Friday, October 28, 2016

How to read 100 books in a year


I lifted this post title straight from an article on Zapier titled 'How to Read 50 Books a Year, in 7 Easy Steps'. I just doubled the number to make it more appealing.

Though worded like a clickbait title, the author, Stephen Altrogge's content captivated my attention. He offers some sound, practical advice and this was stuff I wasn't practicing, or just didn't know a year earlier. In the light of my dismal progress on my Goodreads 2016 challenge, this is advice worth re-emphasizing to myself.

Let me summarize 5 of the tips I could relate to, here. For a full read, please check out the original post that has several good examples and useful references:

#1: Make your book list.
This helps to not only stay on top of your reading list, but the social integration with friends, recommendations and newsletters keep your motivation levels high.
> I set up mine on GoodReads just earlier this year.

#2: Begin reading atleast 2 books at a time.
To account for mood fluctuations and change in interests at different times of the day/week, this tip retains you within the realm of books. Else, you might end up watching movies, reading endless feeds on Facebook or whatnot.
> I never did this consciously earlier, since I considered it sacrosanct to finish one book cover to cover, before picking up the next.

#3: Read in small chunks.
10 minutes is good enough to catch up on some portion of the text and you don't need hours together to settle down with a book. This is another area where read-out-aloud apps can come in handy.
> This was a liberating tip to break my mental block of the need for atleast an hour to pick up a book.

#4: Learn to increase your reading speed.
Increase your throughput and you increase your net output. There is definite benefit in speed-reading books and I was surprised to hear about browser-extensions and apps that train you on this.
> I have an average reading speed and if the content gets interesting I slow down to savour every word, and take some moments to live the experience vicariously. This tip is something to be tried out.

#5: Be selective with your reading choices.
Life is too short to finish a bad book. There's no shame in putting a book aside or not finishing it, in order to get most out of the next book that you'll actually enjoy finishing. And for some books reading every word might be an 'overkill', and there is a 'layered' approach to get a general understanding of the book.
> This was another revealing tip. A habit closely tied to #2 above, I used to loathe dropping a book midway and there are occasions I had to push myself several weeks to get over to the last page. 


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