The Day I Read 7 Books

Last month there was a day that I decided that I was going to read from dawn until dusk. It worked pretty well but, by 4 in the afternoon I lost my concentration. The cool part was that I did read 7 books in one day. I wonder if there are any other challenges that I want to try before I am finished with this crazy experiment. I think that I have read books from a very wide variety of genres. I have read books from genres I didn't even know existed like the Redneck Dictionary or 50 Jobs Worse than Yours.

I have also become more of a picky reader but, at the same time less picky of a reader. I will read almost anything and I at least like, almost anything that I read but, at the same time I am very critical of the quality of the writing. I rarely abandon a book anymore. My challenge next year will be to find the best books to read and not read the 3 star kind of books.

Challenge to anyone reading this: Find a book in a genre that you don't normally read and read it!

The Lost Hero

Rick Riordan has done it again. I don't really know how he does it but he writes compelling stories every time. He released the first in the Kane Chronicles in May, a book that is over 500 pages, and then he released The Lost Hero, the first book in the Heroes of Olympus series, also over 500 pages in October. He is planning on releasing one in each of those series each year. That's amazing.

The Lost Hero was a book that I didn't want to put down and I'm so grateful that my nephew suggested it to his mom as a birthday present for me. I can't wait for the next installment. One of the things that I like about it is that it has three main characters and follows them through their adventure in a unique way. Every two chapters it changes who the chapters are about, rotating between the three main characters. It is amazing how he moves the story forward but, changes between the characters.

Can't wait for May when the Kane Chronicles 2 comes out!

65 to go

It's hard to explain where I am mentally right now with this goal. When I started I only thought a little about what it would be like to have read 300 books. This afternoon I finished my 3 hundredth book. I have been tinkering with the idea of stopping at 300 books because I have gotten busier this school year and it is harder to find time to read. I am applying to some PhD programs and I get to reflect on what I have learned about learning over the past ten months. I realize now that sometimes it is not the goal that is important but, what happens along the way. I will probably never read 365 books again in a year but, I will read a lot more than I did before. I already have some long books lined up for next year. If anyone has any suggestions for one of my final 63 I'd love to hear it.

Only 100 Books to Go

There are 94 days left in 2010 and I have 100 books to go. Lucky for me I have a week vacation coming up in two weeks and I plan on doing a lot of reading. I can almost taste the finish line.

Last night I read a book called 50 Jobs Worse than Yours by Justin Racz. I counted that I have had 6 of the jobs on his list. What I found reassuring is that my currect job isn't on there. It gives you a new perspective when you compare your job to a larvae wrangler or a rat catcher. The book had some funny parts but, overall got a 2 star rating.

My Shelf

Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

Still on pace!!!

That's right, boys and girls, Rachel is still on pace, having read 232 books in 231 days of 2010. Look at that list to the left. Amazing. I keep Rachel's list on a Microsoft Word document, and with double spacing, the document is now 10 pages long.

Her most recent favorite is 'Making a Good Brain Great' by Daniel Amen. You can check out its sysnopsis and details at Amazon.com. One quick hint: eat lots of blueberries.

Rachel sent me this via email, and I thought I would share it.

"I got a little daunted the other day about the thought of reading 140 more books. Then I was reading about marathon runners and how when they are running they don't think about 26 miles they just take it in small steps. That is what I am doing now; I am just looking at it one week at a time. I have stopped thinking about the finish line and I am focusing on smaller goals."

Yeah! Keep going!

Favorite authors and most thought-provoking books

Favorite Authors
5. Tony Buzan (books about the mind)
4. Rick Riordan (fantasy/adventure)
3. Dan & Chip Heath (business)
2. Cornelia Funke (fantasy)
1. Seth Godin (self realization)

Most Thought-Provoking Books
6. 'The Woman Who Can't Forget' by Jill Price & Bart Davis
5. 'The Drunkard's Walk' by Leonard Mlodinow
4. 'The Art of Learning' by Josh Waitzkin
3. 'My Stoke of Insight' by Jill Bolte Taylor
2. 'Creativity'
1. 'Mindset' by Carol Dweck

Some interesting facts of Rachel's journey

• Of the 193 books she's red so far, she's read 153 different authors.
• Her longest streak of days in a row finishing a book: 20 (Jan 1-20)
• Most books finished in one day: 4 (April 10 and May 29)

Q&A: Pondering what she's read, versus bing literacy

Today's question comes from loyal reader and avid blogger Christy Nelson from Lincoln, Neb.

Question: Are you able to really take the time to ponder what you've just read or do you feel like you have to move on to the next book quickly in order to reach your goal?

