52 Books in 52 Weeks

What I learned from reading/listening to 1 book per week.

The greatest accomplishment I felt at the end of the year was completing my goal of reading and listening to an average of 1 book per week, or 52 books in 52 weeks. I got the idea from a friend to accomplished this task in 2020. Generally, I have set goals to read 1 book per month and I often don't hit that goal. So this was a big, hairy, audacious goal for me! But, I really wanted to do it.

How I tracked my books

After setting this goal, I created a spreadsheet on Google Sheets. I listed a number of books that I wanted to read throughout the year. The great thing about having this goals was that I didn't feel like I had to be picky. Instead it was more of a matter of trying to find books to add! All those audiobooks that I have purchased with credits on Audible and haven't taken the time to listen to, I could now add to my list.

The spreadsheet was pretty simple. I had the following columns for each book:

Title
Author
ISBN
My Rating
Binding (Audiobook, Hard copy, Kindle)
Total Minutes (audiobook)
Pages (hard copy or kindle)
Date Added
Date Read

Some of the fields I added so I could export this list and import it into Goodreads.

This also helped me keep a stats tab to show how I was progressing on my goal. I had an over/under number how many books I was ahead or behind my goal based on the current week. The was calculated based on the date read column.

Audiobooks

Throughout this post, I may say that I "read" a book, when I actually listened to it. Please just go along with it! 🤓

I am not much of a reader. I don't enjoy reading and I get tired quickly when I start reading. So, I figured the only way I would accomplish this goal was to use audiobooks. Of course, not all books I wanted to read had an audiobook available for it. In that situation, I either read the book, or I created an audiobook to listen to!

I found that I could export Kindle books to basic text files. I created a script that could then use text-to-speech to generate audio that I could compile into an audiobook. Here is a blog post describing how I did that.

I should mention that I updated the script to use Amazon Polly or Google Text-to-speech API to get better text-to-speech output than the Mac say command provides. You can use these API to convert up to 10K words per month for free I believe.

Search my blog for Audiobooks to see more posts about audiobooks, using Plex, and other topics I may add in the future on the subject.

A few people have asked how I find the time to read so many books. Again, the answer would have to be Audiobooks. I am busy and I don't think I would make the time to read this much. The beauty of audiobooks is that I can often multi-task. There are certain activities that don't require a lot of thinking that allow me to listen to books and stay focused while also doing that task at hand. The most common activies where I find I listen to audiobooks are:

Driving
Cleaning the house
Doing yard work
Exercising (lifting weights, treadmill, bike)

Staying focused

The spreadsheet was really the best tool I had in staying focuses and motivated. I used the Tab Snooze extension to open this spreadsheet on weekly basis to make sure I didn't forget to keep it updated. But, generally when I finished a book, I was quick to update the spreadsheet to see my goal progress.

Books I Completed

Atomic Habits by James Clear (5 hours 39 minutes)
The Gifts of Imperfect Parenting by Brene Brown (2 hours 6 minutes)
Lectures on Faith by Joseph Smith (2 hours 27 minutes)
The Power of Stillness by Jacob Z. Hess (7 hours 45 minutes)
The End from the Beginning by Avraham Gileadi (4 hours 5 minutes)
The Holy Invitation by Anthony Sweat (1 hour 41 minutes)
Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin (2 hours 25 minutes)
The Case for Keto by Gary Taubes (8 hours 59 minutes)
As a Man Thinketh by James Allen (0 hours 55 minutes)
Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum by John Taylor Gatto (3 hours 19 minutes)
Becoming Kings and Queens of the Gentiles by Avraham Gileadi (2 hours 55 minutes)
Understanding Your Endowment by Cory B. Jensen (5 hours 38 minutes)
Prayers That Matter by Robert Millet (1 hour 1 minute)
The 4-Hour Body by Timothy Ferris (3 hours 51 minutes)
Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg (11 hour 22 minutes)
Joseph Smith's Seer Stones by Nicholas J. Frederick and Michael Hubbard MacKay (256 pages)
Considering the Cross by Jake Hilton (6 hours 10 minutes)
Revelations in Context by The Church (10 hours 21 minutes)
He Chose the Nails by Max Lucado (3 hours 35 minutes)
Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage (22 hours 42 minutes)
Whatever Happened to Faith? by Robert L. Millet (5 hours 46 minutes)
Wanta! Black Swan, White Hat by Lee E. Wanta (13 hours 44 minutes)
Odds Are You're Going to Be Exalted by Alonzo L. Gaskill (2 hours 53 minutes)
One by One by David A. Bednar (4 hours 7 minutes)
The Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin (24 hours 21 minutes)
Be Not Troubled by Ronald A. Rasband (2 hours 19 minutes)
The Heavens Are Open by Wendy Watson Nelson (2 hours 57 minutes)
Prophecy and Modern Times by Cleon Skousen (2 hours 58 minutes)
Anxious for Nothing by Max Lucado (3 hours 34 minutes)
Traffic Secrets by Russell Brunson (6 hours 58 minutes)
The Heavenly Man by Brother Yun (9 hours 52 minutes)
The Divided Mind by John E. Sarno (6 hours 19 minutes)
Make Your Bed by William H. McRaven (1 hour 53 minutes)
10% Happier by Dan Harris (7 hours 50 minutes)
You Need a Budget by Jesse Mecham (4 hours 54 minutes)
The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale (3 hours 46 minutes)
The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, George Spafford (14 hours 46 minutes)
The Fearless Mind by Craig L. Manning (3 hours 47 minutes)
Smart Money Smart Kids by Dave Ramsey, Rachel Cruze (7 hours 19 minutes)
Book of Mormon by The Church (28 hours 19 minutes)
Learn to Read Hebrew in 4 Weeks! by Orit Kamara (361 pages)
Book of Mormon by The Church (28 hours 19 minutes)
The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes (11 hour 33 minutes)
The Pilgrim Hypothesis by Timothy Ballard (6 hours 31 minutes)
Tragedy and Truth: What Happened at Hawn's Mill by History of the Saints (4 hours 31 minutes)
It's Not About You by Tom Rath (0 hours 54 minutes)
The Washington Hypothesis by Timothy Ballard (7 hours 39 minutes)
Doctrine & Covenants by The Church (14 hours 34 minutes)
The ONE Thing by Gary Keller (5 hours 28 minutes)
Moroni's Guide to Surviving Turbulent Times by John Bytheway (160 pages)
The Lincoln Hypothesis by Timothy Ballard (7 hours 44 minutes)
Beyond the Shade of the Mango Tree by Edward Dube (4 hours 57 minutes)

