How many books do you usually read a year?

[Chebasaz]

My Amazon tag is "Voracious Devourer of the Written Word" which pretty well sums things up.

I probably go through 2 or 3 books a week. The Kindle has been a Godsend since I no longer fill up closets with old books. (I can't throw them away, it feels wrong.) The only downside is that I can't give the good ones to friends and I end up having to buy them a copy.

I try to read one "constructive book" for every five "fillers". It can be on any topic as long as some sort of personal growth is the goal. For example, I'm reading the "Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" right now. There's a lot of good stuff in there and I think it's free in the Kindle store if anyone wants to give it a try.

Usual genres are:

Science Fiction (Snow Crash, Robert Heinlein and Warhammer 40k for the win!)
Fantasy (Loves me some Robert Jordon)
Military Fiction (Clancy, Coots, Hemingway)
Self Help (Huge fan of Tim Ferris, Malcolm Gladwell, Dave Ramsey)
Fiction (Partial to the classics, but a good story is a good story)
Non-fiction (Usually biographies and histories)
Philosophy (It's been a few months, but "Letters from a Stoic" was the last one I read)
Westerns (My dad got me hooked on Louis L'Amour at an early age)


I will second, third and fourth the encouragements to learn to love reading. I know it can be a drag, but learning to love it when you're young will help you out so much in life. There is so much useful information out there that can seriously improve your life, but the chances of you finding it without reading are slim. Seriously.. Cannot stress it enough.