Books for Dads Who Don't Read Much

Every book here is short, propulsive, and finishable, and picked to make the second book likelier than the first.

Nobody gets the habit back by starting with the longest book on the shelf. These are on-ramps: under 350 pages, chapters that end where you want to keep going, and no homework.

Last updated 19 August 2026.

• Of Mice and Men

  by John Steinbeck

  Two evenings, and it will sit on you for a week.

  Around 110 pages.

• The Old Man and the Sea

  by Ernest Hemingway

  One long night on the water, and the simplest sentences in American fiction.

• Into Thin Air

  by Jon Krakauer

  You will read the last hundred pages in one sitting whether you planned to or not.

• The Martian

  by Andy Weir

  Funny, technical, and structured as one solved problem after another.

• Fahrenheit 451

  by Ray Bradbury

  Short, strange, and unexpectedly about the phone in your hand.

• The Dog Stars

  by Peter Heller

  For the dad who liked The Road but wants something to hold on to.

• Rocket Men

  by Robert Kurson

  Apollo 8 in nine days, told at the speed of a countdown.

• The Boys in the Boat

  by Daniel James Brown

  Longer than the rest of this list, and the back third reads itself.

  Read the pick and the discussion sheet

Questions dads ask

How do you start reading again as an adult?

Twenty minutes at the same time every night, with a book short enough to finish this month. Finishing is the habit; the book is just the excuse.

Is it okay to quit a book halfway?

Yes. A book you are pushing through is the fastest way to stop reading altogether. Put it down and start the next one tonight.