Unlimited Reading in 2025
How I read over 100 books per year
A Harvard study found that top-performing CEOs (and most billionaires) read more books than average, up to four books a month. Last year, I managed to double that number.
I love reading… and often have multiple books on the go and sometimes read more than ten books per month. It is one of the few “guilt-free” luxuries that I allow myself to indulge in relentlessly. I am a member of a book club with friends from school. I enjoying reading biographies of founders, inventors, and business leaders.
I am a sucker for all the usual suspects in the non-fiction best-sellers aisle. There is no end of information, adventure, and entertainment to be found within the pages of books and over time I have accumulated a bunch of great tools to help me find new books and services which will allow me to read as many books as I can every month. As this is often a new year’s resolution, I thought I would put together my top book hacks.
"The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read," - Mark Twain
Book Hack 1: Digital and Unlimited Subscriptions
Audible Membership
Audible, Amazon's audiobook platform, lets you listen to professionally narrated books anywhere. There are over 200,000 titles. It's perfect for multitasking - I listen while commuting, exercising, or doing chores.
I've built a library of over 158 titles on Audible, and I've learned a lot about maximising value from their different subscription plans:
Monthly Plan: Currently, I pay £95.88/year (£7.99 per book/month) for 12 credits
Annual 12-Credit Plan: £69.99/year (£5.83 per book)
Annual 24-Credit Plan: £109.99/year (£4.54 per book)
I'm upgrading to the annual 24-credit plan this year—I wish I'd discovered these cheaper annual options sooner! Beyond the credits, all plans include unlimited access to the Plus Catalogue, featuring thousands of free titles. Best of all, any audiobooks you purchase are yours to keep, even if you cancel your subscription. I use Audible primarily for books I want to keep in my permanent collection or expect to revisit.
Get a Audible Trial here - affiliate link*.
Kindle Unlimited Membership
In addition to audible, I have been a kindle unlimited member since 2015. Subscribers gain access to over 3 million titles, including around 20,000 audiobooks that feature Audible narration and can borrow up to 10 titles at a time. Kindle unlimited is the platform I find most helpful for business and non-fiction books, especially books which have diagrams and illustrations.
Get a 30 day Free Trial of Kindle Unlimited here - affiliate link*.
BookBeat
BookBeat offers audiobook listening for a flat fee based on hours used (currently I have a £17.99 plan/month for 100 hours). The average length of an audiobook typically ranges from 8 to 12 hours. This could potentially mean you can listen to up to 10 books per month (subject to length). I find it can be a good option for reading a range of books to have in the background. If you listen short books, this can be very cost-effective compared to Audible's credit system.
Give it a 90 day Free Trial of Bookbeat here - affiliate link*
Spotify Premium
I have been a Spotify Premium member for years. Spotify now offers 15 hours of audiobook listening per month included in its subscription, with the option to top up additional hours (£9.99 for 10 hours). It is an “integrated” perk on the premium spotify plan. I use Spotify for shorter books, as a place to test out new audiobooks, or for supplementary listening. The Spotify book interface is not as intuitive to use as dedicated book platforms. I sometimes find that I cannot find my place easily if I try a number of books.
Book Hack 2: Reading at 2x Speed
There are a number of videos and hacks around speed reading books. I personally prefer to read physical and digital books at my own pace… however I listen to most audiobooks at 1.7 - 2x speed. Once I got used to speed reading audiobooks (especially non-fiction), it become my preferred way to consume books! It means that I can get through many more books in a short space of time.
In terms of word count, non-fiction books typically fall between 50,000 to 80,000 words. An audiobook with a word count of 80,000 words would typically translate to about 8 hours of audio when narrated at a standard pace. At 2x speed, the means that you can consume a book in 4 hours which can be done over an afternoon or over two days with a very manageable 2 hours per day. I like reading on my way to and from work.
Business and Self-Help: These books often target around 40,000 to 70,000 words, focusing on delivering actionable insights quickly.
Memoirs and Biographies: These can be longer, often ranging from 60,000 to 110,000 words, depending on the depth of content and storytelling.
Academic or Research-Based Non-Fiction: Such works may extend beyond 80,000 words, particularly if they include extensive data and analysis.
Book Hack 3: Youtube and Podcasts
Before committing to a book, I search for podcasts or presentations by the authors. These previews offer excellent insights into the book's themes and help me decide if it's worth reading in full. Listening to an author discuss their work for an hour reveals their writing style, personality, and expertise on the subject. These interviews also highlight the book's key arguments and most compelling sections, helping me make informed decisions about my time and money.
This approach offers an unexpected benefit: sometimes the podcast or presentation provides enough valuable information that reading the entire book becomes unnecessary. Other times, hearing the author's passion and insights makes me even more eager to dive into the full text, confident that I'm investing my time wisely. Over the years, this method has helped me build a more targeted and enjoyable reading list.
One of my favourite biography podcasts is Founders. It's a hidden gem that provides useful summaries into the lives of impactful entrepreneurs and business leaders . The host, David Senra, has this incredible knack for extracting powerful lessons from each founder's journey and teasing out the lesser-known details from their lives.
Book Hack 4: Join Book Clubs
Joining a book club is a good way to keep accountability. It is also great to discuss the books that you have read with others . I am a member of a book club and a few online book discussion groups (which provide good recommendations). I also went with a friend to Rebel Book Club.
Book Hack 5: Recommendations & Best Sellers
The best source of recommendations are friends or people you respect. I have also been fortune to have been gifted books from authors that I know. When someone you admire suggests a book, it often comes with a personal endorsement that speaks volumes about its value. These recommendations are usually based on shared interests or experiences, making them more likely to resonate with you. Plus, discussing these books with the person who recommended them can lead to deeper insights and a more enriching reading experience. Below are some books that I look forward to diving into in 2025!
Recommended non-fiction books on tech and innovation
Learning to Build - Bob Moesta*
A groundbreaking guide to understanding customer needs through the innovative “Jobs-to-be-Done” framework, offering entrepreneurs practical insights into product development and market strategy.
A comprehensive, actionable roadmap for achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, blending technological innovation, policy recommendations, and strategic leadership approaches to combat climate change.
Possible: Ways to Net Zero - Chris Goodall*
An expert exploration of breakthrough technologies poised to revolutionise climate mitigation, covering renewable energy, carbon capture, sustainable transportation, and transformative environmental solutions.
Zero to IPO - Frederic Kerrest*
A definitive playbook for startup founders, detailing the critical stages of scaling a business from initial concept through successful public offering, drawing from extensive experience in Silicon Valley.
Corporate Explorer - Nathan Furr*
An innovative blueprint for large organisations to cultivate startup-like agility, offering strategies to overcome institutional barriers and systematically drive breakthrough innovation within established corporate structures.
Whilst I have a tendency to read strictly in accordance with my personal tastes, I find it is also useful to look for books that other people have enjoyed.
Other useful resources
So Brief - book summaries
Google Scholar: An excellent starting point for academic research, including books and AI-related publications.
Google Books: Contains over 40 million books, including many in the public domain.
Project Gutenberg: Offers over 60,000 free e-books, primarily digitized versions of out-of-copyright works.
Internet Archive: Provides access to millions of free e-books in the public domain.
OAPEN Library: Contains freely accessible academic books, mainly in Humanities and Social Sciences.
Directory of Open Access Books: Provides access to open access books from various publishers across disciplines.
Rebel Book Club - Library list of books read by the book club
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. These are indicated with a star or affiliate label.
