"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.” – George R. R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons
From hating books(school books obviously) as a kid to now having a decent little collection of books; my hobbies surely have taken an aggressive u-turn.
Why did I hate all those school books? The reason was simple, they would make us kids carry a bag full of books and we'd only be reading 4 or 5 books out of the 8 to 10 we carried.
Every day we would have to carry around 5kgs to 10kgs worth of books and copies; it was like some kind of hardcore army training for kids. That is also one of the reasons why my right shoulder is a tad bit slouched; yet, thanks to some proper year's worth of exercise, the asymmetry is almost non-existent now.
From my childhood to my teenage years, I had constructed quite an adamant thought, which was the decision that I'd never touch another book after leaving school lol.
ᴵᵐᵃᵍᵉˢ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵒᵛᵉʳᵃˡˡ ᶜᵒⁿᵗᵉⁿᵗ ᵃʳᵉ ᵐʸ ᵒʷⁿ ᵘⁿˡᵉˢˢ ᶦᵗ'ˢ ᵐᵉⁿᵗᶦᵒⁿᵉᵈ
Nevertheless, look at me now...
I got both these books today, a little gift to myself, as my birthday is coming.
My "proper" reading journey started back in 2016, and I used to lean more toward e-books and audiobooks back then, but during COVID all of that changed. In just the past 2 to 3 years, I've collected close to 20 books. And so far I've managed to finish about 5 of those.
Yes, the numbers aren't impressive, it's average at best. However, when it comes to reading, my approach goes more like "I want to read" and not that "I need to read"; such things and hobbies shouldn't be forced, it kills all the fun.
Yet, at least I'm doing some reading, and a bit of something is always better than nothing...
Now, am I a true Bibiophile? I don't think so, not yet at least. I am quite picky when it comes to reading books, the same goes for all my other hobbies.
Where do I get my book suggestions from? Mostly friends, of course, especially those who've read more than me and are more knowledgeable. Yet, even after being suggested, I delve into a bit of necessary due diligence before buying the books; just to be safe haha. I lean more toward biographies and some self-help books. I don't know, I just like reading about other people's lives. I sometimes try and put myself in their shoes, just to see how I would choose to tackle a certain obstacle.
Trying to learn a thing or two from their point of view, that's the goal I guess.
“It costs nothing to learn from other people’s experience.” — Williamson Murray
"Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill, it took two decades worth of research to write the book. It has over 200 pages and 13 key principles. Now, how long would, or should it take a person to read a book of 200 pages? Considering myself and my "comfortable" pace, it would take 2 to 3 months to finish it, if I read it properly.
Thus, getting to learn and know about 20 years' worth of experiences, research, and thoughts in just a matter of months? I'll take it.
I recently talked about the benefits of reading to a class of 8th graders, during some volunteering work. I talked about this exact book and how it came to fruition. The kids were flabbergasted after learning that it took 20 years to write a book. And I think it made an impact on some of them.
If I had someone to guide me and tell me about the benefits of reading such books back in school, then maybe I would've read a bit more and had a bigger collection. Yet, it is what is...
Alas, even though I finished school almost a decade ago, I still see no positive change in the education system.
It's still the same ABCs and a butt-load of books being carried to school every day, just for nothing.
