How to read more books

如何阅读更多的书籍

July 12, 2026 2026年7月12日

I’ve read roughly a book a week for a few years, and I can tell you it’s doable. I didn’t always read this much. When I started, I read fewer than ten volumes per year, but making it a goal made me switch gears and achieve what I once thought was impossible. I want to explain to you here what I did to become a prolific reader, and what I learned in the process, so that, with a bit of effort, you can do it too. I promise, it will be worth it. Umberto Eco had a library of more than 30,000 books. 过去几年里，我大约每周读一本书，我可以告诉你，这是完全可以做到的。我并非一直读这么多。刚开始时，我每年读不到十本书，但将阅读设定为目标让我改变了节奏，实现了曾经认为不可能的事情。我想在这里向你解释我是如何成为一名多产读者的，以及我在这个过程中学到了什么，这样只要付出一点努力，你也能做到。我保证，这绝对值得。翁贝托·埃科（Umberto Eco）曾拥有一个藏书超过3万册的图书馆。

First of all, you don’t have to make time to read. What you need to do is read every single time you are not doing something else. In today’s world, most people pick up their phones as soon as they get a moment of inactivity. Serious readers pick up their books instead. So an effective way is to replace the time you spend in front of a screen, like PCs, smartphones, and TVs, with reading a book. This is probably the most difficult part. 首先，你不需要专门“挤出”时间来阅读。你需要做的是，在任何没有做其他事情的空隙里进行阅读。在当今世界，大多数人一旦有片刻闲暇就会拿起手机。而认真的读者则会拿起书。因此，一个有效的方法是用阅读书籍来替代你花在屏幕（如电脑、智能手机和电视）前的时间。这可能是最困难的部分。

I had to remove all social media and streaming apps from my iPhone. I removed Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, etc. When I started, I found myself picking up the phone and immediately noticing that something was missing, since the only things left to do were check the weather, read boring emails, or see my bank account. After a few days my brain started remapping itself, and I felt less pressure to immediately reach for my phone as soon as I had nothing to do. I also wear a cheap analog watch so I can check the time on my wrist and I don’t have to reach for my phone. 我不得不从 iPhone 上删除了所有的社交媒体和流媒体应用，包括 Instagram、YouTube、Facebook 等。刚开始时，我发现自己拿起手机后立刻意识到少了些什么，因为剩下的事情只有查看天气、阅读无聊的邮件或查看银行账户。几天后，我的大脑开始重塑，当我无事可做时，那种立刻想去拿手机的冲动减轻了。我还戴了一块便宜的指针式手表，这样我可以直接看时间，而不必去拿手机。

Once you block your smartphone, you might find yourself a bit uncomfortable with having nothing to occupy your mind for ten minutes. This is the perfect time to boost your reading habit. You need to make sure you always have a book with you everywhere you go. I usually read a few pages as soon as I wake up, and the same before falling asleep. I read a book when I cook lunch or dinner, and I read a book when eating breakfast. I love using public transport, especially trains, because I get time to read when someone else is driving for me. I always have a book with me when I go out with my partner, even if I don’t usually end up reading it. If she has to run an errand and I have to wait, I don’t waste my free time with nothing to read. I have become good at walking my dog while reading — I even got complimented for that by a stranger — and I make sure I never go to the bathroom without a book. 一旦你屏蔽了智能手机，你可能会因为有十分钟时间无事可做而感到有些不适。这正是提升阅读习惯的最佳时机。你需要确保无论去哪里都随身带着一本书。我通常在醒来后立刻读几页，睡前也是如此。我在做午饭或晚饭时会读，吃早餐时也会读。我喜欢乘坐公共交通工具，尤其是火车，因为当别人在为我驾驶时，我有时间阅读。我和伴侣外出时总是带着书，即使通常最后没读。如果她要去办点事而我需要等待，我就不会因为没书读而浪费空闲时间。我已经练就了边遛狗边阅读的本领——甚至还因此受到过陌生人的称赞——而且我确保去洗手间时从不忘记带上一本书。

“I love the smell of book ink in the morning.” — Umberto Eco “我喜欢清晨书本油墨的味道。”——翁贝托·埃科

Having a book wherever I go can become problematic, depending on the size of it. The best solution I have found is to use an ebook reader. They are thin devices that can fit in a pocket and are able to carry hundreds of books in memory. I think that for a reader, it might be one of the best inventions ever, considering how expensive books were throughout history and also how difficult it is to carry them. An ebook reader can solve those problems; moreover, you can have a backlight for reading in the dark — it works differently from an LED screen and doesn’t strain the eyes — and you can also highlight text and get definitions for words. 无论去哪都带本书可能会带来麻烦，这取决于书的大小。我找到的最佳解决方案是使用电子书阅读器。它们是轻薄的设备，可以放进兜里，内存中能容纳数百本书。我认为对于读者来说，考虑到书籍在历史上曾多么昂贵以及携带它们有多么困难，这可能是史上最伟大的发明之一。电子书阅读器可以解决这些问题；此外，它还有背光功能，方便在黑暗中阅读——它的工作原理与 LED 屏幕不同，不会造成眼睛疲劳——你还可以高亮文本并获取单词定义。

