Araz Gholami

The reason books and reading have existed for 5,000 years without becoming obsolete is simple: because they work. Reading makes you know more, understand more, make better decisions, and live better. Reading is something everyone wants to do more of. If you don’t read at all, you want to read a few. If you read a few, you want to read many more. And if you already read a lot, you feel regret for the thousands of great books you don’t have time for.

Before this, read: How to Find Time for Reading?

To make time for reading, plan your life. If not, that’s fine too—just keep reading this post.

The key (at least for me) when reading is to imagine yourself bigger than the book. In other words, don’t let the title or the length intimidate you. This mindset helps break the mental barrier against picking up any book. Just like an elementary school primer takes only a few minutes to finish, any other book—if you approach it the same way—won’t take more than a few days. Of course, be careful not to take this too far and think of yourself as some all-knowing scholar who looks down on what’s written.

Our reading method hasn’t changed since school. The common belief is that you have to read every single line of every book you pick up and even memorize it. That’s completely wrong and a leftover from the education system. The right way is to start with the table of contents, then read the sections most useful to you first. After that, go through complementary parts if needed, and accept that you’re not meant to memorize every sentence. Even reading any book casually, like a newspaper, will still shape how you think.

Now let’s get to English. The ideal option is to learn English. Or, if you already know some, give yourself the courage to read English books and listen to English audiobooks. Needless to say, an infinite new world will open up to you.

Then comes the resources. Almost every book worth reading can be found on Libgen. However, for starters, it’s better to begin with Blinkist. They’ve condensed every long, boring book into 15 minutes, highlighting the key points for you. It’s not free, but as someone whose most expensive non-physical purchase has been a year-long subscription, I can assure you it’s worth it. Other PDFs you’ve downloaded can be turned into audio using tools like Natural Reader and Speechfy—provided you don’t find a better-quality version on AudioBookBay. And if you still don’t find what you want, Audible audiobooks and Amazon’s physical/digital books are your ultimate destination.

For Persian books, if you don’t want hassle, the best option for text and audio is Fidibo and its competitors. They often have discounts and the prices are reasonable.

Now, here’s how to actually read a book: put on clothes suitable for a long walk, transfer the book to your phone, put your earbuds in, hit play, and start walking.