# How Much Do You Read A Day?



## Brother John (Jan 20, 2012)

Who Else Wants To Read As Much As Possible 

What do you read?
How do you get your reading in? 
Does anyone use speed reading or "special techniques"?


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## CharlieJ (Jan 20, 2012)

Well, I am in graduate school, so I suppose I'm a bit out of the ordinary. On a working day, I might read 200 pages or so. Perhaps less if I am working in languages other than English.

I did do some speed-reading programs, which are of only marginal use in heavy reading, but they do teach some good physical habits. Hold a book open flat at a 45-degree angle. Have bright but diffuse lighting. Move your eyes in a steady downward motion. They're all good tips for reducing eye fatigue and reading efficiently. 

One key to reading is concentration. Shut off your internet or any other thing that may distract you. Reading time is only for reading, contemplating, and writing. Nothing else. Simple concentration often allows for a much greater rate of retention, which is further increased by note-taking. I take notes either by summarizing or by copying quotes into a OneNote page. It does slow me down quite a bit, but reading needs to be measured exclusively in terms of information retained. I have a book open on a bookstand slightly to one side of me while I type on the computer directly in front of me. Also, I try to read through a chunk, perhaps a sub-section of a chapter, before I go back and make my notes. Otherwise, every little detail along the way looks important and I take too many notes.


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## RobertPGH1981 (Jan 20, 2012)

I actually got interested in reading whenever I became a Christian in 2007. Before then I never read books unless its was a sports magazine. Right now I am reading three books, one that I would highly recommend if you are interested in improving your reading abilities. The book I am referring to is called, "How to Read a Book" written by Mortimer J. Adler. It was published in 1940 and is known as a classic. I have only read four chapters so far, but it is to the point an insightful. 

Other Books I am reading right now are:

- "The Masculine Mandate" by Richard D. Phillips (reading this with my friend)
- "Overcoming Sin and Temptation" by John Owen (reading on and off here and there)

On my list:

- "The Meaning of Marriage" by Timothy & Kathy Keller


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## Brother John (Jan 20, 2012)

Charlie do you highlight or write in your books? When you summarize do you wait till the end of the chapter or just summarize as you go?

---------- Post added at 11:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:01 PM ----------

Robert I read Adler's "How to Read a Book" this summer for school and I really enjoyed it.


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## RobertPGH1981 (Jan 20, 2012)

Brother John said:


> Robert I read Adler's "How to Read a Book" this summer for school and I really enjoyed it.



Yeah, so far it is great. I never realized how much history and techniques there were around teaching until I started reading this book. I haven't gotten past the history yet but I am sure he will have some great information on how to improve on your reading. I still find it funny that I am reading a book on how to read a book. hehe...


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## baron (Jan 20, 2012)

I put over 3 hours. What else you going to do when you can do nothing. My other choice between reading would be watch TV? So I read. I read some where in a quote that one of the Mark brothers said TV made him smarter. Every time someone turned it on he would go to another room and read a book.

What I read, last year it was my Bible and a few books. This year I have read about 10 book's so far.

What I read, are book's about the Bible, The Bible, History, Murder Mysteries, some current controversy, and classic. 

How do I get my reading in? Last year I started by getting up around 5 AM and read till 7 or 8 AM. This year I stay up and start reading about midnight till 4 or 5 AM.

I also read when ever I have free time like when my wife is shopping, I stay in the Truck and read. Carrying my Kindle lets me read any where and every where. Plus I have so many books to choose from. Before I would carry a bag of book's and would always loose some. Kindle much better.

I am able to read my Kindle faster than a print book. being able to set print size and only so many words on the screen makes for faster reading.


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## VictorBravo (Jan 21, 2012)

Probably 6 hours a day. About half of that is work related, and the other half personal study or preparation of non-work projects.


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## Brother John (Jan 21, 2012)

Raymond you get paid to read, nice. I hope its interesting reading.


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## Brother John (Jan 21, 2012)

Joshua your reading is heavy to some and light to others brother!


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## Miss Marple (Jan 21, 2012)

Does "reading" the internet count?


