In my attempts to cultivate a productive, yet healthy reading habit, I started wondering how much a historian actually reads in a specified time. I realize that there's always crazy performers who read tons of books in a short-time, but for myself I've found that reading more, or faster, simply makes me forget what I read at an alarming rate. So in my attempt to cultivate this reading habit I'd like to hear from you historians of reddit:
How many books do you read in a year? (Both on-topic history and perhaps fiction for leisure) I have a degree in history. During my studies each class would have assigned readings of around 5-10 books ranging from 300-700 pages on average. Then you'd have your focus paper which would be your own research and that would require at least 15 sources, and that could involve books or non-book sources, but on average prolly about 5-8 are books around 500+ mark. With 7/8 classes a semester that is a ton of books so not every book will get its due time to read properly and much of the information needs to be skimmed over to find relevant information and then dig into that. I found that I could barely finish one or two books a semester of my own interest due to the heavy reading for my course study. Obviously for formal study or researching something for your job is going to have a deadline and thus your reading schedule entirely depends on this. So these next questions I'll answer for own interest reading.
How many pages do you read in a day? I read whatever I like, that could be anywhere between 0 to 3/400 pages, and the type of reading changes the speed at which I can read. If it is dense material or references and collections of facts then it requires more time to sufficiently use the book to gain anything. Books that follow an arching plot are much easier to read so something like Arrian's Alexander is easier to read than perhaps something like Hesiod.
• How much time do you dedicate to reading every week? every day? I usually spend, or try to, 2 hours a day on reading and keep a nice pace of finishing a few books per month. I dedicate time specifically to discussing what is in the books I read with other people reading the same books out of interest so that I better retain the information, and formulate my own thoughts on it.
• What do you think is a healthy average an aspiring historian should live up to? Each person has their own pace, and you need to understand your own capability. If I might make a suggestion, read "How to read a book" by Mortimer J. Adler