How To Get Better With Books | Jim Mullane | Modern Wisdom Podcast 177
Jim Mullane (guest), Chris Williamson (host), Narrator
In this episode of Modern Wisdom, featuring Jim Mullane and Chris Williamson, How To Get Better With Books | Jim Mullane | Modern Wisdom Podcast 177 explores build A Powerful Reading Habit: Beyond Book Counts And Hype Titles Chris Williamson and Jim Mullane (Get Better With Books) explore how to build a sustainable reading habit that actually improves your life, rather than just inflating vanity metrics like book counts.
Build A Powerful Reading Habit: Beyond Book Counts And Hype Titles
Chris Williamson and Jim Mullane (Get Better With Books) explore how to build a sustainable reading habit that actually improves your life, rather than just inflating vanity metrics like book counts.
They debunk common mistakes—forcing yourself to finish bad books, chasing speed and numbers, and pretending to like popular titles—and emphasize reading for genuine interest and practical application.
The conversation covers how to choose the right books, schedule reading, improve retention using analog note systems, and balance audiobooks with physical reading.
They finish with concrete recommendations across self-development, memoir, business, and fiction that serve as accessible entry points and deeper cuts for readers at different stages.
Key Takeaways
Stop forcing yourself to finish books you don't like.
Treat books like bad movies on Netflix—if a book isn't engaging after a fair attempt, put it down and move on instead of wasting time out of obligation or sunk cost.
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Ignore vanity metrics like book counts and reading speed.
Tracking how many books you read can distract from the real goal: understanding, retaining, and applying ideas that actually change your behavior or perspective.
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Build your reading habit around what genuinely interests you.
Start with topics, genres, and authors you’re naturally curious about so reading feels like leisure, not homework; once the habit exists, you can slowly expand into new areas.
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Schedule dedicated reading time and pair it with context.
Treat reading like training: carve out consistent daily blocks (e. ...
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Use active, analog methods to boost retention.
Read with a pencil/highlighter, mark and dog-ear key passages, then transfer core ideas to notebooks or note cards and review them weekly to reinforce long-term memory.
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Match format and book type to your learning style.
Use physical books for dense or technical self-development where you need deep retention, and reserve audiobooks for narrative, memoir, or concept-light reads that benefit from passive listening.
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Leverage a small set of high-impact books as foundations.
Start with accessible, actionable titles like Atomic Habits, How to Win Friends and Influence People, and Deep Work to build core skills in habits, social intelligence, and focus before branching out.
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Notable Quotes
“If you read 100 books in a month but you don’t retain anything, is it worth it, or are you just using that metric as a feather in your cap?”
— Jim Mullane
“You get to have the veneer of looking wise whilst not ever having to deploy any wisdom.”
— Chris Williamson
“If you don’t like a book, please do not waste the time. It’s kind of like watching a movie—if you hate it 15 minutes in, you don’t sit through the next hour.”
— Jim Mullane
“To be interesting, be interested.”
— Jim Mullane (quoting Dale Carnegie)
“Read what you love until you love to read.”
— Chris Williamson (referencing Naval Ravikant)
Questions Answered in This Episode
How can someone tell the difference between healthy discipline to finish a challenging but valuable book and simply forcing themselves through a bad one?
Chris Williamson and Jim Mullane (Get Better With Books) explore how to build a sustainable reading habit that actually improves your life, rather than just inflating vanity metrics like book counts.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
What personal system could I design—analog or digital—to regularly review and apply ideas from the books I read?
They debunk common mistakes—forcing yourself to finish bad books, chasing speed and numbers, and pretending to like popular titles—and emphasize reading for genuine interest and practical application.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Which book formats and times of day (physical vs audio, morning vs night) actually maximize my own comprehension and enjoyment?
The conversation covers how to choose the right books, schedule reading, improve retention using analog note systems, and balance audiobooks with physical reading.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Am I choosing books because they genuinely interest me, or because they’re popular and signal a certain identity to others?
They finish with concrete recommendations across self-development, memoir, business, and fiction that serve as accessible entry points and deeper cuts for readers at different stages.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
If I built my self-development foundation from scratch today, which 5–10 books would I select and how would I structure the order in which I read them?
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Transcript Preview
Back to your question about how to build a reading habit, it's that you need to be very honest with yourself about what you're interested in. And starting from, you know, having an idea of what, what piques your interest. I think if you can choose topics and, and books and, and authors that are focused on those interests, that is the best way to build a reading habit because then it does not feel like a chore. It really just feels like a, a leisure activity.
(wind blowing) Jim Mullane, how are you, my friend?
Pleasant. Doing well. Enjoying my, uh, lockdown in style here in my sweatpants and my sweatshirt. Doing well. Gotta be hon-
Enjoying that, enjoying that new mustache?
It's not new. Un- unfortunately, it's all I can grow.
That is, that's some serious 'stache going on there.
Yeah, so I like to tell people I'm a little follicly challenged, so I, I like to overcompensate with the mustache because it grabs people's attention, and then it veers the attention away from the fact that's all I can grow, so.
(laughs) Yeah. Yeah.
Focus on your strengths.
I get it, man. Peacocking, but only above the lip.
Yes. Eyes up, eyes up here.
(laughs) Yeah. Up top. Up top. Um, so your Instagram account, which is what a lot of people listening might know you for, Get Better with Books.
Yes.
How would you describe ... What is that? What is Get Better with Books?
Get Better with Books is currently the fastest growing Instagram page, uh, focused specifically on self-help, personal development, business-related books. It really just started as a, a creative endeavor where I could combine my, my interest in photography and my interest in reading and have, have something to do outside of my day job. But, uh, I've been doing it for almost two years now. May 15th will be my two-year anniversary running the page, and, uh, I think as of today, I'm a little over 85,000 followers. So I'm a little dumbfounded of h- how quickly it's grown and, and the fact that people enjoy seeing content specifically around books. But, uh, it's been a fun, fun journey so far.
Why do you think it is popular?
I think it ... For a couple different reasons. Number one, it, it speaks to, uh, the attitudes of a lot of people out there, not just, um, in the US but internationally speaking. If you take a look at some of the, uh, the data that I get to pull from the Instagram account, I'd say a third of my audience is US based, but the third's in Europe. Um, I'd say a overwhelming majority of people are from India. And I think it speaks to the psychographic of certain people who are just focused on developing themselves as an individual, right? They use books as a tool to, to better themselves, and I think it speaks to, uh, a lot of people who love reading, but more importantly, improving themselves.
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