You're reading How to Read a Book a Week (52 Books in 52 Weeks), originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you're enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
New year resolutions are something that I don't share publicly.
The goals I write down are personal and most of them won't be applicable to others. However, I did identify one resolution that I think can be helpful. For the past few years, I've stacked books on top of books (virtually) based on recommendations I've received from friends, podcast guests, and my personal discoveries.
The problem was: I've never made the time (and priority) to set up the right systems to read more books.
Now, I'm laying out a public challenge to you and myself called 'The BAW (Book A Week) Challenge'.
The goal is simple: read 52 books in one year (one a week; four a month).
*Note: Yes, this is published in March so if you want to participate it can be 48 books.
If you just want the list of books that I'll be reading, you can scroll down. If you're interested in participating, read on.
How I'm approaching the reading process
1. Picking 1-3 areas of my life that I want to most improve or optimize
This year, with the goal to find more balance, I've decided to pick diversified topics most important in my life: Health & Wellness, Wealth & Business, Biographies. You can decide to go deep in one topic, and just read books on business, or just on health. Personally my ADHD will drive me nuts, but whatever floats your boat!
2. Create a list of books you want to read
Scour the web, browse through Amazon, take some of my suggestions -- do whatever you need to get as many recommendations as possible. Make sure it's from a diversified circle of people or source, so you can get a diversified group of books. Try to go beyond 52 books if you can.
3. Categorize them into the 1-3 areas
If you have more than 2+ topics, you can either:
Read 4 books a month on one topic, then 4 books on the next. Or...
Diversify by reading books on each topic every month (this is my approach)
Have a free for all section
This gives you the freedom to either choose a book that is not related to the topics you chose, or read another book around your chosen topic. For me, these are topics around psychology, philosophy, relationships, history, fiction books, and more.
4. Go through your book list and start adding books in the order that you're interested in
What usually works for me is to select topics that I can immediately apply in my life. Otherwise, you feel forced to read something that's not directly applicable.
Another tip to keep in mind is to do some back research on the length of each book. For example, you wouldn't want to cram in multiple 400-page books in the span of a month. Unless you're a reading machine, then all the power to you! And last but not least...
5. Put the rest on your backlog
The backlog is there in case you run into a book that you lose interest in (which happens more often than you think). I've found that it's rarely a good idea to finish a book for the sake of finishing a book. If you're not vibing with the author, drop it and move on.
My last $0.02
Take the time to study the process of reading faster. If you're going to be reading 100,000's of words, taking a few minutes to increase your reading speed can save you a massive amount of time.
Measure how fast you currently read using this free test.
Check out these free resources (or research on your own) on how to read faster:
Blog post on Tim Ferriss, Blog post on Rype, Blog post on Mark Manson
Try repeating the test again, and practice until you see some improvements
Audiobooks can speed up your 'reading' MUCH faster. If you can retain non-fiction books in audio format, then this option is highly recommended. Although for certain books that involve more visual representation (such as bodybuilding or nutrition books), I prefer reading them.
Check out Audible or Audiobooks.com
Even though I've resisted Kindle for awhile (I've always liked the tangible feeling of books), adopting it into my life has been huge. I no longer have to carry around books when I travel, and I can bring one tablet that contains all of my books.
If you slip up and forget to read a book (which will happen), keep going. The real purpose of the challenge is not to read 52 books in 52 weeks, it's to develop the habits, time management, and reading skills to read more books. As long as you end up reading more books than you normally would, you've already won.
Without further ado, here's my book-a-week reading list. Use and share it as freely as you please.
January
Health: Becoming the Iceman by Wim Hof
Wealth: The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies by Chet Holmes
Biography: The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone
Free for all: The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli
February
Health: The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding : The Bible of Bodybuilding by Arnold Schwarzenegger
Wealth: The Sales Acceleration Formula: Using Data, Technology, and Inbound Selling to go from $0 to $100 Million Hardcover by Mark Roberge
Biography: Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Paperback by Walter Isaacson
Free for all: Getting Everything You Can Out of Everything You've Got by Jay Abraham
March
Health: The 4 Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat Loss, Incredible Sex and Becoming Superhuman by Tim Ferriss
Wealth: Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene M. Schwartz
Biography: Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. Paperback by Ron Chernow
Free for all: Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
April
Health: The Bulletproof Diet: Lose up to a Pound a Day, Reclaim Energy and Focus, Upgrade Your Life Hardcover by Dave Asprey
Wealth: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
Biography: Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull
Free for all: Killing the Rising Sun: How America Vanquished World War II Japan by Bill O'Reilly
May
Health: The FastDiet: Lose Weight, Stay Healthy, and Live Longer with the Simple Secret of Intermittent Fasting by Michael Mosley
Wealth: Smart Pricing: How Google, Priceline, and Leading Businesses Use Pricing Innovation for Profitability by Jagmohan Raju
Biography: Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's Mass Market Paperback – August 2, 2016
by Ray Kroc
Free for all: Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger, Expanded Third Edition Hardcover – 2005 by Charles T. Munger
June
Health: Ending Aging: The Rejuvenation Breakthroughs That Could Reverse Human Aging in Our Lifetime by Aubrey de Grey
Wealth:The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande
Biography: Sam Walton: Made in America by Sam Walton
Free for all: Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations by Thomas L. Friedman
July
Health: The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by Dalai Lama
Wealth: Who by Geoff Smart
Biography: The Hiltons: The True Story of an American Dynasty by J. Randy Taraborrelli
Free for all: Lying by Sam Harris
August
Health: The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease Reprint Edition by Daniel Lieberman
Wealth: When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead: Useful Stories from a Persuasive Man by Jerry Weintraub
Biography: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Free for all: The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done by Peter F. Drucker
September
Health: The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt
Wealth: How to Build a Real Estate Empire
Biography: Victoria: The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire by Julia Baird
Free for all: Our Country's Presidents: All You Need to Know About the Presidents, From George Washington to Barack Obama by Ann Bausum
October
Health: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Wealth: Compelling People: The Hidden Qualities That Make Us Influential by John Neffinger
Biography: Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford
Free for all: Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
November
Health: The Men's Health Big Book of Food & Nutrition by Joel Weber
Wealth: The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business by Patrick M. Lencioni
Biography: The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
Free for all: The Gift of Fear and Other Survival Signals that Protect Us From Violence by Gavin de Becker
December
Health: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Wealth: Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal by Oren Klaff
Biography: Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft by Thor Heyerdahl
Free for all: The Complete Story of Civilization: Our Oriental Heritage, Life of Greece, Caesar and Christ, Age of Faith, Renaissance, Age of Reason Begins, Age of Louis ... Revolution, Age of Napoleon, Reformation by Will Durant
The Backlog
Health & Wellness
Mindset by Carol Dweck
Siddhartha by Hermann Herse
Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz
Business & Money
The Fountain Head by Ayn Rand
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
What They Don't Teach You At Harvard Business School by Mark McCormack
As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
Small Giants by Bo Burlingham
Disrupt You by Jay Samit
Becoming a Category of One by Joe Calloway
Biographies
The Churchill Factor by Boris Johnson
Muhammad Ali: His Life And Times by Thomas Hauser
Empire State Of Mind: How Jay-Z Went From Street Corner To Corner Office by Zack O’Malley Greenburg
Churchill: A Life by Martin Gilbert
Other
Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
On The Shortness of Life by Seneca
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
What If? by Randall Monroe
You've read How to Read a Book a Week (52 Books in 52 Weeks), originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you've enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.