Elia Scotto has a very nice post on the reading habit. He says he’s been reading about a book a week for several years. The gist of the post is “how to read more books”. His advice for that is straightforward: read when you have nothing else going on. In particular, instead of reaching for your phone and doom scrolling, pick up a book and read a few pages. I agree with all that but not with some of his other recommendations that seem to me to border on the new Luddism.
For example, he considers it important to avoid using your phone. That means he wears an analog watch (so he won’t have to look at his phone), that he tries to carry a physical book with him at all times, and that when he can’t he uses a separate ebook reader.
I also read when I have a few spare moments but I do it on my phone. My iPhone is always with me so I don’t need to remember to bring along a physical book or separate reader. It’s all there on my iPhone. I always read for about an hour when I go to bed and for that I use my iPad. If during the day I find myself with nothing to do, I can always sync my phone to where I left off on the iPad and continue my reading.
Really, I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t do things more or less the way I do. You always have not only your current book but your entire library at hand. But then, I’ve never found doom scrolling—or social media, for that matter—attractive so I have nothing to resist.
In any event, the important thing is to find time to read. You don’t have to be an intellectual or read big, important books. Although I sometimes read books like that, I mostly read mysteries and science fiction. Some of them are as lowbrow as you can get. It doesn’t matter. The goal is to read and enjoy the content.
Finally, be sure to watch the short video of the late Umberto Eco’s library of about 30,000 physical books. Despite what I said above, I love physical books and found it awe inspiring.