How to read more books in 2024 and avoid Tsundoku?
Most purchased books are never read — a phenomenon that even has its own term in Japan:
Tsundoku.
Buying books is easy. Actually working through the pages, however, involves effort.
I know this all too well, as I myself have barely touched half the books on my shelves, except to dust them.
Although I am an avid reader, I have often found it difficult to start reading many titles.
The result was that over the years, I bought significantly more books than I read.
This phenomenon weighed on me, as I did not acquire them just for aesthetic reasons, as many people do.
But, why is it so hard for us to actually read books?
In today’s world, distractions are omnipresent, especially through the many entertainment options on our smartphones.
Platforms like Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, and TikTok offer constant dopamine kicks, while reading a book often provides less immediate satisfaction.
The true value of reading reveals itself in the long term, not the short term.
Reading is comparable to visiting the gym:
Here too, those who pursue long-term value and not just short-term gratification succeed.
Signing up for the gym is not enough: you need to develop a routine and consistently work systematically towards achieving your goals.
This is exactly how you need to approach reading if you want to increase your reading volume in the future.
How to read more books in 2024?
This was the question I was asking myself at the beginning of the year.
So, here are the best tips I have found on the internet:
Plan your reading time: Reserve fixed times in your calendar to read, just as you would for training at the gym.
Set achievable goals: Long books can be intimidating. Break down large reading goals into smaller, manageable segments. For example, if you want to read a 1000-page book in a month, plan to read 33 pages per day.
Create a reading list: The YouTuber Odysseas recommends making a list of the books you want to read over the course of a year. Add up the page numbers and divide them by the number of days in the year to determine your daily reading quota. You can also apply this method on a quarterly basis.
Use a reading tracking tool: I have developed a Notion template for readers. Here you can record which books you have read and calculate your daily reading quota. Just enter the number of days you want to spend on average per book, add the books and their page numbers, and the template calculates your daily reading amount.
Those strategies already helped me finish 3 1/2 books in the first 4 weeks of the year. Let’s see if I can keep up this speed throughout the year.
Best, Philipp