A bold statement, but the math checks out, assuming that the average reading speed is around 250 word per minutes (wpm), which is probably a bit high, and the average book length is around 90’000 words per book (wpb), which really depends on what kind of books you’re reading, this gives you:
(30min * 360d * 250wpm) / 90000wpb = 30 Books
If you look at it from the outside it seems obvious and might even be some advice you’ve heard before. The reason I write about it, is because of the video below, which I watched it the other day, documents exactly the feeling I have of wanting to read more books, but lost the patience to sit down and read for a long time. Yet, if you look at the calculation, it doesn’t need to be for a “long time” at all, 30min are enough. If you have an additional 37min in your day today, I really recommend watching the whole thing, which takes you on a real journey!
The two take away points for me are, that reading can make you slow down and generally reflect, and how consistency really does pay out.
While I do feel, like I’m reading a lot of articles and am watching even more videos, I wouldn’t consider myself as someone, who reads a lot of books. Yet, I have a few shelves full of books, most of which I haven’t read and some I haven’t really planned on reading. At the same time, I do have a small stack of books, often rather technical in nature, which I do wish to read, but then rarely spend any time with any of them.
The current thumbnail of the video shows a book holder, most likely representing the wale Moby Dick from the book with the same name. The book is mentioned a few times in the video and supposedly a or the standard English literature book, which is why, I started to listen to an audiobook or rather audio drama of Moby Dick. This brings up an interesting point in regards to “reading” books: Audiobooks
I do enjoy listening to audiobooks (and podcasts) quite a bit, since they can be enjoyed while you’re cooking, cleaning, doing groceries, commuting or just going for a walk, and don’t require you to focus your eyes on words on a page or screen. The interesting part is, that if I add audiobooks into the mix, my note taking app tells me, that I’ve finished four audiobooks (red dots) and finished one paper book (yellow dot) in 2023 alone:
Audiobooks have allowed me to “read” a lot more books in situations, where it would be a bit more unpractical with a physical book. However, I noticed that audiobooks don’t really allow me to slow down and reflect up on things, as I never really just listen to them.
The video really motivates me to reschedule some of my time I spend on YouTube Shorts and similar timewasters towards sitting down and reading a bit in a physical book. I don’t want to time it to 30min, but slowly make it a habit of spending time on reading physical things, while doing nothing else.