Stats

In 2021 I listed to 357 hours and 28 minutes worth of audiobooks! Granted, I often listen around 1.5 speed so it probably took more like 238 hours. But still, 238 hours! If you listed 8 hours per day to audiobooks, that would take 30 days.

I read three books with a total of 777 pages. (Jackpot).

This is not 100% accurate because there were a few of books that sometimes I read and sometimes I listed, or, I started reading then converted the book to an audiobook and finished by listening.

Highlights

After I completed my 52nd book near the end of December, I posted my list of books that I read on Facebook. The question I got asked the most was "What books stood out the most" or "What are your top 5" or something similar. I think most people look at the list as overwhelming and wanted to find a good read or two to add to their list.

Because I have pretty diverse list of books, I found the question kind of hard to answer. So here is my long winded answer...

Favorite Book

There was one book on the list that I read twice. So I guess technically, I only read 51 books in 2021. That book was The Book of Mormon. This is my favorite book and I read it every day. So, it will be on my list every year and probably will be read multiple times in a year. So if you have not read this book, this would be the #1 book I recommend.

Most Moving

Around Easter I read a few books focused on Jesus Christ. They were:

Considering the Cross by Jake Hilton (6 hours 10 minutes)
He Chose the Nails by Max Lucado (3 hours 35 minutes)
Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage (22 hours 42 minutes)

I had tried to read Jesus the Christ a couple of times when I was younger but I never made it very far. Listening to the book was just what I needed. I could not get enough of Christ. Yes, I have heard stories of Christ all my life. But, during this time I was like a sponge. I just wanted more and more. It is hard to really describe how these books affected me, but it was a spiritually moving time of year for me.

Most Surprising

The book that I was surprised that I liked so much was Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg. I have read a few books about Habits such as Atomic Habits (which was I read a second time in 2021), Habit Factor, Mini Habits. etc. I have heard the other books quote BJ Fogg. I just didn't think there would be much new information in this book. While reading the book, I wrote down a quote on a sticky note and it is still posted on my monitor as I type this. The quote is: "I change best by feeling GOOD, not by feeling bad." There were some really great nuggets in this book and I will likely add it to my 2022 reading list.

Most Impactful

I love Tim Ballard. I love what he is doing with Operation Underground Railroad. I am familiar with his story and the individuals in Haiti that led him to start O.U.R. because my father-in-law spent a lot of time in Haiti building an orphanage for him.

I didn't realize that Tim was also a great author. He has three books that really pulled me in and helped me see America in a greater light - the light of covenant Israel.

I read three books in the following order:

The Pilgrim Hypothesis by Timothy Ballard (6 hours 31 minutes)
The Washington Hypothesis by Timothy Ballard (7 hours 39 minutes)
The Lincoln Hypothesis by Timothy Ballard (7 hours 44 minutes)

I believe he wrote them in the reverse order, but I think reading them in chronological order like this was helpful. I have a greater respect for the pilgrims and Washington and Lincoln. I wish every American would read these books. Sadly, I think many in this country today would not have any interest and not even agree with them. But I found a lot of truth and light in these books.

Also, I later learned on Relative Finder that I am a direct descendent of some famous pilgrims. William and Mary Brewster are my 12th great grandparents. William Bradford is my 11th great grandfather. I learned on Relative Finder that I am tied to a lot of people I now have greater love and respect for. But the names listed above were direct ancestors.