How To Read More

The book can’t compete with the screen. It couldn’t compete beginning with the movie screen, it couldn’t compete with the television screen, and it can’t compete with the computer screen. — Philip Roth We’re halfway through 2026, and according to Goodreads I’ve read 80 books so far, fiction and non-fiction and textbooks, including such doorstoppers as Life and Fate (864p, astoundingly good). And I don’t feel like I’m trying particularly hard. I still have plenty of time to work and code and scroll. This isn’t normal for me. At some point, as is the case for many of us, the screen outcompeted the book, so that my average over the past ten years would have been on the order of three to five books per year. And I’m not a particularly fast or obsessive reader. Which is to say: if I can do it, so can you. Here’s how: Quit your job: working less than full time has freed up a lot of time to read and learn and do various other things. Read in public: if you put a number next to someone’s…