In October 2015, Time reported that 28% of Americans had not read a book in the past year. This figure has increased by 7% since 2011. It may not seem like a lot, but what is it that is really stopping people from reading? Is it that in this fast paced world we now live in, it’s impossible to simply find the time? We’ve decided to dig a bit deeper on this topic and find out how to read more books.

Apparently novelist Agatha Christie would read two hundred books each year, and President Theodore Roosevelt would read one book a day. These people, we’re sure you will agree, wouldn’t be categorised as having all the time in the world - so how can you read more in 2016? With an increasing amount of our attention being devoted to technologies such as television, social media and the internet in general, as well as other activities, time may seem to be under constraint. However, can technology also enable us to read more? With tablets, eReaders and mobile phones it’s easier than ever to carry books around with us wherever we travel. This isn’t really much of a secret, but our first word of advice would be to invest in an eReader or simply download a free application to your smartphone or tablet. Even if you just have a few minutes spare, you’re ready to read.

Now, we’re certainly not advocating not paying for books, but there are now applications where you can read books for free. The main one being Wattpad, where aspiring novelists go to write their potential books and upload them for the world to read. So if one of your reasons for not wanting to read is due to the cost of books and eBooks, then you still have an option. If you’re not pulled in by the idea of reading off an electronic screen, then of course that’s not the only choice.

Agatha Christie and President Roosevelt most certainly weren’t using eReaders for obvious reasons. Maybe you want to really challenge yourself this year and cram in as many books as possible. If this is the case then the art of speed reading might be something that you want to consider. Speed reading is achieved through a range of techniques to improve people’s ability to read fast. These methods include, skimming, meta guiding, chunking and subvocalisation.

Hopefully now you’ll have no excuse not to read and whilst you’ve got books on your mind, why not take a look at our latest titles?