How to Read Two Books a Week
100 books a year sounds like a lofty goal, but it’s not that hard once you break it down
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Most of my friends know I’m interested in Stoic philosophy. When one of them wants to start learning about the subject, they’ll ask me something like: “Which one should I read first — Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, or Epictetus?”
My answer: Buy them all. Read them all.
If you’re reading less than you want, you’re not the only one. I love books, but since I graduated from college, I read fewer books each year. Loving books doesn’t always correspond to actually reading them, it turns out: My work and life got in the way of reading as much as I wanted. One year I looked at my Goodreads page and noticed that I had read only five books in the entire year. I was appalled.
I set myself a goal of reading 100 books a year. That’s actually quite reasonable once you break it down: Most people read 50 pages an hour. If you read 10 hours a week, you’ll read 26,000 pages a year. Let’s say the average book you read is 250 pages. In this scenario, that adds up to 104 books in a year.
Here’s how to do it.
Buy books in bulk
Reading can be a costly habit. To fully engage with it, you need to think of books as an investment — and the more books you have in your home, the greater your return will be. Buying books in bulk is a strategy I’ve learned over the years.
The idea is simple: If you have more books in your house, you’ll have more choices, and this will help you read more. Here’s why: Most of the books you read are not planned in advance. You don’t sit down in January and say: “The first week of June I’ll read this book.” You finish a book, look you at your inventory, and decide what you’re in the mood to read next. Don’t overthink the decision — you’ll end up reading reviews for hours, which is a waste of time.
Having an inventory of books keeps up the momentum, and it means you never have an excuse not to read. A book is only a waste of money if you don’t read it.
