The simplest way to read more books is to lower the bar for what counts as reading. You don't need an hour of uninterrupted silence with a leather-bound classic. Ten minutes on your phone before bed, an audiobook during your commute, a few pages during lunch — it all counts. The people who read the most aren't those with the most time; they're those who've woven reading into the small gaps of their day.
Naval Ravikant treats books like a buffet, not a homework assignment. He reads dozens of books simultaneously, picks up whatever interests him in the moment, and has no guilt about abandoning a book that stops being engaging. "Read what you love until you love to read," he says. The compulsion to finish every book you start is actually a reading habit killer — it turns reading from pleasure into obligation, and obligations get procrastinated.
Dorie Clark's compound interest principle from The Long Game applies directly. Reading even twenty pages a day — which takes about twenty minutes — adds up to roughly thirty books a year. Over a decade, that's three hundred books. The daily investment feels trivial; the cumulative knowledge is transformative. But this only works if you protect the habit, which means making it the default rather than something you do "when you have time." You will never have time. You have to make it.
Brad Stulberg's insight from The Passion Paradox is relevant: habits stick when they're connected to harmonious passion — genuine enjoyment — rather than obsessive passion — the need to hit a target. If you're reading to hit a number ("52 books this year!"), you might succeed but you'll probably hate it. If you're reading because you've found books that genuinely fascinate you, the numbers take care of themselves.
Bob Deutsch would add that reading is one of the purest expressions of curiosity — one of his five essentials for a vital life. The goal isn't to read more; it's to become the kind of person who naturally reaches for a book because the world is endlessly interesting. Carry a book everywhere. Remove friction. And give yourself permission to read widely, randomly, and impractically. The books that change your life are rarely the ones you planned to read.