How to read more books
Reading more is rarely about willpower or speed-reading; it is about friction. The people who read a lot make starting easy, quit books freely, and steal minutes back from their phones. Set a daily minimum so small you cannot skip it, attach it to something you already do, and let it grow. Here is the method, and the apps that keep you moving through your list.
This guide gives a concrete, friction-lowering method, not “read faster,” then points to apps that keep you reading and track your list, with a section for reading and book apps rising by real visit traffic on the Census ranking.
Reading and book apps rising by real visit traffic on Census
For tracking your list and defending your reading time, Census runs a live count on real traffic and surfaces the newcomers drawing the most real visits:
Must Read – The Book Tracker4.9★ App Storea simple book tracker that keeps your next-up list ready, so you never stall between books.- Your app hereFree, foreverList my app
Deepstash: Smarter Every Day4.5★ App Storefive minutes a day of ideas from popular books, a low-friction on-ramp that pulls you toward reading the full thing.
ReadBlock: Read to Unlock Appsmakes you read before your distracting apps unlock, which turns scroll time straight into pages.
Make the daily amount almost embarrassing
Grand goals kill reading. “A book a week” becomes guilt by Thursday. Set a floor so low you cannot talk yourself out of it, ten pages, or ten minutes, and let momentum carry you past it most nights. Some days you read only the ten and that still counts; that is the point. A tiny non-negotiable minimum, kept daily, adds up to far more books a year than an ambitious target you abandon in February.
Attach reading to something you already do
A new habit needs a reliable trigger, and the best trigger is a habit you already have. “After I get into bed, I read ten pages.” “With my morning coffee, one chapter.” Bolting reading onto an existing anchor means you do not rely on remembering or feeling motivated, the anchor does the reminding. Keep the book physically where that anchor happens, on the pillow, by the kettle, so starting takes zero effort.
Give yourself permission to quit books
Nothing stalls a reading habit like slogging through a book you secretly hate; you just stop reading altogether rather than admit defeat. Drop it. Life is short and the shelf is long. Quitting a dull book is not failure, it is what frees you to find one you cannot put down, and it is the single biggest difference between people who read a lot and people who own a lot of half-finished books.
Take the time back from your phone
You almost certainly have the minutes; they are currently going to the feed. You do not need to find time, you need to swap it. Put a book, or an e-reader, where your phone usually is in the idle moments, the queue, the sofa, the commute, and read there instead. Audiobooks count too, and turn dead time, dishes, driving, walking, into pages. The scroll is the reserve you are looking for.
| Move | What you do | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Set a tiny minimum | ten pages a day, not a page count you dread | too small to skip |
| Anchor it | read right after an existing daily habit | a trigger you already have |
| Quit freely | abandon books you are not enjoying | no dread, no stalling |
| Steal scroll time | swap some phone minutes for pages | the time already exists |
| Keep a next-up list | always know the next book | no gap to lose momentum |
よくある質問
How do I actually read more books?
Lower the barrier. Set a daily minimum so small you cannot skip it, attach reading to a habit you already have, and keep the book where that habit happens. Then quit books you are not enjoying and steal a little time back from your phone. Reading more is about friction and momentum, not speed or willpower.
Should I finish every book I start?
No. Forcing yourself through a book you dislike is the fastest way to stop reading entirely. Give a book a fair chance, then abandon it without guilt if it is not working. Quitting freely is what keeps you reading, because it protects the habit from turning into a chore you avoid.
Do audiobooks count as reading?
For the goal of getting through more books and more ideas, absolutely. Audiobooks turn commuting, chores and walking into reading time you did not have before. Print, e-reader and audio each suit different moments; the readers who get through the most books tend to mix all three rather than arguing about which is “real.”