That's a great question and one that I ask myself all of the time. I often wish that I had more time to ponder what I have read in certain books. The pace is very strenuous and I have to move to the next book quickly but, I have learned so much and I have become a better person through doing this. There have been many things that I have incorporated into my life like how to how help my brain let things that are bugging me go (I learned this from 'The Open Focus Brain'). I learned the power of analogies and metaphors and started to use them with my students (from a book by Rick Wormeli called 'Metaphors and Analogies').

One night when I was in an emotional funk I read 'The Big Moo' by Seth Godin and it really got me out of a bad place emotially and into a great place. I've learned how to present my ideas better, how to get more energy, how to teach reading, and how to bring my creativity out.

I have come to love fiction books over the past six weeks as well more than ever. I just read one book the other day and it was crazy to sit down and three hours later finish a 264-page book. Before this year I would have never thought I could do that. I've learned that we are capable of a lot more than we think. Actually I have learned so much and grown so much and that is what really drives me to keep going.

Next year I don't think that I will read so many books. I think that I will read maybe just a hundred books (editor's note: wimp!) and take time to ponder them more. I think that I will go back and reread some of my favorites from this year as well. I guess I look at it like this: I may have learned more from individual books if I took more time to read each one but, on the other hand I have learned a ton about a lot of different topics. In the world of food my experience can be compared to an all you can eat buffet which in this case results in binge literacy.

Q&A: How did this start? How does she chose books?

How did this journey start?
I was inspired to start this goal by two books. Last year I read probably 3 or 4 books, but one of them gave me a great insight. It was written by Pat Williams who is an NBA executive who has 19 children, including 14 adopted from nations around the world. In it he mentions that he is a voracious reader, which is a phrase I have seen describing many of the great geniuses I have read about. Pat talks about how he reads 4 to 6 books a week and may have ten or more open at the same time. This really intrigued me. I didn't know it was possible to read that many books. I thought that it had to take like a week or two to read just about any book except for something like Harry Potter.

So when I first set out it was to read a book a week. Then pretty soon I said that 100 books in a year sounded a lot cooler so I was going to read two books a week. That seemed like a lofty goal but I was up to the challenge. Then on January first I read a book called 'My Stroke of Insight' by Jill Bolte Taylor. She talks about our brains and what they are capable of and how they can do so much more than what we think. So was also a voracious reader except for the time during her life when she couldn't read because of her stroke. I read the entire book on New Years Day. That's when it sparked it in my brain that I could read a book a day. I wrestled with the idea of reading one every day because I knew that some days I wouldn't have a lot of time to read and others I would have a lot more time so I made the goal 365 in 365 and to average a book a day. For the first few weeks I did read a book every day. I think that has been my longest streak. I will probably break it during the summer.

It has been one of the best decisions of my entire life. I have learned so much and have become a better person and it pains me to think that if I wouldn't have read all those books and implemented the ideas that I would have missed out on a lot of growth. Next year I may slow down the pace a little bit, but we'll see.

How do you choose the book?
The number one way that I choose books are the books that are cited or recommended in the books that I enjoy. If a book is recommend in another book I will try it and I have enjoyed almost every book that I have found this way. When you read nonfiction books and people are talking about their ideas you sometimes feel like you know the author and that they know you. I trust their recommendations because I like their ideas.

Another way I choose books is through the Amazon recommendations list. I have found many books that way. I didn't repeat authors for the first 60 books or so, but now I repeat authors a lot more. I am preparing to be a language arts teacher this year so I look for young adult fiction that I can share with my students in the fall. I don't really look at reviews or other people's ratings. I also have the rule that if I don't like a book I can abandon it. There are only two books that I can remember that I wish I had abandoned: 'Five People You Meet in Heaven' and 'Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity.' For many of the books there is a chain where one book lead to another and that book lead to another and so on. I would like to read some more that are recommended by people but I have had a whole lot of recommendations.

Slight slow down

Rachel has slowed down a little, having read 143 books in 149 days through May 29th. This is mainly due to a problematic tooth that was driving her crazy. But after an emergency dentist visit, Rachel is back to her prolific reading ways. She finished four books on Saturday.

So don't tune out Rachel fans. She's will have 365 by the end of the year.

Can't find a bookmark

Update on what Rachel's reading coming soon, but until then, he are some fun tidbits:

• When you're actively reading 10 books at one time, it gets hard to find a bookmark.
• Rachel is currently reading 'Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention' by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (and yes I had to copy and past that name to ensure I got it right). It is one of her favorites, but it has slowed her down. Of course it has. Even the author's name took me 5 minutes to read.
• Rachel is often asked if she's getting sick of reading. The answer is no. She's as excited as the first day, and loving her journey.

