I’ve read 121 books this year, and I read 129 last year. I’ll probably meet or exceed that number this year.
Generally I’m reading at least two books at a time, one non-fiction and one fiction. I tend to listen to the non-fiction books and read the ebook/physical fiction book.
I wake up in the morning, make coffee/breakfast for me and my wife, and read the ebook/physical book while I’m eating. I read whenever I’m in the car (audiobook non-fiction) and when I’m doing simple chores around the house or at work. I recently started reading the audiobooks during my exercise time, so that adds at least an hour a day. If I’m eating alone for lunch I’ll read the ebook/physical book. On days off I’ll read the ebook/physical book as a form of relaxation for a few hours as well. Finally, I read the ebook/physical book every night as I fall asleep. I generally have to go back a page or two the next morning as I might have missed a few paragraphs as I drift off.
I generally boost the speed of the audiobook to as fast as I can deal with (depends on the narration), but I can’t do that with any voices I’m familiar with. I read Obama’s audiobook recently and I kept that at 1X speed.
I’ve been reading the audiobooks for ~3 years, and before that I averaged around 60 or 70 books a year with a range of 50 on the low end to 82 on the high end.
Last year I took notes on all the non-fiction ebook/physical books I read. I haven’t done the same this year and I feel like I’m not missing out on anything, although the notes were useful when trying to find a reference quickly.
I sleep at least 8 hours a night, and I don’t feel rushed in my reading or anything like that. I think what allows me to read so many books is that I have been reading like this since I was a teenager (~20 years) so I read and comprehend quite quickly. The high-speed audiobooks also almost double the number of books and I don’t see a huge drop off in knowledge/usefulness/entertainment. I also don’t really watch TV so this is my main form of entertainment, along with movies a few times a week.
I have time for a solid sleep schedule, lots of exercise, work, and at least three other hobbies (bicycles, metalworking, and skateboarding) so I think so!
Fiction recommendations:
- A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. This book absolutely wrecked me emotionally (in a good way) for weeks after reading it
- The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. I enjoyed this even more than the Underground Railroad, which was also great. Both also won a Pulitzer for what it’s worth.
- The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea. This book gave me a glimpse into what it’s like for Mexicans who immigrate to the US, and the storytelling was just wonderful.
Non-fiction recommendations:
- Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Mix together equal parts science, indigenous knowledge and myth, botany, and wonderful writing and you get this book. I love Kimmerer’s voice (both in terms of her writing and her performance of the audiobook) and I read Gathering Moss by her this year as well because she’s just that good.
- American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. In my opinion is the definitive book about the atomic bomb and Oppenheimer. I also read The Dead Hand by David E. Hoffman and I think that was a pretty good follow up about the arms race and Cold War that came after.
- Barbarian Days by William Finnegan. I knew nothing and cared little about surfing before this book. I couldn’t put it down after I picked it up though. I’ve heard the audiobook is great so I might just read it again in that format because it was that good.
There are so many more but I think those are a good start. If you want recommendations in a certain genre I can probably give some because I’ve read widely over the years.
If you consider listening to an audiobook to be reading a book (I do), you can likely fit in a lot more listening time without changing too much. I've replaced most music listening with audiobook / podcast / text-to-speech article listening. And I pretty much always have bud-type earphones around my neck so I can plug them in when I go to do some 5 minute chore. I'm not necessarily getting through 70 books a year, but I suspect I'm in the top one percent or so for magazine article consumption.
This does mean you're not, say, having a lot of quiet time for your thoughts. I don't necessarily miss this, but I'm sure others will.
