Xavier Shay on reading

Xavier Shay read 37 books last year, and more the year before. That puts him well beyond the reader I am, and very close indeed to the kind of reader I intend to become.

He was good enough to respond thoughtfully to some questions about his reading experience...

How fast do you read, and did you do anything to increase your speed?

I don’t have a metric - faster than average (measured by reading articles at the same time as others), but certainly not a speed reader.

I do scan some technical books if I’m mostly familiar with the content - am familiar in principle with some speed reading techniques but haven’t done anything to cultivate them.

Don’t have much desire to read faster, so haven’t worked on it. Reading for me is about putting my brain in a thinking state (“A book is a machine to think with”), speed seems orthogonal to this.

Would be useful in some circumstances though so something I will work on at some point.

How many hours do you read each week and do you have a schedule for when to do it?

Maybe... 10? I read every day. Often I’ll read a technical book for 20-30 minutes before work. Almost always will read something non-code for 30-60 minutes before bed.

I’m normally reading 2-3 books at a time.

What mediums do you read? (physical books, Kindle, iPad, computer)

Physical books. I’m pretty anti-gadget (in general), but starting to think maybe investigating a Kindle might be worthwhile.

Do you have a system for note taking or highlighting?

No. I’ve always been terrible at this. Am actually trying to figure out a good system now - I’m prepping a talk and trying to remember where I’ve read quotes I want to use.

Probably will just be a text file in Dropbox. Lo-fi tools are the best.

Did you have a specific motivation for increasing your reading?

I was reading “Letters to a Young Contrarian” by Christopher Hitchens, and he mentions that he reads everyday, no matter what. That seemed a sensible plan. Books are far and away the best tool I’ve found for thinking, reflecting, learning, and in general becoming a better, happier person.

What’s your advice to others who plan to read more?

Commit to reading everyday for a month, even if it’s only a few pages. (Reddit/Hacker News doesn’t count.) Cross off the days on the calendar. It’s only a month.

I started doing this 19 Oct 2010, and haven’t missed a day since.

More advanced, keep a list of books you want to read, and make sure you always have a couple of unread on hand. I use Goodreads for this. It has been really good for finding new things to read too.