A recent headline has been bouncing around the internet: reading books for fun is down 40% over the past 20 years. 

That’s as unsurprising as it is sad.

Because books are the best deal in history:

• A time machine to decades or centuries in the past.
• A trip inside the mind of the author, who is sharing their gift.
• Decades of wisdom and lived experiences, condensed into a few hundred pages for a few bucks.

The problem is that reading requires effort. A deliberate decision. Concentration.

And books are up against a juggernaut:

Our phones are too entertaining, Netflix is too addicting, we have too much on our plate, and life is too damn stressful. 

Algorithms ensure that we don’t have to decide what to do anymore: we can swipe and zone out for hours without even realizing it. 

We “consume” more content than ever before, but it’s the empty calorie version of content.

And I get it! Empty calories are delicious, even if they leave us feeling blah after.

I’m on social media too, as I’m try to find people who might be interested in reading my words. But that comes with a cost. Time spent on social media or Netflix is time not spent doing something else.

And yet, everybody I know SAYS the following:

“I wish I read more.”

So let’s talk about what to actually do about it.

My History with Reading

I’ve learned more from books than anything – or anyone – else.

Whenever I’m struggling with an existential crisis (what I like to call “Tuesday”), wisdom and guidance are often only a page away.

I’m fortunate that my love of reading started early.

I know my parents read to me when I was little, but the first books I can personally remember for enjoyment started in 2nd grade.

My dad shared his collection of The Happy Hollisters with me, and I devoured them one after another.

In 4th grade, I counted down the days every month until the next Goosebumps book came out.

My mom would take me to Waldenbooks at the Cape Cod Mall on a Friday to buy the latest book with my allowance, or the money I made selling Creepy-Crawlies out of my locker to kids at school.

I’d curl up in a ball under a blanket on the couch and read half of the book that night, go to bed, and then wake up and read the rest the following morning.

In sixth grade, I went to the school library and stumbled across a weird sounding book with an armored badger on the cover. It was titled Salamandastron, and I started reading it right there.

I devoured all 400 pages in a week. 

Soon I had read every book in Brian Jacques’s Redwall series, and eagerly awaited each new release. These books taught me about adventure, bravery, justice, honor, courage, heartbreak, death, legacy, and integrity.

Think Game-of-Thrones-lite, with animals. They are full of unbelievable highs (shoutout Martin the Warrior) and heart-breaking lows (damn you, Tsarmina).

And Jacques’s description of the food and banquets in each book were incredible.

There’s a delightful reason for this:

“Delivering milk to the Royal School for the Blind in Wavertree, Liverpool, brought [author Brian] Jacques into contact with the pupils, and it was for them that he first told the Redwall stories. 

The needs of this first audience encouraged Jacques to describe his newly created world as vividly as possible; wisely, he retained the same detail and drama when the stories were written down.”

How amazing is that? 

To recap: Brian Jacques is amazing, and so is reading. Books have changed my life. My day is always better if I take time to read.

But for a good chunk of this summer, as I’ve brought more addictive social back into my life, I’ve found myself not reading nearly as much as I used to. 

Too much social media, too many great movies and shows, too much of everything other than reading.

Here’s how I’ve reprioritized reading more frequently. 

How to Read More Books

STEP #1: PICK LITERALLY ANY BOOK! 

Here’s exactly what to read in 2025 if you’re a serious reader:

Kidding, obviously.

Read whatever the hell you want. 

Read what your friend or partner is reading. Read the book with the funny cover. Read what your favorite celebrity is reading. Read the book you heard on that podcast. 

It can be a historical epic (may I recommend The Fall of Giants) or an autobiography (I loved Open by Andre Agasii) or a book of poetry (I’ve been enjoying You Better Be Lightning). 

Maybe you want to read some Fantasy (Mistborrn, perhaps?) or Sci-Fi (Project Hail Mary will light you up). Maybe a hilarious book about a hilarious author (Less!)

