There have been several articles recently about the interests and habits of billionaires.
Unlike most of us, they have giant boats, private jets, piles of gold, and of course, no worries about the cost of eggs, but they do love reading.
“I can’t imagine where I’d be or who I’d be, had reading not been such a fundamental tool in my life,” Oprah Winfrey said in a recent interview.
From Bill Gates to his billionaire buddy Warren Buffett, folks at the top of the financial ladder say that reading, often non-fiction, is a part of their daily routine.
“I only take notes on about 20% of the books I read. It takes me at least 2x as much time when I write notes but for a lot of books, that is key to my learning,” Mr. Gates wrote on Reddit.
According to an MSN report, nearly half of adults in the United States now go an entire year without finishing a single book, even as the country’s wealthiest people treat reading as a non‑negotiable daily ritual.
The gap is not just cultural, it is strategic, separating those who use books as a compounding advantage from those who rely on fragmented feeds and short videos.
Being a deep thinker is becoming llike a “luxury food – increasingly rare and important, a professor of business and society suggests.
“Having intellectual credibility, being well-read, is definitely one thing money can’t buy.”
Reading cultivates intellectual curiousity – a prized trait when so much in our lives are now determined by algorithm and echo chambers.
So park your yacht here at the Charles Town Library and be like Oprah, Bill, Warren and the rest by picking out your reads for 2026.
1. They Block Reading Into Their Daily Routine—Without Exception
2. They Read With a Specific Outcome in Mind
3. They Reread Key Books That Shape Their Thinking
4. They Read Across Disciplines, Not Just Their Own Industry
5. They Treat Reading as an Active Process
6. They Choose Books That Challenge Their Thinking