I read 40 books last year using the 20-page rule

I used to start ten books a year and finish three. Last year I finished forty, and the only thing that changed was one rule: every book gets 20 pages, then a verdict.

Twenty pages is enough to know. Not whether the book is good — whether it is good for me, right now. If the answer is no, it goes back, guilt-free, and the next one starts tonight.

The rule sounds like it is about quitting, but it is actually about starting. Knowing I can bail cheaply made me pick up books I would have called too hard or not my thing. A third of my favorites last year came from that pile.

Reading died for most people somewhere between the books they should finish and the books they actually want. The 20-page rule is just permission to want.