On October 12, 2015, I decided to read 54 books in a year (more details: Reading 54 Books in a Year). One year later, I’m sharing my impressions. The main takeaways are these.
Over the past year, from 10/12/2015 to 10/15/2016, I started reading 34 books. Of those:
31 I read all the way through;
1 I dropped at 25% — turned out to be puke-inducing shit;
1 I started reading twice — Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich”;
2 I didn’t finish because they’re big and basically desk references: Moscon’s management and Keller’s marketing;
1 fiction — 1984.
8 books in English.
Why didn’t I manage to read 54 books in a year? Let’s look at how the starts of books are distributed across the year:
Back on February 4, 2016, I wrote that I was one week ahead of my reading schedule. But then, from February 17 to April 21, I attended a business school that changed a lot of things in my life, including how and what I read. The school hadn’t even ended yet, and I’d already started implementing some things into the workflow, and I had to work more. My lifestyle changed; there was less time for books.
Nevertheless, I think reading even 60 books in a year is perfectly realistic, because I can see the opportunities for it.
What does that take?
- Have a reading plan. Several books should already be written down for the next month.
- Have a device for reading e-books.
- Download books to the device in advance.
- Don’t waste time on fiction — it’s useless for personal growth.
- Don’t waste time on puke-inducing crap. At the first signs of it — drop it and start a new one.
- If, in a good book, some paragraphs or chapters aren’t working for you — skip them and keep reading.
- Read books that are interesting. For example, ones that answer questions you care about.
- Look for book recommendations from authoritative sources in advance.
- The most important thing is to force yourself to read and follow the plan.
Where can you find time to read books? In the morning after waking up, at night before going to bed, on public transportation, in lines, at work, on weekends.
Some people would reproach me:
— Vova, at that pace you don’t remember anything. I like reading books slowly and thoughtfully; that kind of plan doesn’t work for me.
— And how many books did you read slowly and thoughtfully over the past year?
— Zero.
Guys, come on! Yes, I don’t remember 90–95% of the information, but the most important questions — I find them and remember them, use them in life, implement them at work. So there’s no need to hide laziness and aimless existence behind “slow and thoughtful reading”; that doesn’t work for me.
Anyway, overall it was an awesome book year. And it’s going to be even more awesome!
You can read my opinion and reviews of books under the “books” tag: http://obrizan.livejournal.com/tag/книги
All right, do what you want, but I’m off to read Henry Ford’s autobiography.