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 life for the posts on this if you’re interested. 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
- The Complete Sherlock Holmes: All 4 Novels and 56 Short Stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- 50 Philosophy Ideas You Really Need To Know by Ben Dupre
- What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
- The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson
- Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin (currently reading)
- The Big Moo: Stop Trying to Be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable by Seth Godin
- The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) by Seth Godin
- The Bootstrapper’s Bible: How to Start and Build a Business With a Great Idea and (Almost) No Money by Seth Godin
- The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability by Lierre Keith (currently reading)
- The Google Story by David A. Vise
- The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal by Ben Mezrich
- My Start-Up Life: What a (Very) Young CEO Learned on His Journey Through Silicon Valley by Ben Cashnocha
- iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It by Steve Wozniak
- The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
- The Blog Business Funnel by Skellie (currently reading)
*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.
photo credit: jc.westbrook