I’ve received a lot of questions on my 2018 goal of reading 100 books, so thought I would pull some of the frequent questions together in a single place with answers.
How did you create the time to read all of these books?
First, it came with a commitment towards the goal, followed by a break down of measurable outcomes. In doing the math, I knew I needed to read (avg) 2 books per week and at my pace of reading – it drove a rough estimate of how many pages per day/hour. Ultimately, it meant I needed to get up a little earlier and use some free/evening/weekend time to accomplish it. There’s no easy button when it comes to things like this.
Why did you do this?
A colleague shared that he was starting a similar goal. One of the best ways to accomplish a goal is to make it publicly known and have others hold you accountable. For the record, a month in, I discovered that we had different definitions of how we defined “a book” – needless to say, we had different goals…but at that point I was already 10-15% done, so wasn’t going to back down.
Did you have a favorite book?
I really enjoyed most of these books, for different reasons. It’s hard to narrow down to a single book given the different categories.
Favorite Biography: Alexander Hamilton
Favorite Science: Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
Favorite Business: Principles
How did you choose which books to read?
Lots of books came as recommendations from friends/colleagues and from recommendations on Good Reads as I logged them.
Where did you buy books? 100 books would be like $2-3K – right?
I purchased about half of the books new and the other half a mix of used with a few audio books in there too. Towards the end I was much more price conscious as well.
What is your book goal for 2019?
No book goal for 2019, at least not by volume. It will be more of an as-I-want-to-read year.
What was the most difficult book to read?
Hands down – The Origin of Species. I know this was written A LONG time ago, by a scientist, but I found it very repetitive and dated – it repeated the same things over and over again – likely because it was written by a scientist a long time ago who likely was repetitive.
Personal note: I have to thank my wife and kids for supporting me on this goal. It seems silly and cliché to say this, but they understood how important it was and were incredibly supportive as I carried books around the house with me, read through movies and dragged them through used books stores every other weekend. You guys rock!
Fun Facts
-Average book was about 200 pages (estimate)
-Longest book was Hamilton’s biography: 738 pages (and the font was tiny)
-Total page count was easily over 20,000
-I started in March, so actual achievement took apprx 300 days
-Average reading 67 pages / day
-Only a small handful of fiction books (Happy Potter, Julius Caesar, etc)
-Estimate I spent around $1000 (well worth it)