Why do billionaires read so much?

I was recently listening to an episode of Founders where they were talking about the book “Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon”. One quote that they shared really stood out to me:

“I know a bunch of middling entrepreneurs, who aren’t that successful, and they don’t read at all. And then yet I spend time with all these billionaires and they read all the time. It’s like, why do billionaires read so much?”

The question is kind of tongue-in-cheek, but there are a few ways to think about it. The main thought I had was this: do billionaires read more because they’re billionaires and they have more time to read, or did all of that reading help them get there?

• Bill Gates was a voracious reader earlier in life, and today he still reads more than almost anyone.
• Before he co-founded Paypal, and way before he became the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk would read for up to 10 hours every day.
• Charlie Munger said that his kids used to “think I’m a book with a couple of legs sticking out.”

Of course, many of us didn’t read as much as we should have in our younger years, but that doesn’t mean we get to just bail on it. Starting today is better than starting tomorrow. For example, I don’t know about their earlier lives but: