⏱ Estimated reading time: 2 min read
Read. Read. And then read some more.
And when you’re tired of reading, start again.
Most people make the same mistake in the beginning. They waste years trying to find the “right” book. The perfect book. The life-changing book. That usually becomes intellectual laziness wearing a nice suit. Just pick one and start. Read science. Read philosophy. Read history. Read religion. Read politics. Read finance. Read fiction. Read nonsense. Even bad books have value because bad writing teaches taste faster than good writing does.
If you read one book every week from age 18 to 60, that’s about 42 years × 52 weeks = 2,184 books.
That means your lifetime reading would barely touch around 0.1% of one single year’s global publishing output. In the U.S. alone, more than 4 million books with ISBNs were published in 2025. That means your entire lifetime reading total of 2,184 books is only about 0.0546% of books published in just one single year in the U.S.
Compared to all the books that already exist, and all the books that will exist after you, your share would be so small it would almost be mathematically insulting.
No one can guarantee you money, status, or fame from reading. Anyone who says that is selling something. But if you consistently read, really read, you will change. You’ll think more clearly. You’ll react less. You’ll see through nonsense faster. You’ll become harder to manipulate.
That’s a different kind of success.
Happy World Book Day
