? Damn that’s impressive. I’ve recently started to enjoy reading and have read 6 books in the past 6 months. However, I’d definitely like to make time for more and maybe will one day reach the 50/year mark.

tracy ho says on January 9th, 2008 at 4:25 am

Good points you mentioned,

Thanks a lot,

Tracy ho
wisdomgettingloaded

Todd says on January 9th, 2008 at 5:13 am

That’s a nice Korean bookmark!

pelf says on January 9th, 2008 at 6:27 am

Have you heard that the average Malaysian reads 2 pages in a year? OK, that may be the statistics a few years ago, I admit, but I doubt that changes very much today

MTalib says on January 9th, 2008 at 6:58 am

I’d add a final tip that I find essential in getting the most of my reading time.

That is to junk any book when you start to loose interest. If reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets are putting you to sleep, simply take that off your night stand and start with the next book on your list.

There are many good books out there that you will enjoy reading from start to finish to waste time finishing books that you don’t enjoy.

It also turns reading into a chore, which is the one thing guaranteed to stop you reading.

Glenn says on January 9th, 2008 at 4:11 pm

I’ve recently discovered http://www.dailylit.com. You choose a title from their list of free, mostly public-domain books, and they automatically send you a short excerpt to read each day. Eventually you read the entire book in bite-size pieces. Each excerpt is approximately a single page. I found it great for getting around to reading those classics that you somehow never find time for. I have the daily excerpt sent to my RSS reader and I start each day reading this along with my coffee. It only takes about five minutes at a time.

Try it, you may like it.

Karl Goldfield says on January 9th, 2008 at 4:47 pm

Great article, and it is interesting taht while many of us read and write blogs, the offline content is not part of our routine. There was a point when I was easily reading a book a week, and now I am luck to get in one a month.

I am making a habit of reading every day and hopefully will get back to 40+

Thank you for helping me realize my goals.

John Klein says on January 10th, 2008 at 1:27 am

I’ve been using dailyreader.net since New Years to sneak a little bit of extra reading in during the day at work. I guess it sounds similar to the dailylit mentioned a couple of hours ago in that it sends out books over email.

Lisa says on January 10th, 2008 at 11:41 am

I would die if I could only read one book at a time! I usually have one in the bathroom, one by my bed, a couple of whatever I’m trying to learn on the coffee table, and a magazine in the car for when I’m stuck in traffic.

Todd says on January 10th, 2008 at 8:21 pm

I used to read all the time. Mostly fiction. However when my job changed and I was doing a lot more reading for work I found my love of reading for pleasure diminish.

I’ve since discovered the joys of Audio Books - thankyou iTunes. I have a 40 minute drive to and from work and this is the perfect time for this.

Ryan@ProspectingLIFE says on January 11th, 2008 at 3:20 am

Great post! For me, I always seem to have so many books that I want to read but I don’t have the time! So i carry a book around with me so whenever I’m waiting or when I have some time to spare, I’ll be able to catch up with some reading!

Matthew Cornell says on January 11th, 2008 at 11:17 am

Good tips - thanks. To read a *lot* of books, I suggest 1) use a scanning method like SQ3R, 2) speed read, 3) limit yourself to >one hour<, and 4) use voice notes and outsource transcription. If you do this, you can pump a lot of knowledge into your head - potentially highly valuable, as you point out.

More here, FYI:

Reading gone wild! How to read five books a week
http://ideamatt.blogspot.com/2.....-five.html

How to read a lot of books in a short time
http://ideamatt.blogspot.com/2.....-time.html

A reading workflow based on Leveen’s “Little Guide”
http://ideamatt.blogspot.com/2.....veens.html

Daniel says on January 13th, 2008 at 8:40 pm

It’s not just that you read, but also what you read as well.
For a well rounded education, I would highly recommend Britannica’s Great Books of the Western World
Learning Latin and Greek would be a good thing too….
Reading a hundred works by such authors as Shakespeare, Cicero, Plato, Homer, Aristotle, etc., would be of much more benefit than reading a hundred sleazy, trashy romance novels. Hopefully…

Rob says on January 14th, 2008 at 2:03 pm

Reading has allowed me to start conversations with people based on some of the topics I read about. For instance, did you know that a Chicken McNugget has over 50 ingredients and the 35 of them are made from corn? Read The Omnivore’s Dilemma to learn some really interesting facts about eating in the U.S. For fiction read classics, but don’t forget some great modern books as well. Ella Minnow Pea is one of my favorites. I also keep track of all the books I read in a journal, so that I can go back later and see what I read.

Ben says on January 22nd, 2008 at 5:02 pm

I find that I can read multiple books as long as they are stored in different environments. I keep one in the bathroom, one by the bed, one on my desk, and one in the den.

Anyone else found this to be true?

Trevor says on January 26th, 2008 at 7:32 pm

About the third-to-last tip–only one book at a time–I must disagree. Personally, I must be reading at least two books at a time. However, one book is fiction and the other is either “literature,” current affairs, or something non-story-like. So if I get sick of one book I can go to the other one and not feel like I -have- to read this book I’m sick of.

TK Kenyon says on February 10th, 2008 at 12:57 pm

I must agree with previous comments that disagree with the last, and minor, point about reading only one book at a time. I generally have a large hardback that I read at home and a mass market paperback (the little ones) that I take with me.

Only reading one book at a time is like only checking your email between books. Of course you can read a couple or three at a time. More than that, however, becomes problematic.

Thus, I agree with Scott that spreading yourself too thin over your bookshelf is counterproductive, but optimizing reading matter to the situation can increase total reading time.

TK Kenyon
Author of RABID: A Novel and CALLOUS: A Novel (coming in May, 2008)
And reader of >100 books a year.

Candelaria Silva says on February 12th, 2008 at 12:02 pm

I agree with the importance of reading. I think everybody can enjoy reading once they find things they want to know more about or something that catches their fancy.

Reading is the only activity that’s allowed me to keep my sanity when using public transportation and when writing a stationery (recumbent) bike.

I have been trying to discipline myself to turning off the electronic devices before going to bed and getting myself ready to sleep with light music and reading. It really works.

Finally, oppressive governments throughout time have suppressed reading to keep people powerless, so you know reading is critically important to being free and informed.

J says on February 29th, 2008 at 5:50 pm

For the life of me, I cannot figure out what is the point of fiction and why people think that reading fiction is going to improve them. I’m not trying to troll here; I honestly cannot comprehend this. Can anyone give me some insight on this?

Ruth says on May 12th, 2008 at 2:16 pm

I couldn’t imagine a life without books. I can’t go more than a day or two at the most without something to read. I can usually polish off at least 2 a week.

Thanks for the tip about reading first thing in the morning. I usually get up at 5 a.m. and dive onto the computer. I think I’ll start using that first hour until everyone else wakes up to read my ever growing collection of self-help books.

Ruth (currently reading A Woman’s Field Guide to Exceptional Living by Corrie Woods)