How to Read More Books

Speed reading certainly plays a role in my reading technique (more on that later), but it’s not my killer secret. When people ask me how I read so many books, they’re usually fishing for a speed reading technique that will allow their brains to swallow books whole. This article was originally published in February 2018. He is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Atomic Habits. James Clear writes about habits, decision making, and continuous improvement.

Follow simple yet effective ways to squeeze more reading into your schedule.

• See what feels best, and feel free to mix it up!
• "Commit to just five minutes. This helps to kickstart the challenge and will often lead to doing it for longer," she says.
• You almost always have your phone with you, and will thus almost always have a library at your fingertips.
• When people ask me how I read so many books, they’re usually fishing for a speed reading technique that will allow their brains to swallow books whole.
• For e-reader devotees, you can try Kindle Unlimited, which has a free trial and charges you $11.99 a month for access to 4m titles, including audiobooks.

Here are eight strategies that can help you read more this year. “Reading is one of the best inventions that humans gave humanity, and people completely take it for granted,” Wolf says. According to a 2021 survey by the Pew Research Center, 23% of adults in the U.S. didn’t read any part of a book over the previous 12 months. Some research suggests that literary fiction, in particular, helps people develop empathy and critical-thinking skills.

How to Enjoy Reading More

I created a public reading list where you can see all of my book recommendations across a wide range of categories. Before you move on to the normal bustle of the day, invest in yourself. What if you woke up an hour before you needed to each day and worked on yourself? Most people spend it getting dressed, getting ready, and rushing out the door.

Ideas For How To Read More

"Commit to just five minutes. This helps to kickstart the challenge and will often lead to doing it for longer," she says. See which medium works best for your routine. Or, you can read and listen at the same time. Straub says she’s always juggling between forms, balancing an audiobook with a physical book.

If you’d love to read the bestseller everyone is talking about, Libby’s “smart tag” feature lets you turn on notifications for books months before their release. If you love a specific author, consider attending a book signing or panel discussion. At the start of each month, I like to outline the three to five novels I plan to read, placing holds at my library and downloading titles to my Kindle. I participate in Goodreads’ annual challenge, which lets me and other readers track our goals together. And if you’re on the hunt for an e-reader even lighter than the Kindle, we recently tested a new smartphone-sized e-reader that was revealed at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show. If you have a long drive to the office, try downloading a few audiobooks to keep you company during your trafficky commute.

With that said, in addition to the books I read specifically for the Art of Manliness last year, I also managed to read 2-3 books every month for pleasure. It’s not that impressive when it’s what you do for work. When I write articles, I read books for research.

There are 20 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. There’s also, she points out, a built-in community waiting for you at your local library. “They make it feel more like a communal thing that you’re doing.” Or if you’re driving, walking the dog, or folding the laundry, why not turn on an audiobook? Then the pandemic arrived—and I realized that the easiest, safest way to access library books was to opt for the e-version. Wolf, for example, reserves 15 minutes every morning to read; if she’s unable to, she opens her book at night instead.

Not sure what to read next? Start here!

As a speedy reader, I’ve loved using it to download all the titles I wanted for a fairly affordable price. Kindle aside, some simple strategies also helped me become a better reader, such as setting lofty goals with friends and trying out a monthly book subscription. From the right e-reader to a book subscription, here are my favorite ways (some free, some vibe-setting) to read a lot We talked to English teachers, education coaches and researchers, and library specialists to help you find your reading motivation and make reading fun. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article was co-authored by Tristen Bonacci, MEd and by wikiHow staff writer, Luke Smith, MFA.

Similarly, author Jamie Ford only allows himself to go on social media for certain hours, devoting the rest of his free time to reading and writing. "I have a room where there’s no technology allowed. It’s a new room. I just take books there, put my phone away and read," she says. For Jenna, her phone and its endless pinging are among her top obstacles to reading. "Get yourself around people who who are trying to do the same thing," she says. Now, she considers the othe people in her book club — hosted on the social media platform Geneva — her "accountability partners," and says many other members are trying to get back into reading. It’s not always the same — it depends what mood you’re in," the author of "This Must Be the Place" says. She frequently shifts between genres, going from a romance to a short story collection to a memoir.

Being open to different formats, including e-books and audiobooks, is a great way to squeeze in more reading time, Moreno says. If you don’t want to put a number on it, pledge to spend a specific part of each day reading. I also like the Goodreads app; It’s a fun way to easily log the books you have or want to read, see what your friends are reading, and peruse other readers’ reviews. I love to read—and wish I could do more of it—because it’s an effective and entertaining way to quiet my always-busy brain. Maybe you’ll find that, like me, it’s reading in the morning.

I’m normally a lover of historical fiction, but this year? I get weirdly excited whenever I finish a book and post about it on my Instagram Story to see who else it’s impacted. See what feels best, and feel free to mix it up! Whether you’re reading on your Kindle, listening to Audible, or holding a hardcover, you’re reading.

Psychologist Loo echoes her advice, recommending setting "small, realistic goals." One day at a time. Zang, on the other hand, often listens to an audiobook at the start of a book, then switches to a print Find MS Interactive Blog copy. You can read a physical book, listen to an audiobook or peruse on an ebook.