What Is Possible?

How many books can you read in a year?

People who say, "I can't find the time to read" often haven't stopped to take a look at what's possible.

Let's do some simple math.

The average reader reads about 275 words per minute (wpm). Luckily for us, that's also about how many words there are in a page.

At around 250 pages per book, here's how much you can read in a year:

0.5 hours per day = 43 books/year 1.0 hours per day = 86 books/year 2.0 hours per day = 175 books/year 4.0 hours per day = 350 books/year

Since most people read fewer than 20 books a year, what this means is that you could be reading ten times as much with a few adjustments.

Note: As a caveat here, it's important to remember that adding hours of focus is a non-linear activity. In other words, to read for 3 hours instead of 1 hour per day, it takes more than 3 times as much effort.