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The One Book That Literally Made Me Want To Stop Reading All Books

My 2024 “Quake Book”

Cal Axe
Mind Cafe
6 min readNov 2, 2024

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Photo by Pietro Donà on Unsplash

I first learned about “quake books” during a COVID reading frenzy.

Back then, I read at least three books a month (a lot for me, considering how slowly I read).

The writer and economist Tyler Cowen coined the term to describe a book that fundamentally changes your perspective — a book that shakes your worldview so profoundly that you’re never quite the same.

“Of course, I’ve read a quake book.” I thought to myself. “I read a lot. I’m certain I’ve read at least one book that changed my perspective.”

I was wrong.

I read the book I’m about to discuss six months ago, and now I know what a quake book feels like.

This book hit me like a knockout punch. I would fall asleep thinking about it. I consumed all the lore on YouTube. For weeks, my friends couldn’t get me to shut up about it.

The book drained me so much that I had to take a break from reading. I thought books were messing with my head.

The book literally made me stop reading books!

The quake book in question is Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.

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Mind Cafe
Mind Cafe

Published in Mind Cafe

Relaxed, inspiring essays about happiness.

Cal Axe
Cal Axe

Written by Cal Axe

Practical advice about writing and running | Subscribe https://runwithcalaxe.substack.com

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