How to Read 25 Books a Year Effortlessly
And Memorize Them Better
I’ve always been thirsty for knowledge, so reading has always seemed appealing to me. And to be honest, with the intensity of our business world today, you feel that you can’t afford not to be in a constant learning mode. But this is the first year that I have gone above 10 books (and well beyond).
Just so you understand, I’ve got 2 young children (a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old) and I am creating my 3rd startup — Anaxi, we ambition to fix software project management with a new project collaboration platform; don’t hesitate to check it out ;). And believe me, creating a startup is no easier the 3rd time than the 1st time! Or if you think it is, beware — you might be fooling yourself and running into a wall…you just know which mistakes to avoid. All this to say, I don’t have much time and am pretty much tired all year long! I’m sure many of you feel the same way.
So I don’t have the mental energy and the time to read 25 books. This routine needed to be effortless for my mind, yet still allow me to quench my thirst for new knowledge.
So how can you read 25 books a year without much effort?
First, when I say read, it can be a real book, an e-book or an audiobook. Any type. And the key here is audiobooks.
I started to listen to audiobooks in March 2018. And this completely changed the way I approach books now.
I spend about an hour every day commuting, driving the kids to school/daycare (yay, two different places). While I do, I just listen to audiobooks (1.25 or 1.5 speed depending on the speed of the narrator’s voice). Well, I don’t when the kids are in the car, as they prefer music! But, let’s say you can get 45 min out of everyday listening to an audiobook. With an average speed of about 1.33, you get the equivalent of 5 hours of listening to audiobooks per week. Business book lengths vary between 4 and 10 hours. But I would say in 6.5 hours you’re done with one. So I listen to one book every 2 weeks on average, as sometimes you pause, it makes you think, you rewind because you missed a part…(we’re human, right?).
Audiobooks, huh…but you don’t get all the info, right?
Now some people say, “Yeah, but you don’t get all the information within a book this way — you’ll be missing a lot of stuff.” I would say you get 80% of the information, and if you’re focused enough, 100% of the important information. And that’s the point! You can very easily rewind 30s in one tap on your phone (or Apple Watch for the lucky ones) to re-listen to this important part.
But there is one trick that will get you to memorize these books better than people who actually read the physical book (or e-book). If I really liked a book, I would read a summary I find on Google a few months later to remind myself of all the key points. And this enables me to keep a good memory of all the important points of all these books. I will then remember the different stories around those important points. I found that I remembered books better this way than by reading the actual book and leaving it on the shelf without coming back to it.
Sure, you could read the real book and come back to it or some summary every X months, and that would be the best. But it requires effort and mental energy, which I can’t spare much, given all the rest of my life.
So why not try it out in 2019?
Lately, some other naysayers asked me:
“But are you allowed to listen to an audiobook as you drive or bike?” Sure, you listen to radio or music, no? All this to say, give it a try and let me know if it worked for you, too.
“Yes, but I don’t learn by listening, I need to read it.” Well, I thought this was the case for me, too. Until you try, you don’t know. You know how to have an oral conversation with somebody, so you can listen.
“But I have only 20-minutes here and there.” That’s perfect! That’s what happens to me a LOT of times. When you have to resume an audiobook, you need to make a little effort to remember where you were. And this little effort actually helps you memorize better the book.
The signal for me that this routine works really well is when I read an e-book (I still do), I’m always wishing the audiobook was available :).
What about audio summaries (Blinkist, Instaread…)?
Edit: I’ve added this paragraph as I’ve been asked several times about it.
What makes you remember a book? In my case - I think this applies to all -, it’s the stories that illustrates the books’ underlying theories. If you don’t get the stories, you will have a hard time memorizing the theories, and you won’t get all their subtleties. The stories help you memorize better.
I tried those audio summaries, but in my case, I forgot all the new insights I got from them in the end. But this isn’t the case with the audiobooks. When you read a summary a few months later, you remember all the stories of the audiobook.
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