How I Read 21 Books Every Week

How I Read 21 Books Every Week

Posted by Arsene Hodali in [Arsène Hodali] on March 5th, 2010 | 20 responses
I read about 21 books per week.
I’m able to do this buy combining four things:
  • Audio Books
  • Speed Listening
  • Speed Reading
  • Polyphasic Sleep

AUDIO BOOKS

Most of the books I “read” I actually listen to. I’m a big fan of audio books. They let you consume knowledge while allowing you to do other tasks.

And I abuse this to the fullest. When I cook I have my earphones on listening to a book. When I’m in a car (or on a bus) I have my earphones on listening to a book. When I find myself with dead-time between performances and such I’m listening to audio books. When I brush my teeth I’m listening to audio books (yes, I really do… if only I could take a shower with them on).

You get the picture though. If I’m not working, socializing, teaching a class, performing, practising, writing, or making business plans (busy, busy) I’m listening to audio books.

I’ve even started to listen to them while I do activities that require low brain power such as checking Twitter, eMail, Facebook, etc. You can find great audiobooks at sites such as Audible.com or by simple searching Google (there are also sites that turn anything you want to read into an audiobook for you).

SPEED LISTENING

This has got to be one of the best tricks I’ve ever learned (learned the trick from Ben Cashnocha’s blog).
We (as humans) talk slow.
You might not notice it, but in reality you can still perfectly understand what someone is saying if they spoke at twice the speed.

Ben Cashnocha says he listens to his stuff at 1.7x the normal speed by using an application to speed it up. I’m lazier than that.

My iPhone has a button that allows you to listen to anything at 2x the speed. I figured out that 2x wasn’t that far off from 1.7x, so I tried it (what did I have to lose). The best part was realizing (after a few seconds) that I could still comprehend everything that was said! Thanks to this, I’ve literary increased my reading/listening speed by 100%.

SPEED READING

There are those moments in life where I can’t find an audio version of a book and I find myself having to actually read the actual book (the horror!!!). This is where speed reading comes in.

The trick to increasing your reading speed is quit easy. First, read a page of book, then read the next page way too fast for comprehension. Don’t worry about knowing what you’re actually reading, just read as fast as humanly possible (or go beyond that). Now, read the page again, but read it as you would normally. Did you notice? Your reading speed just increased!

This works because of the speed shift you just did. It’s similar to when you think that driving at 50 miles per hour is fast but when you slow down from 90 miles per hour it’s… slower. You can keep doing thus, and keep pushing your limit with it, but eventually it’ll hit a plateau. This is where you add the other aspect of speed reading into the equation.
Start (and finish) reading every line on the page every third word in.
This allows you to use your peripherals. Over time you’ll notice that you’re still able to see the other words without actually focusing on them.

POLYPHASIC SLEEP

I sleep two-hours per day (if you read my blog regularly then you’d know this already). Check out the category on my (thought provoking) life for the posts on this. They go into far greater detail about this than I would here (I’m not one to repeat myself, I might as well copy and paste).

Imagine all the free-time I have at night while others are sleeping. In fact, I do most (if not all) of my best thinking, reading, and writing at night; it’s so peaceful! No phone calls, no traffic noises, just calm.

Thought I would share that with you. Apply as many of these things to your life  and see where it gets you. Personally speaking, I’m more than happy with the results.

THE RESULTS: What I Read This Week (so far)

20 Books + 56 Short Stories

*As you’ll quickly notice, I’m currently fascinated with mystery novels and dot com/entrepreneurship stories. They’re hitting close to home with what I’m currently trying to do, so I’m finding them fascinating.

Written by Arsene:
Hey, I'm Arsène. To sum everything up briefly I'm a krump dancer/teacher, mixed-media artiste, social media manager, writer, ex-ubervegan, ex-polyphasic sleeper, and a genocide survivor (yes, that's the brief version). If you must label me, call me "fool" or "revolutionary". I don't mind, I've been called both countless times. Find me working on my current project over at Quotes-Clothing.com <--- Quotes can change the world.
  • Share/Bookmark

Related posts:

  1. All 25 Blogs I Read.
  2. Delivering Happiness: A Path To Profits, Passion, Purpose, & Apparently A Good Read
  3. What Should I Read?


20 Responses to “How I Read 21 Books Every Week”

  1. Lufkin says:
    June 24, 2010 at 2:10 PM

    As I’ve already posted on another one of your pieces, I plan to start the Dymaxion Sleep Schedule mid-July. Once I’m in the full swing of things I plan to pick up speed reading again. EyeQ has some great software for it that I’ve already got.

    I didn’t stick with it before because I felt like I didn’t have enough time to sit down and read, so with the polyphasic sleep schedule that should change. My goal is to read my college textbooks from cover to cover, among other texts.

    Reply
  2. Sally says:
    June 22, 2010 at 5:55 PM

    I was always a slow reader. I had a hard time keeping up in school and things didn’t get much better at work. I have an endless flow of reports every week. But now thanks to speed reading I get the content the first time and its been way easier than i could have imagined. I recommend it to every one.

    Reply
« Older Comments

Leave a Reply

Get Adobe Flash playerPlugin by wpburn.com wordpress themes