How I choose books to read

I often get asked how I choose books to read. This is my answer.

Even if you don't read as much as I do, I think this advice is still translatable to you. Much of it has influenced my mentees, friends, and even my wife's reading habits.

In summary

I buy books for my library, not to read right away. I browse bookstores after topics and not books. I buy books from authors I like and the authors they like.

Because I read a lot, it's not critical that I nail every book choice I make. I often drop bad books.

Reading costs money, and I spend a lot on books. Most people who like reading probably underinvest in books, because of their guilt about backlogs.

I highlight and reread a lot, and never give books away.

Friction and distraction are the enemy of reading, which is why print books that lay on your desk and you read on a reading chair are best.

Building your personal library

I always pick my next read from my personal library.

Bookstores, be they indie bookstores, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon, have too many options. I'd get analysis paralysis if every time I wanted to start my next read, I needed to find it in the store.

Instead of buying books to read, I buy books for my personal library. And then, I read books from my personal library. The personal library is your buffer of reading options.

No matter how straightforward bookstores try to make the buying experience, they're full of friction. Besides having too many options, we either have to leave home or browse Amazon (you be the judge of which is worse), and then we have to spend money – recipes for procrastination.

My personal library has a curated list of books that I've previously chosen as interesting and that are immediately accessible in my living room for no extra cost.

I buy books in bulk for my personal library, consolidating the friction of dislocation, browsing, and spending into a single event.

I will often buy 20-30 books at a time, which is probably too many unless you read a few books per week. My wife buys ~5 books at a time, which is a good amount for most people.

When I'm on the market for 20-30 books, I don't come with a pre-defined list of books I want to buy. I wouldn't know where to pull that list from since I don't browse the Internet and have never had a Goodreads account.

Instead, I go to the bookstore vaguely thinking about topics I want to read about. For example, recently, it was XIX and XX century writers, the global financial crisis, startup investing, and Hellenistic and Roman empire periods. I ended up also buying books on resilience, history of books(!), the Israel and Palestine conflict, Chernobyl, and some other topics.

With that approach, the exact books I buy on a topic don't matter as much. At some point in the future, I'll have read anywhere from a few to several books on that topic anyway.

Another common source of books is authors I already know. Both in fiction and non-fiction, after having read enough, you don't read books – you read authors.

Like a Wikipedia web of articles, books link to other books and authors, through passages, quotes, notes .. sometimes even on their praise page. That will often pique my interest for a future read as well.

By having a set of topics, a set of authors, and books and authors referred by them, I go about buying books in bulk and adding them to my library to read at a later time.

But what if I waste my money and time buying bad books?

Buying and dealing with "bad" books

Some books are just plain bad. The author is bad, the book is badly written, the topic is poorly explored, the editing is bad, etc. It doesn't happen often, but it happens sometimes.

Some books, though, are just "bad" for me at this time. They're too complicated for my current limited knowledge, too in-depth for my current high-level interests, too superficial given my current expertise, etc.

When I run into a bad book, I give it up and move on to another book right away. Life is too short to read bad books.

There's no shame in having bought or spent a bit of time reading a bad book – it's part of the deal. Anything done in enough volume will have rough edges.

Part of the luxury of not caring about having bought and read bad books is that I read a lot. If you read 1 book per quarter, it's much more important that this is an outstanding book than if you read 1 per month, 1 per week, or several per week.

No matter how much you read, though, avoid the sunk cost fallacy and don't invest time reading bad books once you realize it is bad.

Put the book away, move on, and spend your reading time on a better book.

Investing in your education and embracing backlogs

If you think an education is expensive, try ignorance.

Books are expensive.

Many of our hobbies require us to spend money: gym, music, crafts, woodworking, skiing, etc.

Reading is no different – it costs money. Pay for it.

I have a saying "reading is paid for not in dollars but in hours" because the price of a book is probably an order of magnitude less than your hourly rate multiplied by your time spent reading it, but those dollars do add up quickly.

Most people I know who like reading underinvest in books. A lot of it comes from either their not accepting that you gotta spend serious money if you want to be a serious reader, or because they feel guilty of their book backlog.

So let me be clear about my opinion on your guilt about your book backlog:

A backlog of books is not something to avoid; it's something to pursue! Nobody cares about the size of your backlog. All that matters is whether you're reading books and retaining what you read.

To illustrate this point, I have a backlog of about 40 unread books right now, and I'll probably add another 20 or so in the next 3 months.

