# About the List [[reading-list|What I have reading since 1996]] | [[Reading Stats]] | [[Books I Read Before 1996]] I can't be certain, but I believe I started my list because I discovered [a list by Eric W. Leuliette](http://www.whatihaveread.net/) online sometime in late 1995. His list goes back to 1974 and that impressed me. Given that I read a lot, it seemed to me I should keep a list, too, and I began my list in January 1996 while visiting my grandfather in New York. My goal was to read one book a week, or 52 books in a year. Over the years, the list has taken many forms. It stared as a spreadsheet, and then morphed into an HTML file I maintained manually so that it was accessible online. Over time it moved into a SQL database served up by perl and php scripts. From there it evolved to a plain text file that I manually maintained on Github. Today, the master list is an Excel spreadsheet and I've written some automation scripts in [Wolfram Language](https://www.wolfram.com/language/) to publish the list to the web and generate the charts and stats about my reading. It took a long time for me to meet my goal of one book per week. Part of the reason is limited time; part of the reason is that books vary greatly by length. *Les Miserables* versus *Tales of a Fouth Grade Nothing*, for instance. I achieved my goal for the first time in 2013, and I have audiobooks to thank for it. Audiobooks have allowed me to read when I walk, when I'm doing chores around the house, when I'm driving somewhere. You can see in the chart below how audiobooks enabled me to read much more. (The dashed line represents my original 1996 goal.) ![[booksByYear.png]] ## Rules for my reading list 1. Only books I finish go on the list. I don't track books I don't finish. Too much work. 2. Each finished book gets a number. 3. If I re-read a book and finish it again, it goes on the list again with another number. 4. Paper, e-books, and audiobooks all count so long as I finish them. ## Frequently-asked questions ### How do you manage to read so much? My default "idle" is reading. If I am not doing anything else, I've always got a book in my hand, or an audiobook on my phone. I read while waiting whether in lines or in a waiting room. I don't mind delays when sitting in a doctor's office waiting to see a doctor because it means I can read. I listen to audiobooks while walking, working out, commuting, on long drives, doing chores around the house. I've been using audiobooks for more than a decade and over the years, I slowly worked up the speed at which I listen to them so that today, I typically listen to books at 1.7x - 1.9x speed depending on the narrator. This means a book that would take 10 hours to listen to at normal speed takes me about 5-6 hours to get through. There are things I don't do so that I can read as much as possible: I don't watch television for the most part. I don't go to the movies, or watch movies very much at home. I've mostly given up on social media so I'm not staring at my phone all the time the way I used to. These are small sacrifices to make to be able to read more. ### But is listening to audiobooks really reading? [To me, it is](https://jamierubin.net/2022/03/23/what-it-means-to-read-a-book/). A blind person running their fingers across a dimpled page is reading; it is just using a different sense. With an audiobook, the text is the same, I can speak about what I've read just as well as if I'd seen the words on the page. Besides, often times I will listen to an audiobook and still read the paperbook at the same time when I'm not out and about because I like taking notes about what I read. ### Do you remember everything you read? No, and that is why I take notes. I actually prefer paper books over all other forms because I'm a big scribbler in margins. I argue with authors in the margins. I ask questions that I try to find answers to. I make my books my own this way. And when I finish reading a book, I go through my marginalia and other notes and try to put together a summary of my thoughts that I can refer to again in the future. In this way, I don't have to remember everything I read; my notes provide adequate memory aid. The more I read, and the more widely I read, I find more and more that I can tie things together. Something in one book reminds me of something else. I love it when it happens and it seems to happen more and more frequently. I will say that I've always been impressed by people who can remember everything they read. Perhaps the most impressive person I've come across (in my reading) in this regard is [John von Neumann](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann). When my kids ask me what superpower I wish I had, I usually answer: "Johnny von Neumann's brain." Strangely, I can remember exactly where I was when I read a book. ### How do you choose what to read? I let [the butterfly effect of reading](https://jamierubin.net/2018/10/09/the-butterfly-effect-of-reading/) flap its wings. Knowing that I am an avid reader, friends sometimes recommend books to me. Because of the butterfly effect of reading, I rarely commit to a recommendation. I never know what direction my interests will turn. In one case, a friend recommended Edward O. Wilson's *Consiliance* to me and [it took me about 20 years](https://jamierubin.net/2019/03/12/ill-get-to-it-someday/) before I finally read it. If I find myself struggling to decide what to read next, I do have some sources of inspiration that I return to: - [[Modern Library 100 Best Nonfiction]] - [[Modern Library 100 Best Novels]] - [[Sports Illustrated Top 100 Books]] - [1,000 Books to Read Before You Die](https://www.amazon.com/000-Books-Read-Before-Life-Changing/dp/1523504455/) by James Mustich ### Do you belong to a book club? Until very recently, I did not belong to a book club. But I've recently joined one, which goes through about a book a month (I typically go through 9 or 10 books in a month). The first book I read for the book club was *The Only Woman in the Room* by Marie Benedict. ### Do you read more than one book at a time? Yes, but not at the *same* time. Typically: - I'm usually listening to an audiobook, and following along with the paper version so that I can take notes. - I also have an audiobook that I can turn to if I don't have the need to take notes. - Finally, I always have a paper book on the nightstand that I read before I sleep (instead of staring at my phone). At the time of this writing, the three books are as follows (just so you have an example): - *Our Oriental Heritage* by Will Durant (re-reading) (Audio/paper) - *Knowing What We Know* by Simon Winchester (Audio/paper) - *Who Got Einstein's Office?* by Ed Regis More than three at a time is rare for me. ### Do you read shorter stuff? Yes. I read a randomly selected magazine feature article each day. I subscribe to a pile of magazines (on paper so that I can take time off screens) and each time one arrives, I enter the feature articles into a text file I maintain. I wrote another automated script that randomly selects one article each day and emails me the title, author and issue information at 7pm so that I can read the article the following morning. I try to get through an article every day, but some long-form articles take me two or three days. I probably get through 300 articles a year. ### Have you read (fill-in-the-blank)? Check [[reading-list|my list]]. Or, check the [[Books I Read Before 1996|list of books I read before 1996]], which is [compiled from memory](https://jamierubin.net/2023/03/11/books-i-read-between-1977-1995/) rather than from realtime tracking. ### How do you rate books you've read? I don't. Instead, I'll indicate if I would re-read or recommend a book to others. I tend to think more about how a book affects me and what I learn from it. [5-star ratings](https://jamierubin.net/2021/02/05/5-star-rating-systems/) are not particularly useful to me. Indeed, when I have used them in places like Goodreads or Amazon, I don't use them they way people want me to use them. ### What is your desert island book? WIll and Ariel Durant's [11-volume *Story of Civilization*](https://jamierubin.net/2022/03/09/my-desert-island-bookshelf/).