More coming soon.

More books than you can hold

This is a picture of 60 of the books Rachel has read in 2010. Though she has purchased a lot of books, she's also checked out a lot from the library. She's also considering a Kindle or an iPad.

Past the Century Mark

101 days, 101 books. Book 100 was 'Food Rules' by Michael Pollan, suggested by Rachel's sister-in-law Courtney Mangum.

So far this has been an incredible journey, and Rachel has no intentions of slowing down. If you don't think she's going to get 365, you don't know Rachel.

More specifics about the journey coming soon.

Picking Book 100

Rachel is looking for suggestions for book No. 100. If you're interested in suggesting book 100, respond to this post or send us a tweet @365books365days.

She's currently on pace (94 books in 94 days) and has been inspired by some of the books she's ready recently. Here are some recent highlights.

• 'The Thank You Book' by Robin Friedman Spizman. 2/5 "Good ideas to say thanks, not a lot of substance"
• 'The Enoch Letters' by Neal A. Maxwell. 3/5. "Interesting way to think about the Old Testament"
• 'Throw Out Fifty Things' by Gaile Blanke. 5/5. "Down to earth"
• 'Paper, Rock, Scissors' by Len Fisher. 4/5. "Intro to game theory"
• 'Quirkology' by Richard Wiseman. 4/5. "Great for conversation starters"

She also loved a recent read, 'How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci' by Michael Gelb. "It's not the writing that has grabbed me," Rachel said. "But rather the ideas. It has ideas that I've read in my other favorites and it synthesizes them together. It may not be for everyone, but it definitely has been for me."

Short Take: A Woman's Remarkable Memory

Rachel has completed a few books in the last couple of days, including 'The Woman Who Can't Forget' by Jill Price, which she gave a 5/5. Here's Rachel's take:

"Amazing... This woman has a brain that is like the opposite of amnesia. She can remember everything she has done since she was eight. When she remembers it it is like it is actually happening. If you give her a date she remembers everything that happened that day and what day of the week the date happened on. It's a memoir where she's explaining how this has affected her life. It was a really fast read as well. Very readable and interesting."

She read this book after 'The Drunkard's Walk', which we talked about in a previous post as the densest read so far. Switching from 'The Drunkard's Walk' to 'The Woman Who Can't Forget' was a different experiences that Rachel describes as "like when you swing a heavy baseball pat and then the lighter bat is really light."

The other book was 'The Leap' by Rick Smith, which she gave a 4/5. Rachel's quick take: "A different way of looking at possibilities."

Short Take: An Olympian Drunkard's Usless Info

Here is Rachel's brief take on the last 5 books she's read.

'What Type Am I?' by Renee Baron. 3/5 -- Easy to understand Myers-Briggs

'The Last Olympian' by Rick Riordan. 5/5 -- Excellent series finale

'The Book of Useless Information' by Natalie Bontam. 1/5 -- Not for reading all the way through

'Small and Simple Things' by Marjorie P. Hinkley. 5/5 -- Renewing, uplifting, clever

'The Drunkard's Walk' by Leonard Mlodinow. 5/5 -- Challenging, enjoyable, thought provoking

Math, Mythology and Useless Information

When Stephen Hawking says something is an easy read, it's probably best to steer clear.

That's what he said about one of Rachel's latest conquests, 'The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Live' by Leonard Mlodinow. But Rachel loved the book and it continued to build on her fascination with math.

Here's how Hawking describes the book on Amazon.com:

"In The Drunkard’s Walk Leonard Mlodinow provides readers with a wonderfully readable guide to how the mathematical laws of randomness affect our lives. With insight he shows how the hallmarks of chance are apparent in the course of events all around us. The understanding of randomness has brought about profound changes in the way we view our surroundings, and our universe. I am pleased that Leonard has skillfully explained this important branch of mathematics."

Though she loved the book, because of its dense content, Rachel spent more time per page than any of the other books she's read so far.

She also completed 'The Last Olympian' by Rick Riordan, the 5th book in the 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians' series. The Percy Jackson books are some of the few fiction works that have made the list so far.

And finally, in the last post we talked about Rachel's most annoying book, 'The Book of Useless Information.' Despite it's title and general uselessness, these 'facts' keep clogging her mind and her conversations. For example, did you know:

• You are more likely to be killed by a cow than a shark. (I never trusted cows.)
• That the average American spends 12 minutes in the shower.

Doesn't seem so useless to me. I think the best way to avoid death by cow is to spend a little more time in the shower.

