How to read more books
Short answer: read a little every day, and the math does the rest. Twenty minutes a day at an ordinary pace works out to about 20 books a year. Thirty minutes gets you to about 30. You need a small daily slot that actually happens, and a book within reach when it does.
The honest math
A typical book is 80,000 to 90,000 words. At an average adult reading speed of about 250 words a minute, that is roughly six hours of reading. Twenty minutes a day finishes it in 18 days, which is about 20 books a year. Thirty minutes a day finishes it in 12 days, which is about 30 books a year.
Run the same math on pages if you prefer: 20 pages a day is 7,300 pages a year, around 25 ordinary books. Every prolific reader you know is running some version of this arithmetic. There is no trick beyond it.
Replace one scroll session
The twenty minutes does not have to come from anywhere new. Most people already spend more than an hour a day on their phone, in small sessions they barely remember. You need one of them. Pick the most predictable one, such as the couch scroll after dinner or the scroll in bed, and swap it for reading. Just that one. Trading a single named session for a single named habit tends to hold. Trying to reclaim all your phone time at once usually fails within a week.
This is also the honest tradeoff. Reading more books costs screen time. If you are unwilling to give up any of it, nothing else on this page will help.
Keep a book always available
The readers who get through the most books rarely have more free time than you. They have better availability. Their current book is on the nightstand, in the bag, and on the phone, so every wait in a queue or before a meeting can become two pages. Five such moments a day is ten pages, and ten pages a day adds up to about a dozen books a year.
The phone matters most here. It is the one thing you always carry, so a book on your phone is the only book that is always with you. The phone also carries every distraction ever built, so read in something full-screen with notifications off. Otherwise the feed takes the minutes back.
Quit bad books fast
The least discussed way to read more books: stop finishing the wrong ones. A book that bores you wastes the hours you spend on it, and it stalls you completely, because you won’t read it and won’t start anything else. Give a book 30 or 50 pages. If you are not glad to return to it, drop it and start the next one the same day. Quitting one dud a month can be worth several extra finished books a year.
What to skip
Speed reading courses promise large multiples, and comprehension drops well before you get there. Elaborate tracking systems and hundred-book challenges turn reading into homework for many people. Buying more books does not increase how much you read. The combination that works is a small daily slot, a book always in reach, and quick quitting.
Common questions
Do audiobooks count toward reading more?
Yes. You get the same story and most of the same ideas, and audio fits into time nothing else can use: driving, dishes, walking. Many high-volume readers get a third or more of their books on audio.
Should I read multiple books at once?
If it keeps you reading, yes. A common setup is one novel, one nonfiction book, one audiobook. You always have something that fits your mood, so no single stalled book can stop you. If it fragments your attention, drop to one.
Is 20 books a year actually a lot?
It is far more than most adults read. Many finish only a handful a year, and plenty finish none. The more useful comparison is with your own last year, using the time you genuinely have.
Full disclosure: this is our app
readrrr is a free iPhone app that shows your book full screen and paces the text for you. It puts a book one tap away on the device you already carry, which is what the always-available strategy requires.
Try readrrr free