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The Vergecast

Books are .epubs, .mp3s, and .mp4s, too

36 min episode · 2 min read

Episode

36 min

Read time

2 min

Topics

Career Growth, Productivity, Relationships

AI-Generated Summary

Key Takeaways

  • ✓Reading volume strategy: Morgan Book reads roughly 100 books per year by treating every idle five minutes as a reading opportunity — carrying a Kindle or Kobo everywhere and opening it during short waits rather than reaching for a phone. This micro-session habit, not long dedicated sittings, drives her annual total.
  • ✓Romance genre psychology: Romance novels dominate BookTok because they offer predictable story structures with guaranteed happy endings, providing emotional safety during periods of social and political uncertainty. Entry-level romantasy titles like Fourth Wing and A Court of Thorns and Roses work specifically because they avoid dense high-fantasy worldbuilding, lowering the barrier for new readers.
  • ✓Breaking a reading slump: Place your phone in a separate room, then select a book under 300 pages in a genre you already enjoy rather than chasing BookTok's most-promoted titles. Rereading a previously loved book also rebuilds the reading habit effectively, functioning like a low-intensity gym session after a long absence.
  • ✓Audiobook legitimacy: Audiobooks fully count as reading because the listener consumes the complete text, often spending more total time with a book than a visual reader would. Debating their validity actively discourages people from reading more, which is counterproductive given broader declines in reading habits across most demographics.
  • ✓Kindle buying framework: The new Kindle Paperwhite in aluminum remains the default recommendation for most readers despite its price increase above $150. The base Kindle now handles most needs at lower cost, while the ColorSoft suits only comic and graphic novel readers. E-readers justify higher prices because owners typically keep them five to ten years without needing upgrades.

What It Covers

David Pierce interviews BookTok creator Morgan Book on the state of reading in 2024. They cover why romance and romantasy dominate online book communities, whether audiobooks count as reading, how to escape phone-driven reading slumps, and a hands-on comparison of three new Kindle models including the Paperwhite and ColorSoft.

Key Questions Answered

  • •Reading volume strategy: Morgan Book reads roughly 100 books per year by treating every idle five minutes as a reading opportunity — carrying a Kindle or Kobo everywhere and opening it during short waits rather than reaching for a phone. This micro-session habit, not long dedicated sittings, drives her annual total.
  • •Romance genre psychology: Romance novels dominate BookTok because they offer predictable story structures with guaranteed happy endings, providing emotional safety during periods of social and political uncertainty. Entry-level romantasy titles like Fourth Wing and A Court of Thorns and Roses work specifically because they avoid dense high-fantasy worldbuilding, lowering the barrier for new readers.
  • •Breaking a reading slump: Place your phone in a separate room, then select a book under 300 pages in a genre you already enjoy rather than chasing BookTok's most-promoted titles. Rereading a previously loved book also rebuilds the reading habit effectively, functioning like a low-intensity gym session after a long absence.
  • •Audiobook legitimacy: Audiobooks fully count as reading because the listener consumes the complete text, often spending more total time with a book than a visual reader would. Debating their validity actively discourages people from reading more, which is counterproductive given broader declines in reading habits across most demographics.
  • •Kindle buying framework: The new Kindle Paperwhite in aluminum remains the default recommendation for most readers despite its price increase above $150. The base Kindle now handles most needs at lower cost, while the ColorSoft suits only comic and graphic novel readers. E-readers justify higher prices because owners typically keep them five to ten years without needing upgrades.

Notable Moment

Morgan Book revealed she once read 163 books in a single year at age 13 or 14, and still reaches around 100 annually as an adult. She attributes this not to long reading sessions but to consistently filling small pockets of idle time throughout each day.

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Episode Transcript

This episode is brought to you by On Investing, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. Each week hosts Liz Ann Saunders, Schwab's chief investment strategist, and Colin Martin, head of fixed income research and strategy for the Schwab Center for Financial Research, bring you fresh insights on what's happening in the markets and why, and what the implications might be for your portfolio. Join Colin and Liz Ann as they explore questions like, do you evaluate corporate bonds that look interesting, and what sectors are on the move right now? Download the latest episode and subscribe at schwab.com/oninvesting or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a voice agent powered by Deepgram. I don't just understand words, I understand context. Like when you're fixing the sink and say, we've got a leak, you're talking about a pipe. But when you're a new parent and you say, we've got a leak, you mean that you're going to have to change into a clean shirt. Oh, it's everywhere. Deepgram understands words and context across STT, TTS, and voice agents. That means better conversations at production scale. Learn more at deepgram.com/ context is everything. I'm Ina Garten, and each week on Happy Hour, I invite new and old friends for a drink and a fun conversation at my kitchen table in New York City. On this week's episode, I'm joined by Jennifer Garner. We talk all about what it means to be a good friend, Jen's encyclopedic knowledge of my recipes, and the Paris tour I put together for Jen and her daughter. New episodes of Happy Hour are available every Wednesday. You can watch on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts. Cheers. Hello, and welcome to the Vergecast, the flagship podcast of rereading the same book for the sixty fifth time. I'm your friend David Pierce. And today on the show, is there a future for reading books? Books of any kind, audio books, digital books, physical books, is there a future for any of them in our increasingly video, increasingly phone based world? Over the last few months and really even over the last few years, there's been this sort of alarming trend of bad news for reading. You can find evidence to suggest that people are much more likely to watch TV or look at their phone than read a book. You can find evidence that suggest people are more likely to gamble than to read a book. Basically, everything else is going better than book reading. But book reading is not dead. And in particular, there is a community of people online who have found books and have found each other and are keeping books alive in a really interesting way. I asked Morgan Book, a perfectly named literary content creator and podcast host, to come on the show and talk through all of that with me. Morgan has been a member of the BookTok world for a very long time. She runs a very popular book club. …

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