Maybe you want to read romantacy or self-help or philosophy or a graphic novel.

Investor/philosopher Naval Ravikant said it best: “read what you love until you love to read.”

And if a book gets boring or you’re losing interest, MOVE ON TO THE NEXT BOOK.

There are more books full of the most interesting things that you’ll never get around to reading, so it’s okay that you don’t finish all the books you start.

If you’re not excited to read the book you’re reading, you’re going to choose something else to do instead.

Start lots of books. Finish the best books. 

(Yes, this is easier said than done for many of us, myself included!)

STEP #2: PICK HOW YOU WANT TO “READ”

Personally, I read a lot on my Kindle, because I can highlight passages and quotes and carry it with me everywhere.

Maybe you’re an audiobook person. Amazing. That’s still consuming a book. 

Maybe you’re a fan of physical books! Amazing! There’s a fun Japanese word, Tsundoku, which is the act of piling up books that go unread. I do this too. You’re in good company.

Oh, and please go join your local library. You can rent physical books too, but did you know you can “rent” ebooks and audio books too? Libraries are amazing! 

STEP #3: BUILD YOUR READING MUSCLE

Like any habit or routine, treat reading like a muscle you’re looking to build.

It’s going to be tough to fit reading in between the rest of the stuff we’re already doing, which means we have to make choices. Like going to the gym or choosing to meditate, we must make the choice to read.

I love reading first thing in the morning with coffee before the rest of the world has woken up. I also love to wind down before bed by reading.

But also, while I’m standing in line to get my lunch. While eating lunch. While waiting for the bus or train or plane. 

Because my kindle is always with me, the choice to read a book is always an option.

There’s the other half of the equation to consider too: not just finding time to read, but reducing time spent doing things that are not reading.

Specifically, spending less time on my phone. 

Here’s something I’m adamant about. I DON’T RELY ON WILLPOWER to stay off my phone. It’s too addicting and fun.

Just like it’d be tough to eat broccoli when there’s a bowl of potato chips on the counter next to me…

Trying to read a book with an INFINITE FUN DEVICE sitting right there is just asking to be distracted. 

I use an app called Opal and another called “Forest” to block distracting apps on my phone. Sometimes, I literally put my phone in the other room. I have limits set so that I can only check social media for 15-20 minutes before I get locked out for hours.

So now let’s talk about actually reading:

Set your threshold LOW.

Literally reading 1 page qualifies as “reading.” (this is how I tackled War & Peace!) Listening to 5-minutes of an audiobook counts. 

Reading 1 page a day for the next two months is better than reading 2 hours today and then never again.

The goal isn’t to speed-read to get to the next book, by the way. The goal is to enjoy reading, think deeply about what the author was trying to do. 

If you bring your book with you everywhere, it gets easier to make it the default behavior. And if you love the book you’re reading, you’ll actually want to read.

And if you miss a day?

No problem! Just “shower tomorrow.

Books are Wonderfully Unsafe Things

I’ll leave you with one final quote from Lois Lowry (author of The Giver) who shared the following wisdom in her acceptance speech for the 1994 Newberry Medal:

“Let me say something to those of you here who do such dangerous work.

The man that I named The Giver passed along to the boy knowledge, history, memories, color, pain, laughter, love, and truth.

Every time you place a book in the hands of a child, you do the same thing.

It is very risky.

But each time a child opens a book, he pushes open the gate that separates him from Elsewhere. It gives him choices. It gives him freedom.

Those are magnificent, wonderfully unsafe things.”

Lowry’s work (and this speech from 1994) is still relevant today. 

Here’s to authors writing books that get us to think a bit differently about the life in which we live. Especially if they’re “wonderfully, unsafe things.”

And here’s to people who are still reading books.

My ask today: 

Pick up a book and read a page.

And if that page grabs you, keep reading.

-Steve

PS: If you know somebody who’d appreciate this essay, please share this link with them!