How to Read More Books (When You Don't Have Time)

The average American reads about 12 books per year, according to a 2024 Pew Research Center survey. The median? Four. That means half the country reads four books or fewer annually. Meanwhile, CEOs like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Elon Musk read 50-100+ books per year. Coincidence? I don't think so.

But here's the thing — the "I don't have time to read" excuse doesn't survive basic math. Let me show you why.

The Math: 20 Minutes a Day Changes Everything

The average adult reads at about 200-300 words per minute. The average non-fiction book is about 50,000-70,000 words. Let's use 60,000 as our baseline.

At 250 words per minute, you read about 5,000 words in 20 minutes. That's 12 pages. At that pace, you finish a book roughly every 50 days. That's about 7-8 books per year from just 20 minutes a day.

Now bump it to 30 minutes. You're at 7,500 words per day, finishing a book every 33 days. That's 11 books per year. And if you can manage 45 minutes — still less than most people spend on social media daily — you're looking at 15-16 books per year.

A 2023 RescueTime analysis found that the average person spends 2 hours and 27 minutes per day on their phone. Even redirecting 15% of that screen time to reading would be enough to read 10+ extra books per year. The time exists. It's a question of allocation.

Why "Not Having Time" Is the Wrong Framing

When someone says "I don't have time to read," what they usually mean is "reading isn't a priority for me right now." And that's fine — priorities are personal. But let's be honest about it instead of pretending the hours don't exist.

Every time you pick up your phone to check Instagram "for a minute" and emerge 30 minutes later in a dopamine haze, that's reading time. Every time you watch a show you're not even enjoying because it's just background noise, that's reading time. Every time you scroll Twitter during your commute, that's reading time.

This isn't about guilt. It's about awareness. A 2022 study published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology found that people consistently underestimate their leisure screen time by 40-50%. We think we're "just checking" for a few minutes, but the data tells a different story.

The fix isn't to eliminate all screen time. It's to be intentional about replacing some of it with reading. Start with 15-20 minutes. That's it. You don't need to become a different person overnight.

Habit Stacking: The Easiest Way to Start

James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, popularized the concept of habit stacking — attaching a new habit to an existing one. The formula is simple: "After I [current habit], I will [new habit]."

For reading, this might look like:

• "After I pour my morning coffee, I will read for 15 minutes."
• "After I get into bed, I will read for 20 minutes before sleep."
• "After I sit down for lunch, I will read one chapter."

The reason this works is that your existing habit becomes a trigger. You're not relying on willpower or motivation — you're piggybacking on something you already do automatically. A 2019 study from University College London found that new habits become automatic after an average of 66 days, not the commonly cited 21 days. So give it two months before you decide it's not working.

The key is making reading the path of least resistance. Leave the book on your pillow. Put it on the kitchen counter. Have it open on your desk. Reduce the friction to zero. Every barrier you remove between you and the book is a barrier that can't stop you.

Speed Reading: What Works and What's Bullshit

Speed reading is one of those topics that generates a lot of hype and very little substance. Let's separate fact from fiction.

What doesn't work: Subvocalization elimination. Most speed reading courses teach you to "silence the voice in your head" — the inner speech that "says" the words as you read. But research from the University of California, San Diego found that subvocalization is actually critical for comprehension, especially with complex material. Trying to eliminate it is like trying to think faster by not thinking.

What doesn't work: Reading entire lines at a glance or using your finger as a pacer to "train" your eyes. A 2016 review published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest by Rayner, Schotter, Masson, Potter, and Treiman concluded that there is no magic technique that lets you read 1,000+ words per minute with full comprehension. The human eye and brain have physical limits.

What does work: Increasing your baseline reading speed through practice. Like any skill, reading gets faster the more you do it. Regular readers naturally read faster because they have larger vocabularies, better pattern recognition, and stronger contextual prediction. A 2019 study from the University of Michigan found that experienced readers were 30-40% faster than infrequent readers, with equal or better comprehension.

What also works: Pre-reading. Before diving into a chapter, skim the headings, subheadings, bold text, and summary. This gives your brain a framework, so when you read in detail, the information has somewhere to "stick." It's like looking at the map before driving — you process the route faster because you know where you're going.

The honest truth: reading more books isn't about reading faster. It's about reading more consistently. Speed is a byproduct of volume, not a shortcut to it.

How to Choose What to Read (and What to Quit)

Not all books deserve your time. Life is too short and your reading list is too long to waste hours on books that aren't serving you.

Here's my framework for choosing:

• Have a specific problem or goal. What are you trying to learn or improve? Let that guide your selection. If you want to get better at negotiation, read Never Split the Difference. If you want to understand habits, read Atomic Habits. Reading with purpose increases retention by up to 50%, according to a 2014 study from the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition.
• Use the 50-page rule. Give a book 50 pages. If it hasn't grabbed you by then, put it aside. You're not in school — there's no test. Author and investor Naval Ravikant puts it bluntly: "Be ruthless about quitting books. The world is full of good books. There's no reason to finish a bad one."
• Mix formats. Alternate between dense non-fiction and lighter reads. Follow a challenging book with something fun. This prevents burnout and keeps the habit enjoyable.
• Follow trusted curators. Find 2-3 people whose taste you trust and follow their recommendations. Bill Gates publishes annual reading lists. Tim Ferriss interviews top performers and asks what books shaped them. Use these as filters instead of wandering aimlessly through Amazon reviews.

Audiobooks Count — Here's Why

There's a weird gatekeeping thing in the reading community where people say audiobooks "don't count." That's nonsense.

A 2016 study from the Journal of Neuroscience found that the same cognitive and emotional processes occur whether you read or listen to a story. Your brain doesn't distinguish between the two in terms of comprehension and engagement. The words land the same way.

Audiobooks are especially powerful for people who commute, exercise, or do household chores. The average American commutes 27.6 minutes each way, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That's almost an hour per day — enough to finish a book every 2-3 weeks just from commuting alone.

Services like Audible, Libby (free through your local library), and Libro.fm make audiobooks accessible and affordable. Many public libraries offer free audiobook lending through apps like Hoopla and OverDrive. There's literally no cost barrier.

The only caveat: for highly technical or dense material, physical reading may be better because you can pause, re-read, and annotate more easily. For narrative non-fiction, biographies, self-help, and most business books, audiobooks are just as effective.

Tracking and Accountability

What gets measured gets managed. If you're serious about reading more, track it.

Goodreads is the most popular option — set a yearly goal (even 12 books is a solid start) and log what you finish. The social accountability helps. A 2020 study from the Dominican University of California found that people who wrote down their goals and shared weekly progress with a friend were 76% more likely to achieve them compared to those who merely thought about their goals.

Alternatively, keep a simple reading journal. Write one sentence about what you learned from each book. This forces you to process and retain the information instead of just consuming it passively. The act of writing — even briefly — increases retention by 20-30%, according to research from the University of Tokyo.

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