52 books in 52 weeks. How it was

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

If you are one of those who cannot find time to read the book in any way, then this article is for you. In it, I will talk about how I read 52 books in a year, what I learned and try to give some tips that helped me.

In one of his interviews, Slava Baransky said that Lifehacker's main goal is to make people's lives better. And today I want to tell you about one of these "better" in my life. It all started with, which was about a person who read 52 books in a year. I thought: "why am I worse?" and decided to do the same.

What was the purpose

I've always loved reading, so I didn't think that reading one book a week would be difficult for me. On reflection, I decided to complicate the task for myself: since most of all I like to read fiction, I decided that among these 52 books, the most would be books about self-development and as little fiction and fantasy as possible.

I also decided to keep a notebook in which I wrote down opinions about each book and memorable quotes. I did it for two reasons: firstly, it’s more interesting, and secondly, I can always refresh the most important points from the books if I want to.

What used

I read mostly on my phone, sometimes on a tablet. This is convenient, since I often had to read on the subway or on the road. Of the programs, it came in handy for me, which acted as a reader, and for conducting thoughts and quotes.

What worked and what didn't work

It all started on January 1, 2013 and ended exactly on January 2, 2014. I didn't meet it a bit, but it happens. All the books have been read, many of them I remember even now, six months or a year later, some have been forgotten, but only until the moment when I leaf through this book again.

It was difficult to read only educational literature. It turned out to be rather tedious, and I could not read more than two books in a row. I had to dilute them with my adored fantasy and just interesting books.

It's hard to say if I've become smarter or more educated after reading these books. One thing I can say for sure - I liked it, and this is the main thing. The only thing that didn’t work out was a notebook with opinions and quotes, I stopped keeping it somewhere in the 30th book. I plan to finish soon from memory.

Advice

As it turned out, in order to read a large book in a week, it is not enough just to read half an hour before bed, you need to add small chunks of reading throughout the day. And here are some tips that helped me with this.

1. The most commonplace is public transport. There isn't much to do in it, so reading is a great choice.
2. Electronic sources are more convenient. Probably, I will offend those who like to touch and smell a freshly bought book, but getting a big book at rush hour on the subway is sheer hell, so for your convenience, read from your tablet, phone or e-book.
3. Choose the right books. For myself, I left one hour on Sunday. I sat down and during that hour (sometimes more, sometimes less) I chose a book for the next week. Try not to read those books that do not appeal to you - this is a waste of time.
4. Try to keep your schedule. I tried to read 15% of the book a day (Bookmate was counting). This will give you the habit of reading constantly, and you will want to read over and over again.
5. Discuss books with your friends and acquaintances. Seriously, what else are you reading for? Could it be in order to show off your intellect in the company? Discussing an interesting book together will make you want to read over and over again.
6. Read any free minute. No comments.

You can look at the list of books I have read. In the middle of last year, I planned to finish this "test" and start the same, but now, at the end of the year, I decided to take a break and read only for my own pleasure. This is because sometimes you had to force yourself to read through force if the book was huge (for example, "Atlas Shrugged").

I hope that this article will become for someone the same motivator as the article by Dima Gorchakov became for me. Ask questions and share your experience in the comments:)