“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss
People don’t read as much as they used to.
This is obvious because there are simply more entertainment options. In the past, you had 3 stations on a Zenith tube TV that was small with a fuzzy picture.
Now you have gigantic HD TVs with every TV show and movie imaginable at your fingertips. Plus everyone has a mini-supercomputer in their pocket that contains the sum knowledge of human history along with a million apps that you can use to waste your time for hours on end.
The competition for your eyeballs has never been greater.
A study published a few months ago by the University of Florida found that the number of Americans who read for pleasure on a daily basis has dropped by 40% over the past 20 years (from 28% in 2003 to 16% in 2023).
The Financial Times has a chart about the percentage of teenagers who read in their leisure time:
I’ll be honest I didn’t know anyone in my friend groups in high school or college who read in their leisure time but it’s obvious fewer people are reading books than ever before.
This is concerning on a number of levels.
Attention spans are getting shorter. People are getting more of their information from the headlines, social media or unreliable sources. The text we do reading is getting shorter and shorter.
I have conflicting views on what this means for society going forward.
Reading has had an enormous impact on my career.
But I didn’t start reading books on a regular basis outside of class until my senior year of college when I realized how far behind I was in real world knowledge.
In my first interview in the finance industry, the interviewer asked what my favorite book was.1 He said many of the other candidates didn’t have one. He wasn’t even looking for a particular answer. The idea was to find someone who enjoyed learning.
I got the job.
Growing up I was not the kid who read Barron’s and The Wall Street Journal on the weekends to keep up with the markets. I had no idea how the markets operated. The first day at my internship as an investment analyst, my boss told me to read every financial publication front-to-back every single day just so I could better understand what everyone around me was talking about.
That was a start.
There were no blogs, Substacks or podcasts back then so I began compiling a list of books to read. I asked every portfolio manager, analyst, economist and investment person I came into contact with for their 3-4 favorite investment books. They all went on the list.
Each book was highlighted and dog-eared. Those highlights then went into yellow legal pads by hand. I still have a stack of those notebooks and a bookshelf full of all the books I consumed:
I read about market history, legendary investors, investment strategies, personal finance, behavioral psychology, business leaders and more. I also got into reading fiction, which is useful for the creative side of your brain.
Reading helped me become a better analyst early in my career. It’s helped me become a better writer. It’s helped me become a better podcaster. Becoming a lifelong learner is the best career decision I have ever made.
But I had no other choice.
Today is a much better learning environment.
I talked to a college student last week who wanted some career advice. He already knows the exact industry, line of work and type of firm he does and does not want to work for out of college.
Maybe he doesn’t read as many books as I did but this kid is consuming investing blogs, newsletters and podcasts on a daily basis. His market knowledge is light-years beyond mine at that stage in life.
I think about this stuff a lot with my kids.
Their experience in the world is completely different than mine because of technological advancements.
Like most parents, I worry about social media, YouTube, artificial intelligence and short attention spans.
But I also think about the potential benefits of growing up in the information age. Every kid with an Internet connection is going to have an AI tutor in the coming years. It will understand their strengths and weaknesses to a degree that’s nearly impossible to achieve in the classroom.
The ability to learn has never been easier than it is today.
It’s also never been easier to waste your time staring at a screen all day.
My guess is, like most things in today’s world, there will be inequality in learning.
The people who have access and utilize all of the new learning techniques will thrive.
The people who do not will fall behind.
I just hope people still carve out some time to read a book here and there.
It’s a wonderful way to shut out the real world, clear your head and learn.
Further Reading:
7 Benefits of Writing
1I said Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose. I think it’s still my favorite book to this day.