However, it’s not really a replacement for a book. Reading only using an ebook reader after a while feels like reading the same book, even if the story changes. I like to alternate digital books and physical ones, and I always prefer paperbacks since they are easier to carry around and cheaper to buy. I also tend to read multiple books at the same time. Sometimes it happens that I get so into a book that I put the rest on pause because the story is grabbing all my attention, but in general I like to have a few books that I read in parallel. Having only a single option can become boring. I generally mix fiction and non-fiction to have a broader choice. 然而，它并不能完全替代纸质书。只用电子书阅读器阅读一段时间后，你会感觉像是在读同一本书，即使故事内容在变。我喜欢交替阅读电子书和纸质书，而且我总是更喜欢平装书，因为它们更容易携带，购买也更便宜。我也倾向于同时阅读多本书。有时我会沉迷于某一本书，以至于把其他的都暂停了，因为那个故事吸引了我所有的注意力，但总的来说，我喜欢同时并行阅读几本书。只有单一的选择会变得枯燥。我通常会将虚构类和非虚构类书籍混合阅读，以获得更广泛的选择。

What to read is an hard question. I’ve read somewhere a phrase that puts it quite well: “read what you like until you like to read.” My suggestion is to read broadly, changing genres and subjects, because there are nicely written books in every genre, and because it teaches you different perspectives. Before or after, you will understand which genres you relate to more. 读什么是一个难题。我在某处读到过一句话，总结得很好：“读你喜欢的，直到你喜欢上阅读。”我的建议是广泛阅读，尝试不同的体裁和主题，因为每个体裁中都有写得很好的书，而且这能教给你不同的视角。迟早你会明白自己更倾向于哪些体裁。

“It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones.” — Umberto Eco “认为你必须读完你买的所有书是愚蠢的，就像批评那些买的书超过了他们一生能读完的数量的人一样愚蠢。这就像是说，你在买新的餐具、杯子、螺丝刀或钻头之前，必须先用完你已经买的所有这些东西。”——翁贝托·埃科

Another secret is to not be scared of quitting a book. I definitely start way more than I finish. But I don’t consider an uncompleted book a failure or a bad book. I think that sometimes books have a certain time to be fully appreciated. So if I don’t finish a book today, I might try reading it again in the future. I still remember having abandoned Siddhartha by Herman Hesse at least three times at the first few pages, before reading it entirely and considering it one of the most formative books of my life. Somehow I wasn’t ready for it, and I had to wait to become capable of fully understanding it. Also, I believe there are way more bad books out there than good books. If you feel that you are not liking one, it feels boring and makes you think you are wasting your time, just close it and move on. I have closed books by authors that I loved because they weren’t good — in that moment. 另一个秘诀是不要害怕放弃一本书。我开始读的书绝对比读完的多得多。但我并不认为没读完的书是失败的，或者是一本坏书。我认为有时书籍需要特定的时机才能被充分欣赏。所以如果我今天没读完一本书，我可能会在未来再试着读它。我还记得赫尔曼·黑塞的《悉达多》我至少在前几页放弃了三次，之后才完整读完，并将其视为我一生中最具塑造性的书籍之一。不知何故，我当时还没准备好，我必须等待自己变得有能力完全理解它。此外，我相信市面上的烂书远多于好书。如果你觉得不喜欢某一本书，觉得它很无聊，让你觉得在浪费时间，那就合上它，继续前进。我曾合上过我喜爱的作者写的书，因为它们在当时并不出色。

If you are a serious reader, you need a library, and to make your own library you need physical books. So try to get books that interest you and put them on the shelves for later. When I buy new books, it is mostly because I need a specific one I cannot find otherwise, or because I want to support local independent bookshops. However, I get more used books than new ones. I usually find them in the book section of used stores, at markets, book fairs, and sometimes in the book boxes that I find around the city. 如果你是一名认真的读者，你需要一个图书馆，而要建立自己的图书馆，你需要纸质书。所以试着收集你感兴趣的书，把它们放在书架上留待以后阅读。当我买新书时，主要是因为我需要一本无法通过其他途径找到的特定书籍，或者因为我想支持当地的独立书店。然而，我买的二手书比新书多。我通常在二手店的图书区、集市、书展，以及有时在城市里发现的图书漂流箱中找到它们。

An effective method to push yourself to read more is to set some goals. You can p 一个督促自己多读书的有效方法是设定一些目标。你可以……