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## Bethel (Jan 21, 2012)

I do read a lot on the internet, but I didn't count that amount since I usually end up scanning parts of the article or book.

Of course, I read my Bible every day. I also read Christian related books or commentaries. My time is also filled with pre-reading the textbooks and books that our boys will read for school. I don't do this for every subject because I just don't have the time, but I always do it for their literature textbooks and whole books that we discuss. Right now, I'm reading through the _World Literature_ textbook by Holt, Rinehart, & Winston and _The Apostolic Fathers_ edited by Lightfoot & Harmer which is part of my 10th grader's assigned work.


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## CharlieJ (Jan 21, 2012)

Brother John said:


> Charlie do you highlight or write in your books? When you summarize do you wait till the end of the chapter or just summarize as you go?



I rarely mark in physical books. Most of the books I read (100-200 whole/year, plus many more partially) are not mine; I inter-library loan the majority. So, I take my notes in OneNote (or Word) by copying quotes or summarizing. It's important to have the book on a bookstand, so I can easily read and type at the same time. I try to read a section (usually a few pages long) before I go back and summarize or note. Otherwise, I take too many notes, and have an insufficient topography of important concepts.

Now, I recently acquired a kindle. I have been using the highlight and note features on that quite freely. Perhaps too freely.

At the end of each book, the only questions that matter are how well I understand and how much I remember. If you don't understand, it's pointless. If you don't remember, it's fleeting. That's why note-taking should accompany reading.


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## JML (Jan 21, 2012)

I'm at work 10 hours a day and have two kids 3 years old and under so it is an accomplishment for me to get 1 hour of reading done a day.


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## VictorBravo (Jan 21, 2012)

Brother John said:


> Raymond you get paid to read, nice. I hope its interesting reading.



Well, I'm self-employed, so I don't necessarily get paid for work. But I like the subject matter well enough: things like court opinions, legal pleadings, technical reports, and the always-riveting Internal Revenue Code.


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## seajayrice (Jan 21, 2012)

My technique is quite simple and ineffective. I do the required reading early in the am while fresh, before anything else. The elective reading at night in bed until the book slides off my chest and hits the floor, usually 10 minutes or less.


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## Somerset (Jan 21, 2012)

I work about 65 hours a week, try to keep up with this site and am a mod on one of the bigger PUL sites over here. I manage about an hour a day of reading - not having a television helps a lot.


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## Rich Koster (Jan 21, 2012)

Some days I read for hours. Some days a Bible chapter with breakfast. Does a few hundred road signs a day count?


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## Rufus (Jan 21, 2012)

1-2 hrs, but often under that. I read the Bible everyday and am currently reading Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground.


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## Berean (Jan 21, 2012)

30-60 minutes of NT, OT, devotionals. Usually in the evening. Not counting what I read online (MacArthur and Grace Gems dailies) plus news (The Aquila Report).


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## Ask Mr. Religion (Jan 21, 2012)

With my Kindle Fire, at least three hours a day now.

AMR


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## Leslie (Jan 21, 2012)

What do you mean by reading? If reviewing one's own writing and editing is included, that's well over 3 hours a day. If reading is only absorbing words that others have written, that's 31-60 minutes a day.


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## FenderPriest (Jan 21, 2012)

All added up, probably 2-3 hours on an average day. I have a set hour of reading in the morning after my devotion time, lunch reading, etc. With a young family, time is hard to find for personal reading, but by the grace of Christ I make it happen. This is a general idea of what I'm reading - however, I started into the OPC's Book of Church Order tonight - rather helpful stuff in there. And I really enjoy reading poetry - reading Frost and Donne right now.


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## J. Dean (Jan 21, 2012)

I'm bad on it, because I don't like just reading one chapter a day. If I'm left to myself I'll spend four to six hours reading. Yes, I am a bad boy.


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## Southern Presbyterian (Jan 22, 2012)

No where near enough!


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## FenderPriest (Jan 22, 2012)

This book should get a plug for people who want to read more, and read like a Christian: Lit!: A Christian Guide to Reading Books by Tony Reinke.


