Reading 100 Books In A Year My Takeaways And Book Medium

Do you know what an anti-library is? This concept was coined by Nassim Nicholas Taleb when commenting on Umberto Eco’s massive book collection. Eco had thousands of books, and his library mainly consisted of books he hadn’t read. An anti-library is a collection of books you have not read. As Eco commented, this was a constant reminder of how much he didn’t know, helping cultivate a mindset of openness and humility in thinking. Think about it.

All the books on your shelves that you have not read. A reminder of all the things you don’t know. All that is unexplored. As Eco himself put it: “It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will... It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones.” I have an extensive library.

And I keep buying more and more books. I love spending time in my study room, surrounded by my shelves — works of fiction, non-fiction on different subjects, books in different languages. It is a source of inspiration and ideas. Sometimes, a book will sit on a shelf for years, and then it catches my eye. When the timing or circumstances are right, I go for it. Again, back to Eco: “We understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, then you go to the ‘medicine closet’ and choose...

Not a random one, but the right book for that moment. That’s why you should always have a nutrition choice!” Well, for one, there is so much interesting stuff to read! Reading is fun, sure, but it is also the single most important activity you can engage in if you aim to grow as an individual and as a professional. If you want to make a positive impact in the world, you have to make sure to elevate yourself — reading is the most obvious way to do that. Reading improves your vocabulary, makes you more articulate, improves your focus and ability to summon attention at will.

I could go on and on, but I have written several articles about reading — see links at the end of the article. By 2024, as my library grew, there were more and more books that I really wanted to read but couldn’t get to. So, I decided to make a bit of a dent in my long list of books I wanted to tackle. I wanted to read a lot of sci-fi. I had promising non-fiction books that drew my attention. Week after week, month after month, as I kept reading, I ended up reading 100 books despite slowing down at the end of the year.

You can see all the titles in the picture above. This post is a crossover with my other blogs, which you can find here at my teacher blog, The Bookish Classroom, and here at my writer blog on Substack. You can also check out my online store, The Bookish Classroom, here. My teaching philosophy has always been, the more you read, the better a writer you’ll be. However, when I was teaching, I didn’t always practice what I preached. Sure, I had my students reading novels and poems and essays, dissecting for author’s purpose and analyzing literary devices and mining for favorite scenes.

But in my personal life, there was no time for reading anything outside of what I was teaching. At least, that’s how it felt. I was tired. I didn’t have enough bandwidth to pick up a novel when all I wanted to do was sleep. And as a lifelong reader, this broke my heart a bit. I relished breaks and summers to dip into the books on my ever-growing TBR.

I hate to admit that there were a few books I bought in 2004 that I didn’t read until 2024. This post is a crossover with my other blogs, which you can find here at my teacher blog, The Bookish Classroom, and here at my writer blog on Wordpress. My teaching philosophy has always been, the more you read, the better a writer you’ll be. However, when I was teaching, I didn’t always practice what I preached. Sure, I had my students reading novels and poems and essays, dissecting for author’s purpose and analyzing literary devices and mining for favorite scenes. But in my personal life, there was no time for reading anything outside of what I was teaching.

At least, that’s how it felt. I was tired. I didn’t have enough bandwidth to pick up a novel when all I wanted to do was sleep. And as a lifelong reader, this broke my heart a bit. I relished breaks and summers to dip into the books on my ever-growing TBR. I hate to admit that there were a few books I bought in 2004 that I didn’t read until 2024.

I have always been an avid reader. I’m a writer. It comes with the territory. For the past seven years, I have given myself a yearly reading goal. It started at twenty books per year, and has gradually worked its way up to thirty five, adjusted as needed, and I have hit it each year that I have set that goal for... And with the average length of the books I read, it is honestly impressive that I’m able to read as many as I do.

Just think, around thirty to thirty five books per year (sometimes more), and the average length is 400+ pages? Those are some long books. Sometimes even reaching this goal is a stretch. So how much of a stretch would it be if I can read 100 books in a year? But I see influencers reading over 100 books per year (Destiny Sidwell is one of my favorites). And is it fair to try and compare myself to people whose job it is to read and review books?

No, probably not. But I still want to try and do it some year. After reading 100 books in a year, I learned a lot about myself, my reading habits, and why I won’t read that many books in a year again anytime soon. When I first got serious about reading, I was not interested in the process of rating my books. Instead, I decided to use a really simplified version. If I would recommend the book to the right audience, I would give it a star.

If I wouldn’t recommend it, no star. Originally, I was afraid that I would overthink a 5 star rating process, but about halfway through the year, I realized that I craved a more nuanced rating system. I wanted a way to tell a “WOW” book from a “good, but just okay” book. Now that I’ve reached the end of the year, it has been incredibly helpful to see the exact star rating for each book at a glance – especially since I read such a large... I’ve also learned that it isn’t difficult for me to go with my gut instinct on my rating. I don’t overthink it like I thought that I would.

While reading 100 books in a year, I only read 5 books in print – and 2 of those were books I read aloud to my kids. My favorite way to read books is using my Kindle Paperwhite. My goal for 2021 was to read or listen to 100 books. #dramaticmusicplaying… …and I failed! Jokes aside (even though that could probably also be a great article), I actually did manage to complete this goal.

Yes, please send me a gold medal, preferably one of those with chocolate inside. On December 31 at 6.21 pm I finished my 100th book. Today I would like to share some insights and advice for anyone wanting to read more. I have written the questions myself (sometimes when answering them I forgot that it was really me who had written them and I felt so popular and sought-after) and I’ve tried to summarize the... Let’s go! I have always liked reading but I have also always had great excuses why I didn’t read as much as I wanted where lack of time was one of my favorite excuses.

In 2020 I decided to read 50 books which felt reasonable as it amounts to around one book per week. By the end of that year, I had read more than 60 books and that gave me confidence to continue doing it. Advice no. 1: By accomplishing one goal (big or small), you will get confidence and motivation to set even bigger goals. Mark Twain said, “there comes a time in every rightly constructed boy’s life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure.” As the youngest brother of a large... Last year I set out on a hair-brained excavating project: I decided to read 100 books in 365 days.

Like any young whippersnapper, I like to test my limits. The 100 book challenge seemed like a way to do so while glimpsing cultures, eras, and parts of the world I hadn’t experienced first-hand, and possibly filling some gaps in my meandering education. What follows is a report from my digging. It’s partly an exhibition of my shovel collection, partly a campfire yarn about the old coins and pottery shards I’ve dug up, and partly a half-finished treasure map. In other words, it’s a chance to brag share what I learned. A note about footnotes: this article is equipped with footnotes and other safety features.

People Also Search

• Reading 100 Books in a Year. My Takeaways and Book ... - Medium
• I Read 100 Books in a Year. This is What It Taught Me About Writing.
• What Reading 100 Books in a Year Taught Me About Writing
• My Bucket: Read 100 Books in a Year - Filling the Bucket
• 15 Things I Learned from Reading 100 Books in a Year
• I read 100 Books in a Year - This is What I Learned - Business & Dreams
• What I learned by reading 100 books in a year - The Autodidacts
• 17 Simple Tips To Read 100 Books In A Year - Medium
• I Tried Reading 100 Books in a Year: What I Learned - Medium
• 100 Plus Books: What My Year Of Intentional Reading Taught Me