How To Read More Books

Some advice

1 Introduction

Of those who have a life of the mind—or at least think they do—it seems most want to read more books. People are often embarrassed about how few books they read. Having read many books is cool and fashionable in a way that having watched many movies isn’t.

I think that most people could read more books than they do. Last year I read 69 books, and while this year I’ve only read 13, that’s mostly because most of my reading this year has been of the Bible, which is famously long. And while counting myself as having read 69 books might be a bit of stolen valor, for I skimmed large sections of many of the books, I still read quite a lot.

So, here’s my advice for reading more books and getting more out of the books you read. The second part is particularly important, given that people tend to forget what they read.