How to Easily Read 100 Books a Year

The following guide has 2 parts. Part 1 is a general strategy for reading more. Part 2 covers specific tactics.

Part 1: Strategy

In powerlifting, there is a concept called overreaching where a lifter will do more reps and sets of a workout than usual in order to simulate more muscle growth. The downside of this strategy is it can lead to injuries or burnout if done for too long.

To keep from getting injured or burned out from overreaching too often, lifters will employ another strategy called deloading — reducing the weight they workout with to allow the body to recover.

Read books that interest you. You will never get through 100 books a year if they cover topics you don’t care about.

Part 2: Tactics

Audiobooks. Get audible, audiobooks.com, and scribd. Audiobooks are the key. They allow me to read 10 books straight without getting burned out.

Speed read physical copies. Read the intro and try to get a sense of what the author’s argument is.

Get books on your phone — allows you to read anywhere you go without the hassle off bringing a physical copy.

Make a Goodreads account and set a goal for the year. This gamifys you reading experience and makes you want to hit your reading goal.

Get a kindle paperwhite — this is essential if your eyes are sensitive to screens.

The quality of the books you read matters. Find someone you like on this website mostrecommendedbooks.com and read what they recommend.

Take notes. This doesn't increase your reading rate–it actually decreases it a lot. But notes are useful and can save you from having to read the book again.

Use hype as motivation. When someone you respect recommends a book, that book is more hype than any other in that moment. Use that hype to read more. You can artificially create hype by reading reviews of the book but filter for only 5 star reviews.

Extra Tip

Download the Chrome extension Video Speed Controller. It allows you to watch videos and podcasts at 3x speed.