I recently wrote about the importance of writing down the non-obvious.

The process of writing that essay prompted me to reflect on the things within my own life that feel non-obvious. One in particular that came to mind is how I read books: by reading two at once.

I sometimes struggle to find the motivation to sit and read for an extended period of time. It can be challenging with all of the other things vying for attention – email, social media, tv, texting friends, etc. My solution? Read two books at once.

At first glance, this should feel extremely counterintuitive. If reading one book at a time is challenging, why would doubling the amount of material to read make it at all easier? The answer – at least for me – is that it changed the frame of reference. Instead of making the decision “read book X” vs. literally anything else, it became “read book X” vs. “read book Y.” The insight was that I was much more likely to do something once I felt I had a choice in the matter; choosing between two books simply narrowed the scope of that choice to one in which I had already implicitly decided I was going to read.

Another factor in the success of this tactic might stem from the fact that I have a bad habit of buying a book based on the title or idea alone. Probably the best example was buying a book about the history of salt because I thought it would be exciting to learn about the history of such a universal and long-standing substance. It was not. Reading it was kind of a slog, and I probably made it halfway through before I tabled it for an indefinite time in the future. And the experience put me off of reading for a while. Had I tried reading it in parallel with another book, though, I think there’s a higher chance I wouldn’t have had such a negative experience. When you read two books at once, one will always feel more interesting by comparison. It’s kind of like how sometimes people are motivated to get a lot done when they’re desperately trying to procrastinate another task; every other task seems more reasonable by comparison.

Reading multiple books simultaneously can also create a feeling of productive urgency: it’s important to finish one book so that you can get to the other. Admittedly, once I finish one book, I’ll typically restart reading the other book only to get bored and push myself to find yet another book to pair it with. Sometimes that replacement book will be even more dry, though, making the initially boring book seem electric by comparison.

Of course, at this point you may be wondering why not just pick interesting books to read? Wouldn’t that solve the problem? For me, it’s not that simple. Sometimes there are dense topics that I’d like to learn more about. A good recent example is debt markets. I’ve been trying to read Debt: a 5000 Year History for maybe a month now. This history of credit systems is a topic that feels valuable to understand. But, the book is long. The text on the pages is small. And it has an almost overwhelming amount of detail. So, I’ve been making gradual progress, intermissioned by books with topics I find more vibrant. [1] And as a result, I’ve probably read more of the book than if I had tried reading it in isolation. Counterintuitive, non-obvious, but useful.

I’m sharing this mostly because it feels like an essay I’d enjoy reading. Hopefully anyone that’s made it this far has enjoyed it as well. And maybe, if you’re like me and have sometimes found focusing / reading to be somewhat of a struggle, this tactic can help you, too.

1. If you’re wondering if this is actually a word, it’s not. Intermission is. But the verb form isn’t. However, it felt like it fit so I went with it.

I recently wrote about the importance of writing down the non-obvious.

The process of writing that essay prompted me to reflect on the things within my own life that feel non-obvious. One in particular that came to mind is how I read books: by reading two at once.

I sometimes struggle to find the motivation to sit and read for an extended period of time. It can be challenging with all of the other things vying for attention – email, social media, tv, texting friends, etc. My solution? Read two books at once.

At first glance, this should feel extremely counterintuitive. If reading one book at a time is challenging, why would doubling the amount of material to read make it at all easier? The answer – at least for me – is that it changed the frame of reference. Instead of making the decision “read book X” vs. literally anything else, it became “read book X” vs. “read book Y.” The insight was that I was much more likely to do something once I felt I had a choice in the matter; choosing between two books simply narrowed the scope of that choice to one in which I had already implicitly decided I was going to read.

Another factor in the success of this tactic might stem from the fact that I have a bad habit of buying a book based on the title or idea alone. Probably the best example was buying a book about the history of salt because I thought it would be exciting to learn about the history of such a universal and long-standing substance. It was not. Reading it was kind of a slog, and I probably made it halfway through before I tabled it for an indefinite time in the future. And the experience put me off of reading for a while. Had I tried reading it in parallel with another book, though, I think there’s a higher chance I wouldn’t have had such a negative experience. When you read two books at once, one will always feel more interesting by comparison. It’s kind of like how sometimes people are motivated to get a lot done when they’re desperately trying to procrastinate another task; every other task seems more reasonable by comparison.

Reading multiple books simultaneously can also create a feeling of productive urgency: it’s important to finish one book so that you can get to the other. Admittedly, once I finish one book, I’ll typically restart reading the other book only to get bored and push myself to find yet another book to pair it with. Sometimes that replacement book will be even more dry, though, making the initially boring book seem electric by comparison.

Of course, at this point you may be wondering why not just pick interesting books to read? Wouldn’t that solve the problem? For me, it’s not that simple. Sometimes there are dense topics that I’d like to learn more about. A good recent example is debt markets. I’ve been trying to read Debt: a 5000 Year History for maybe a month now. This history of credit systems is a topic that feels valuable to understand. But, the book is long. The text on the pages is small. And it has an almost overwhelming amount of detail. So, I’ve been making gradual progress, intermissioned by books with topics I find more vibrant. [1] And as a result, I’ve probably read more of the book than if I had tried reading it in isolation. Counterintuitive, non-obvious, but useful.

I’m sharing this mostly because it feels like an essay I’d enjoy reading. Hopefully anyone that’s made it this far has enjoyed it as well. And maybe, if you’re like me and have sometimes found focusing / reading to be somewhat of a struggle, this tactic can help you, too.

1. If you’re wondering if this is actually a word, it’s not. Intermission is. But the verb form isn’t. However, it felt like it fit so I went with it.