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Comment by Brajeshwar | Hacker News Reader

Every year, I add Gates' recommended books to my reading list. This year, 2020, when the Pandemic hit and our prospective Investor walked off, leaving me with a team I cannot support; I turn to extra reading for support. In early 2020, when I realized I read over 50+ books in 2019, I had decided to read slower, and more picky to digest the books better.

Unfortunately, I ended up reading lot more this year. By GoodReads counts I have already read 70+ books, so, with the re-reads and other physical books, I will be hitting 80+ books this year (I didn't participate in their book count this year).

When I'm anxious, I either read or play chess. If I'm pitching or have an important meeting, I would have likely played few games of chess.

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Can you share a little about how you read a book? Do you do it cover to cover or do you skim it and then read the sections you find especially compelling?

I don't have strict rules, methods, or patterns. However, I follow common themes such as skimming (or speed-reading) boring/mundane sections, change books and come back later, read multiple books at a time.

Personally, I feel something missing if I totally skip something, so I tend to or try to finish what I read. I was known to be that kid who read Newspapers top to bottom of all pages, so that is that.

My tricks;

- Don't drive, get an Uber and read. I have finished so many books inside an Uber car.

- If I'm flying, I finish about 2 typical books per leg of the flight.

- Always have your Kindle or a Book with you. Read instead of looking at your phone. ;-)

- If you have kids, read to show them that you read, they will follow.

Here is from our family's collective https://oinam.fyi/books/ (WIP).

Re:your point about kids, as a brand new father, I think about this a lot. Kids model and mimic what they see, for better and for worse.

Up to a certain point 'reading from a Kindle' looks exactly the same as burying your face in a phone. Do you prefer physical books at home to model the reading behavior? Or have you found that young kids understand that e-book reading is not the same as phone-use?

Absolutely right about Kindle. I did not elaborate that point. My daughter, when she was 5-ish, used to think I do not read because I'm on a Kindle. So, after going fully digital I went back to physical books about 5 years back. Now, I mix about 1 physical for every 4 kindle books. At 11-year, she do gets it now and have her own Kindle with one -- you can read as many books as you want.

I wrote about it at https://oinam.blog/why-physical-books-matter-7a2872c64821

> Personally, I feel something missing if I totally skip something, so I tend to or try to finish what I read. I was known to be that kid who read Newspapers top to bottom of all pages, so that is that.

I am the same way. This makes it very hard for me to skim books or even sections of books because it feels like I’m “cheating” and not really finishing the book properly. This also makes it hard for me to quit books halfway, even if I don’t enjoy it.

I know that both of these things (skimming and knowing when to quit early) are vital skills for readers, but my completionism borders on obsessive.

Based on my own measure of "read a book" I read zero books in 2020. Based on OP's measurement I read about 20. It's interesting what comes out when asking a simple question. My main take away is I should be less rigid as I'm like you where the fact I don't read anything thoroughly creates a block to reading more.

> When I'm anxious, I either read or play chess

That's interesting, I'm the complete opposite, I find it almost impossible to read while anxious.

Do you have children? I am finding it difficult to make time to even read my newspapers.

Same here. Would love suggestions to balance things. Must include time to sleep.

I’ve read 121 books this year, and I read 129 last year. I’ll probably meet or exceed that number this year.

Generally I’m reading at least two books at a time, one non-fiction and one fiction. I tend to listen to the non-fiction books and read the ebook/physical fiction book.

I wake up in the morning, make coffee/breakfast for me and my wife, and read the ebook/physical book while I’m eating. I read whenever I’m in the car (audiobook non-fiction) and when I’m doing simple chores around the house or at work. I recently started reading the audiobooks during my exercise time, so that adds at least an hour a day. If I’m eating alone for lunch I’ll read the ebook/physical book. On days off I’ll read the ebook/physical book as a form of relaxation for a few hours as well. Finally, I read the ebook/physical book every night as I fall asleep. I generally have to go back a page or two the next morning as I might have missed a few paragraphs as I drift off.

I generally boost the speed of the audiobook to as fast as I can deal with (depends on the narration), but I can’t do that with any voices I’m familiar with. I read Obama’s audiobook recently and I kept that at 1X speed.

I’ve been reading the audiobooks for ~3 years, and before that I averaged around 60 or 70 books a year with a range of 50 on the low end to 82 on the high end.

Last year I took notes on all the non-fiction ebook/physical books I read. I haven’t done the same this year and I feel like I’m not missing out on anything, although the notes were useful when trying to find a reference quickly.

