From time to time, it is claimed that those who spend too much time reading books are "missing out on life." But is this really a valid claim? Let's try to understand this question with a mathematical approach.
Time Spent Reading Books
Let's assume a person can read 1 page per minute and an average book has 200 pages. At this speed, a person who reads 1,000 books would have read a total of 200,000 pages. The time equivalent of this is 200,000 minutes or approximately 138 days (3,312 hours).
The average life expectancy in Turkey is accepted as 78 years. If a person starts reading at age 8, they can maintain this habit for 70 years. In this case, this person would dedicate an average of 1.97 days per year to reading.
Time Management in Daily Life
There are 365 days in a year, but we spend this time on basic needs and obligations:
- Sleep and rest: Calculating an average of 8 hours of sleep per day, 100 days per year are devoted to sleep.
- Working hours: A person working 8 hours a day spends approximately 80 days per year at work.
- Meals and other basic needs: When 2 hours are allocated daily, this amounts to 30 days per year.
- Other activities like haircuts: Assuming one 2-hour visit to the barber per month, this equals about 1 day per year.
As a result of this calculation, we have approximately 155 free days in a year. In other words, "what we call life" takes shape within these 155 days. How we use this time is entirely up to us.
The Impact of Reading
If you dedicate just 2 days per year to reading, you would have read 1,000 books over a 70-year lifetime. This doesn't mean missing out on the rest of life; on the contrary, it means a mind full of knowledge and journeys to different worlds.
Let's think bigger: If you dedicate 10 days per year to reading, you'll read 5,000 books in 70 years. Even at this amount, a large portion of your free time can still be used for other activities.
Reading is a way to make good use of time and enrich life. Dedicating a few days a year to reading is not disconnecting from life; on the contrary, it's an opportunity to see life from different perspectives. Let's not forget that knowledge is the most valuable treasure that makes us who we are, and books are one of the most effective ways to reach that treasure.