The most annoying book

So far, Rachel's most annoying book (and one she hasn't finished yet) is 'The Book of Useless Information' by Noel Botham. Here's how the book is summarized at Amazon.com:

"One person's useless information could prove invaluable to someone else. Then again, maybe not. But to The Useless Information Society, any fact that passes its gasp-inducing, 'not-a-lot-of-people-know- that' test merits inclusion in this fascinating but ultimately useless book."

This is how Rachel summarizes her experience reading it:

"I feel like every time I read it, I'm actually further behind. I can't wait to be done with it. I would quite on it, but it seems to be playing mind games with me."

Useless information has a way of doing that to you.

Finding time to read

One of the top questions Rachel is asked about her quest (besides if she's lost her mind) is how she finds time to read so many books. These are some of her methods:

• Reading while watching TV. This is in direct conflict with AJ Jacobs experiment in 'The Guinea Pig Diaries' where he starts unitasking (in place of multitasking)
• Read at work during breaks
• Always have a book handy in case time becomes available
• Read shorter books like collections of poems or essays. (Rachel is not counting short children's books during her quest.)
• Make reading a social occasion -- do it with others
• Read for 20 minutes before going to bed
• Read while excercising (be careful)

Though Rachel doesn't technically speed read, all of this reading has made her much faster. She reads more than one word at a time, and skims uninteresting paragraphs. She doesn't skip parts of books, but if she's uninterested in the book, she'll put it down a book quickly if she doesn't like it. There are too many good books to read really bad ones.

Rachel's Top 10

Top 10 Books So Far

1. My Stoke of Insight
2. The Big Moo
3. The Art of Learning
4. Made to Stick
5. Happier
6. A Whole New Mind
7. When You Can't Do It Alone
8. The Guinea Pig Diaries
9. Freakonomics
10. Think Big

Update: Day 74

March 15, 2010 Update

Rachel has completed 72 books through 74 days. "Stay on target; stay on target."

She currently has started (but not completed) 11 different books, and she's committed to finish those 11 before moving on to any new ones. So if you've sent Rachel a suggestion, don't be insulted if she doesn't get to it for a week or two.

When you're basically reading a book a day, it warps your sense of time and money. So instead of thinking how much money something costs, she thinks of it in terms of book. When she goes out to eat, she's thinking, "That just cost me four books." And if a meeting gets canceled, she's gained like 80 pages. Her whole life is now framed in terms of reading and books.

Update: Day 71

March 12, 2010 Update

Rachel has now read 68 books through the first 71 days of 2010. A couple highlights from her year so far:

• She has read mainly non-fiction books, with leadership/management being the most likely topic.
• Her favorite book so far was her first: 'My Stoke of Insight' by Jill Bolte Taylor
• Her record for completing books in a day: 3. This was done on Feb. 14. That was 560 pages of non-fiction, including 'The Great Divorce' by C.S. Lewis.
• Her least favorite book was 'The Five People You Meet in Heaven' by Mitch Albom. She loved his first book, 'Tuesdays with Morrie', which she has not read in 2010.

More updates coming soon.

How it all started

Anyone reading this probably thinks my sister Rachel is nuts. Who would even attempt to read 365 books in one calendar year? Why would you even try it? Are there even 365 books worth reading? Lots of questions, and we've got the answers.

You have to understand something about my sister: she does nothing half way. She's all in, or she's out. She's like Tiger Woods, minus the infidelities, or Michael Jordan minus the gambling problems: driven to succeed at anything she does.

When we younger, she was determined to by Air Jordans as her shoes for the freshman basketball team, but there was no way my parents could afford them. So she saved every penny, had several of my brothers pay her to do their chores, and did anything my parents asked her to do to get a little cash. Not only did she get the Air Jordans, she had money left over. I think that was the same year I bought $25 Patrick Ewing shoes during my tour of the JV team because I had wasted all my money on comic books. It was like playing baskeball on roller skates.

So when a friend told Rachel that she had read 52 books in 2009, Rachel was impressed. She had wanted to read more, but 52 seemed too few. She needed to take it up a notch. But not just a couple notches, she decided to take it to 365. It's like hearing someone ran a 5K and then deciding the next day to sign up for the Iron Man.

At first, she was reluctant to publicize her goal. What if after 30 days she had read 10 books and abandoned her ambition? Well, that hasn't happened. As of day 68, she had read 67 books. So her ambition has not cooled, and her goal is still in sight. Because she's spending her free time reading, I (her brother Adam) have taken the mission of chronicling her adventures in reading. So at least once a week between now and Dec. 31, 2010, I will be providing updates on what she's reading, lessons she's learning, books she's loving, and other she's hating.

For more frequent updates, you can follow her adventures at Twitter: @365books365days.

Let the reading begin.