I sleep at least 8 hours a night, and I don’t feel rushed in my reading or anything like that. I think what allows me to read so many books is that I have been reading like this since I was a teenager (~20 years) so I read and comprehend quite quickly. The high-speed audiobooks also almost double the number of books and I don’t see a huge drop off in knowledge/usefulness/entertainment. I also don’t really watch TV so this is my main form of entertainment, along with movies a few times a week.

I should have added "must also include elementary school-aged children care and feeding" ;)

121! Jeez, that is crazy. Do you have time for other activities at all?

Any recommendations from the 121?

I have time for a solid sleep schedule, lots of exercise, work, and at least three other hobbies (bicycles, metalworking, and skateboarding) so I think so!

Fiction recommendations:

- A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. This book absolutely wrecked me emotionally (in a good way) for weeks after reading it

- The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. I enjoyed this even more than the Underground Railroad, which was also great. Both also won a Pulitzer for what it’s worth.

- The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea. This book gave me a glimpse into what it’s like for Mexicans who immigrate to the US, and the storytelling was just wonderful.

Non-fiction recommendations:

- Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Mix together equal parts science, indigenous knowledge and myth, botany, and wonderful writing and you get this book. I love Kimmerer’s voice (both in terms of her writing and her performance of the audiobook) and I read Gathering Moss by her this year as well because she’s just that good.

- American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. In my opinion is the definitive book about the atomic bomb and Oppenheimer. I also read The Dead Hand by David E. Hoffman and I think that was a pretty good follow up about the arms race and Cold War that came after.

- Barbarian Days by William Finnegan. I knew nothing and cared little about surfing before this book. I couldn’t put it down after I picked it up though. I’ve heard the audiobook is great so I might just read it again in that format because it was that good.

There are so many more but I think those are a good start. If you want recommendations in a certain genre I can probably give some because I’ve read widely over the years.

If you consider listening to an audiobook to be reading a book (I do), you can likely fit in a lot more listening time without changing too much. I've replaced most music listening with audiobook / podcast / text-to-speech article listening. And I pretty much always have bud-type earphones around my neck so I can plug them in when I go to do some 5 minute chore. I'm not necessarily getting through 70 books a year, but I suspect I'm in the top one percent or so for magazine article consumption.

This does mean you're not, say, having a lot of quiet time for your thoughts. I don't necessarily miss this, but I'm sure others will.

how are you doing "text-to-speech" conversion?

Mainly through the Pocket mobile app. Sometimes I do a more custom solution.

Holly molly!! That's impressive. I've managed to read 11, I'm a bit disappointed I didn't make it to 12 (1 per month). What other activities do you do during a normal day?

I stand in awe with the amount you've read. Which ones have you gotten the most benefit from?

Thanks.

Pretty much all books gives you something or the other to learn. I started writing about the books I read, each year, since 2018. For this year, here are few, in no particular order that I feel happy and fulfilled reading them. I will be digging deeper and doing a retrospective, and write a blog post by early 2021.

- Cant't hurt me by David Goggins.

- Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport.

- Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday. (Re-read)

- Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford. A very un-assuming book that taught me lot about leadership.

- How to influence and win friends (re-read 3rd or 4th time).

- Humble Inquiry by Edgar Schein.

- I am Malala (daughter like it and so I read it)

- Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Issacson. (I'm taking this real slow, still reading after 6+ months.)

- Range (the one mentioned by Bill Gates)

- The Almanack of Naval Ravikant.

- The Future is Asian by Parag Khanna.

- Turn the Ship Around.

- Under Pressure by Lisa Damour (I have a daughter, turning teenager in another year.)

- Venture Deals (still valid in today's fund raising scenes)

- Why we Sleep by Matthew Walker. Still reading but learning a lot already.

Also just finished Can't Hurt Me. It's probably not for everyone. Goggins has a pretty unhealthy view of himself when he was 'fat' and his relationships with other people are kind of suspect. But it's an intense read and incredibly motivational.

If you need a different perspective on exercising and pushing yourself to your limits this book is a must. Don't try to be David Goggins (you might die). But to read his story is to see what extremes a human can push themselves to and it might help you push a little harder.

I agree. I would still recommend the book to most people, but with a number of caveats. I think the most important takeaway from that book is the concept of embracing mental discomfort to strengthen yourself.

Learning to work with intention and not just when I feel "focused" or "energized" has been hard work for me and something that this last year has really forced. His book was very helpful to me in framing mentally uncomfortable things as "workouts" and opportunities to grow.

It's a great book if you apply that concept to things like family, marriage, work, LIFE, and not just increasing your suffering personal record.

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