So spend money, buy books, build a private library, and read from it.

"But what about the public library, Dui?" – I don't recommend using the public library for serious readers because it has much of the same friction as a bookstore (except for the money part): getting out of the house, browsing a huge uncurated selection, using badly built software for ebooks, etc. It may complement your private library, but can't replace it.

The other reason not to use a public library is that you can't befriend a book on a short-term relationship.

Talk to your books, make friends with it

marginalia
plural noun
mar·​gi·​na·​lia ˌmär-jə-ˈnā-lē-ə
1: marginal notes or embellishments (as in a book)
Merriam-Webster

I reread a lot.

I can only think of two reasons why you wouldn't need to reread a book: You either have a photographic memory, or all of the books you've read suck.

The point of reading is not to read but to retain what you've read. And retention means you must reread your good books.

I also highlight and write a lot in my books. Highlights and marginalia help me pick up a book where I stopped last time, and helps me make progress more quickly on my new read.

My wife loves making fun of my disagreeable marginalia when she picks up some of my books to read.

My point is you gotta befriend your books. You're in a long-term relationship with them now. Highlight. Write. Show some commitment!

I once chatted with a friend who had bought a terrific book, Kahneman's Thinking Fast and Slow, but mentioned he felt sorry for highlighting and writing on the book, that it'd ruin it. My suggestion was "well, just by a second copy!" but he didn't take me on it, unfortunately.

My wife also loves making fun of my buying second copies of books by mistake, which I'm known to have done on occasion...

These long-term commitments are also the reason why I never give away any of my books. Sure, I only reread a small subset of my books, and consult a larger subset, but surely not every book.

But just like the saying in Marketing goes "a good part of Marketing money is wasted – we just don't know which part!" so with books: I will never consult some of my books again – I just don't know which ones.

Finally, let's wrap up by talking about your most important book-reading investment:

A reading chair.

Print books, and a reading chair

Friction and distraction are the two biggest enemies of book reading.

To read well, you must have a reading environment and habits that address reading friction and distraction.

The biggest reason a reading chair is valuable is not because it's comfortable – it's because it's not near your typical distractions: your phone, your computer, other people, etc.

You're not buying a chair; you're buying focus.

So when reading, leave your phone away, sit on your reading chair, and read. On your breaks, get up, pick up your phone where you left it, and check on your other commitments.

Dealing with focus and distraction is also why I prefer print books to any other format. I just leave my current print book at arm's reach from my reading chair.

When reading on a Kindle, which I do occasionally, I'm always just a click away from both my private library and browsing the world's biggest bookstore. It's a recipe for distraction.

So whenever I'm reading on a Kindle, I turn on airplane mode. At least that way, I add some friction to checking the bookstore.

While I've read books on a phone in the past, there is no way I would do that now. There are just too many options and distractions. It would be impossible for me to focus my mind on my reading like I do with a print book.

I also don't listen to audiobooks anymore, but I know many people do. I think that's OK, but it's just not for me.

Audiobooks don't compete with print books because we tend to listen to audiobooks while doing something else: chores, commuting, driving, walking, running, etc. In that way, I think they compete more with podcasts or listening to music.

I don't know anybody who will just sit down on a chair and fully focus their attention on listening to an audiobook like they would a print book. And it'd be an inefficient way of reading if so.

I'm not very good at doing multiple things at once, so if I tried exercising while listening to an audiobook, I'd just do a poor job at both – ending with little retention of the book material and suboptimal physical exertion.

In summary, nothing beats print books and a reading chair when it comes to freedom from friction and distraction for reading.

Applying my book reading method

All these things are just how I personally choose books to read.

I'm not trying to persuade you about the right way to choose books, or anything like that. This method works for me.

But if you got this far and would like to choose books more like I do, here's what I suggest:

1. Decide to build a private library. Buy a bookshelf if you don't have one yet.
2. Go to your favorite bookstore, and buy ~5 books or so on topics you're interested in or authors you like.
3. If the book you're reading is bad, that's OK. Stop reading it and pick the next one from your private library.
4. Don't worry about how many unread books you currently have. Nobody cares.
5. Buy a marker and have a pen nearby when reading. Write on your book, make friends with it, and keep it in your library.
6. Get a reading chair and read in an undistracted environment, away from your phone, computer, and other people.
7. Sometime in the future, go back to the bookstore and buy ~5 more books. Invest the money.

That's it, really.

I hope this answers the question of how I choose books.

And if this helps you become better at choosing books too, then that's even better.