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## Reverend Chaplain (Jan 22, 2012)

Brother John said:


> Robert I read Adler's "How to Read a Book" this summer for school and I really enjoyed it.




One of the best books I ever read. The techniques make time I do get to read so much more profitable.


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## sevenzedek (Jan 22, 2012)

I enjoy reading an hour a day. But on my days off I enjoy reading two hours a day. Some days I will spend about 4 to 6 hours reading. Before I became a Christian I would hardly ever read--perhaps one novel every six months to a year. I remember, it took about a good year before I was able to consistently retain information without re-reading so much. My mind would often wander and I would lose the context.


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## AThornquist (Jan 22, 2012)

Does reading the PB count? That will drastically effect my answer.


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## Zach (Jan 23, 2012)

AThornquist said:


> Does reading the PB count? That will drastically effect my answer.



Agreed!


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## Rufus (Jan 25, 2012)

Zach said:


> AThornquist said:
> 
> 
> > Does reading the PB count? That will drastically effect my answer.
> ...



Also agreed


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## Constantlyreforming (Jan 25, 2012)

I'd say that counts.


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## Brother John (Jan 28, 2012)

There are several HEAVY readers on the poll


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## jandrusk (Jan 28, 2012)

I have never really tracked it, but at least 3 hours a day that consists of course of daily bible reading ( 6 chapters a night), technical books and manuals, along with theology, and some fiction. I actually try to read whenever I can outside of my normal duties. I found this to be the case with Machen and Van Til as well.


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## Rich Koster (Jan 28, 2012)

Brother John said:


> There are several HEAVY readers on the poll



My weight loss plan bombed, sue me.


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## Zach (Jan 28, 2012)

Rich Koster said:


> Brother John said:
> 
> 
> > There are several HEAVY readers on the poll
> ...



 That was pretty hilarious, Rich!


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## PaulCLawton (Jan 28, 2012)

CharlieJ said:


> Brother John said:
> 
> 
> > Charlie do you highlight or write in your books? When you summarize do you wait till the end of the chapter or just summarize as you go?
> ...



No one would disagree with your first assertion, but I wonder about the second. What do you mean by "it's fleeting"? I heard a quote recently, something to the effect of "The fact that you can't remember something does not mean it didn't shape you in some way" and it resonated with me. Possibly just because it serves to assuage some of my guilt over all the books I have read and forgotten...


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## baron (Jan 29, 2012)

PaulCLawton said:


> No one would disagree with your first assertion, but I wonder about the second. What do you mean by "it's fleeting"? I heard a quote recently, something to the effect of "The fact that you can't remember something does not mean it didn't shape you in some way" and it resonated with me. Possibly just because it serves to assuage some of my guilt over all the books I have read and forgotten...



I hope that is true! I read 12 books so far this year and still have a hard time remembering what I read. Even reading some of the posts confuse me after I have read them a few times.


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## 3John2 (Jan 29, 2012)

Due to the nature of my work, a private music teacher, I would get to read quite a bit before. Somewhere around 4-6 hrs a day. I would get to do about 2-3 books a week depending on the length. Now I'm attending both seminary & college so my time is severely restricted so I'm not sure. I've still managed to get through about 3 books so far this year which is REALLY slow for me but like I said I hardly have any time now. I started waking up an hour earlier so I could put in more time & have gotten into the habit of carrying a book WHEREVER I go, so I can cram 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there etc. They add up to over an hour more per day. Anyways hopefully I can get through at least 100 books this year. I figure during the summer I'll do a crash & go on a tear & put in 8+ hours a day for 2-3 months to make up.


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## Raine (Jan 29, 2012)

Probably 2-3 hours a day now, if you include close to an hour a day reading out loud to my son (we do one story from a children's bible, or straight from scripture, each morning and at night, plus one or two other short books or stories a day). I used to read a whole lot more, because I had a night shift job that mainly consisted of being on the premises and staying awake, but it's harder to find the time with a very high energy toddler around. I've always been a fast reader though, so I can cover a lot in a few hours. I'm also in the habit of carrying a book in my purse, so I can read when I'm on the go or waiting for something.


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