How I Was Able to Read (and Mostly Retain) 1,200+ Books in the Last 10 Years

Matt Karamazov
3 min readNov 9, 2023

Using 3 simple strategies that literally anyone can use

Image: The Competitive Advantage

Consider this great quote about reading from Warren Buffet’s business partner, Charlie Munger:

“In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn’t read all the time — none, zero. You’d be amazed at how much Warren reads — at how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I’m a book with a couple of legs sticking out.”

Now, for me to read 1,200+ books in the last 10 years, I had to read pretty much constantly too.

I’m not saying that it’s attainable for everybody, and I’d even go so far as to say that it’s not even NECESSARY for everybody.

You’ll get much further by reading 10 fantastic books and applying them than you will by reading 1,000 books and doing nothing with them.

That being said, for reasons that will become clear further down in this email, reading gave me my life back.

I owe much of my success and fulfillment in life to reading great books, and most people don’t need to read fewer books. They need to read more.

Nowadays, I read 100+ books a year (with GREAT, but not PERFECT comprehension and retention), and these 3 things help me tremendously:

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Matt Karamazov

🥇 The Most Disciplined Man on the Planet 📚 Read 1,302 Books in Just 10 Years 💪🏻 Strong Believer in Human Potential ⤵️ https://thereadinglife.beehiiv.com/