I have an old iPad, which doesn't seem to run anything other than the default apps, hence it is distraction free in a sense. The only thing I use it for is to read, works quite well and I have managed to accomplish reading quite a few books.

From when I learned to read up to the end of my 20s I read much more than one book per week. Whoever after 30 or maybe a bit before I started to read less and less, until now where I read vert rarely (usually on plane).

I don't know why. Maybe it's psychological. Maybe it's just ageing. Maybe it's my brain fried first by internet then by the smartphone.

I still buy more books than I read, probably unconsciously hoping that one day the flame that pushed me to devour so many books will get ablaze again

I’ve been leaning into audiobooks for the past two years and it’s completely revitalized my intellectual life. I feel alive in ways I’d forgotten. And it extends beyond audiobooks too. I started carrying a paperback around with me, reading philosophy and history again. I even got a subscription to the NY Review of Books! Someone I know got me into neo-pragmatism and I fell in love with Richard Rorty. There’s something qualitatively different about sticking with a person who goes really deep into a topic, and benefitting from their years of reflection and research.

Good post. Reading when you're not doing something else - this is a good mindset. I've found that the more that I enjoy a book, the more time I have "not doing something else".

The key is getting immersed in a book in the same way that you might get immersed in a movie or a genre of music or some other thing that gets you in a zone. Fall into the rabbit hole. Joining r/bookclub or some other online book discussion group helps me fall deep into the rabbit hole. In lieu of an online book discussion group, chatting with my/your preferred LLM is a good tactic. I recommend finishing a chapter, then going to your LLM and saying "I just finished chapter 1 of Heller's Catch 22" ... that's pretty much enough of a prompt to get it to give you a synopsis with some questions to help you reflect on what you read.

I recommend readera. It is a non ugly app with can sync to Google drive which prevents you from losing your ebooks when you delete them which can also happen by accident. I can't describe how other apps on Android is so ugly.

Because success is an end unto itself, my plan to succeed at reading more books will begin by reading zero books.

Obviously the longer I spend reading no books, the greater my success will be. Time to install TikTok to the homescreen.

Zero to One, Baby.

I find it so hard to read with two toddlers. But find your tips inspiring tbh.

It's like lifting weight. Start with 10 pages a day every day. And then it will become too easy. Then move to 15 pages a day. Etc.

Read books you enjoy.

This is advice from someone who went from 10 books/year to 52 (1 book/week as described).

I think practical tips for someone already a frequent reader are probably different that for someone who reads 'a bit', a few a year at most. I'd be very happy if I got to 10/year consistently. But that would a) be more than 5.2x-ing; b) be a harder initial curve than the 10 to 52 region, I imagine.

> First of all, you don’t have to make time to read. What you need to do is read every single time you are not doing something else.

(Proceeds to describe how they made time for reading by removing other distractions.)

I'm trying to read more books, but I easily fall into the trap of staying up late reading good books, and I have trouble recovering from sleep deficit these days.