How to Read a Book a Week

Reading 52 books in one year is one of the best ways to increase your living standard.? You will become more well rounded, humble, knowledgeable on multiple areas, and more interesting to talk to. There is no better feeling than at the end of the year, reflecting on the things you have learned over the year.? I love thinking about how ignorant that person was just a year ago.? I get even more excited on the new concepts I will learn a year from then.

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1.?Use Libby

Libby is a digital version of your public library and an amazing source for free audiobooks and ebooks.? You login with your library card and checkout audiobooks from the app.? Just like when you checkout books from the library, the library has a set number of copies and due dates.? You can download the book on your phone or tablet to listen to the book offline.? When you are finished reading the book you can return it and the book automatically erases it’s self from your device and the next person can check out the book.

Advantages of Libby

Saves money

I love using this service with audiobooks as it saves lots of money.? If one book costs around $15 to $25 and you are reading 52 books a year that a savings of hundreds of dollars.?

Less commitment to books

If you are not paying for the book, you can easily put the book down and go to another one but if you are invested $20 to $30 you might put off reading as the book is a bore and you feel guilty about not reading it.? I will discuss further this strategy later.

2.?Use the Wishlist and hold feature on Libby

The wishlist is a list on the Libby app that contains a list of books you want to get to some day.? I have around 400 books on my wishlist.? Whenever a colleague or friend suggests a book to read I add them to the wishlist so I will always have a group of books to read.?

The best thing about the wishlist is that you can view the availability of the book.? If your library has 4 copies of Thinking Fast and Slow you can get an estimated time available for the book maybe the book will be available in 4 weeks.?

I use the strategy of Rolling Holds.? I have 20 or more books on hold for different amount of times.? This means there will always be a new book becoming available.? So this Sunday I might have 5 books available that I put a hold on months ago.? This strategy keeps you reading as there will always be a pop up notification on your phone telling you to read.

If you have 5 books out and another hold comes in for a book you can delay the delivery of the book allow another reader to read that book at get the book a few days later.? I snooze or delay a book for 7 days therefore every weekend I have a new book available for download.

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3. Checkout lots of books at once

As mentioned before you should have many books checked out at once.? Some books you read hour or two into the book and it is just a bore.? You don’t want to read the book and it is chore to read.? Then another book you really love and you fly through it.?

Since the books are free, there is not reason to worry about not reading the book.? If you don’t get the book it is automatically returned and the book is still in your wishlist if you want to go back to it.? Reading should be like watching TV, you flip around the channels until you find a show you enjoy.? It is the same with books and this is why having multiple books on multiple different topics is best.

I like having a self help book, a business book, historical book and an astrophysics book on my shelve.? So if I am pumped and ready for a very intellectual challenge, then I will read something dense like a book on Astrophysics or Fooled by Randomness by Taleb.? If I am tired and want something more poppy and less intellectually challenging then I will go for a self book or a Malcom Gladwell book as they are pretty easy to read and he keeps you entertained.

Sometimes I want to read books by a theme like psychology or a historical period.? I will read 20 books about a subject like astrophysics.? I always wanted to learn more about the stars so I read A Brief History of Time, and a Briefer History or Time and a few book by Neal DeGrasse Tyson and others.? Now I am on an ancient Greek and Roman reading spree so I have a few books lined up for that.? This leads me to the next strategy.

4 Read books that interest you not just ones for bragging rights.

The best book to read is the one you want to read and have an interest in the subject matter.? At first many new readers want to read the “bragging rights books” War and Peace and others so they can tell their friends that they have read these impressive books.? This is a strategy for burnout.? Many of these books are verbose and hard to understand.? Talab is one of my favourite writers but he is so verbose and difficult to read and use very obscure references that only North easterners would know.? So start out on a book that is more poppy like Freakanomics or Dave Ramsey’s books as they are not a rigorous and they are very entertaining.? After you have a few books under your belt move up from these poppy books to volumes and thicker stories.?

Your concentration is a muscle you need to build the habit of reading with early wins and after that you can graduate to more obtuse books.?

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5. Use Goodreads to track your reading

Lastly use a social media website to track your reading.? I love Goodreads as it is basically Facebook for readers.? You can see what your friends are reading and read their reviews of the book.? I enjoy seeing what my friends thought about a book before I read it.? I can see that book liked Principles by Ray Dalio or did not like it and I can question him about the book before I start it.?

Plus you can set up a wishlist and a reading goal.? I love the reading goal for the year as they recommend a number of books you need to read to accomplish the goal for the year.

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Conclusion

Even though half the year is about done now, you can still get a good 25 to 50 books under your belt.? Reading is a life changing experience.? Unlike other mediums books take years to research, edit and put together.? A well written book will have one idea and repeat it multiple times to get the concept into your head.? Nobody will remember all the examples in Thinking Fast and Slow but you will remember the concept of system 1 and system 2 thinking and you can incorporate these concepts into your life.? If you like this content please like and subscribe!