Kanye West never read a book? Here’s why I don’t think that is a bad thing. A criticism on self-help books
Recently, Kanye West sat down on a podcast called Alo Mind Full were they talked about inspiration and an array of other topics. Somewhere in the earlier parts of the episode, Kanye says “I actually haven’t read any book. Reading is like eating Brussels sprouts for me. And talking is like getting the Giorgio Baldi corn ravioli”.
Here’s the link to the podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ye-music-fashion-icon/id1644016030?i=1000579641127
As usual, Kanye has this tendency of saying something profound for a quick second and then move on to another idea without elaborating on what he meant properly. Sometimes I get what he means but most of the time, I don’t. This time, however, I caught what he was trying to say because it’s similar to what I was trying to communicate to people in my life but couldn’t do so properly. So I’ll try to explain it as best as I can right now. I have to make one thing clear before I start. When I am talking about reading books, I am usually referring to these self-help books we choose to read to improve our lives. I am in no way referring to historical, factual, fictional, or informational books. I am specifically talking about the books made by authors who claim they have the secret recipe of life. Books with the most tempting titles that target our insecurities. Something like “how to appear confident”. Ew.
A while back, a little over a year ago, I was reading a self-help book and remember having the audacity of thinking who the hell does this author think he is to tell ME how to live my life? What gave him the authority and legitimacy to talk as if applying what he says will fix MY issue. Obviously, the authors for these types of books have credentials and achievements that qualify them. But they don’t know all the little intricate aspects of my life that shape who I am. Your advice might work for you only and nobody else. To assume it works for others is arrogant. I’m going to use the phrase “money doesn’t bring happiness” as an example for the messages self-help books usually contain. The cliche phrase “money doesn’t bring you happiness” might sound true for some but to many people, money does bring them happiness or at least serves as a tool for happiness. Some people are already grateful for what they have. When they get money to actualize their goals, they are grateful for it, instead of constantly looking for more. Not only that, phrases like money doesn’t bring happiness should not be heard by some people. Some people look for a justification for their laziness and indolence. I met someone who told me they don’t try to further their career because they know money doesn’t bring happiness. This takes me to my next point.
Words will never be equivalent to experiences. No matter how many books you read explaining why money doesn’t bring happiness, you will never understand it better than the guy who worked hard to be rich but realized he was unhappy. There are levels to understanding a concept. It is not dichotomous. It’s similar to the concept of faith in god or god’s existence. It’s not like you either have faith in god or don’t, it’s about how much faith you have in god. The more faith you have in god’s existence, the more likely you are to avoid committing sins. Reading the phrase “money doesn’t bring happiness” might make you believe so, but experiencing life will make you know it. And even then, that conclusion might only be unique to you and nobody else.
What’s the alternative? It is what Kanye called “Giorgio Baldi Corn ravioli”. It’s talking. You can probably tell by now that I am a big believer in the idea that experience encourages learning. That is the best way to learn life lessons. But I understand that is not ideal. We are social creatures who have to learn from one another. So how do we learn life lessons from people and self-help books? You listen to people’s stories. To how they became the way they are. You hear their regrets and their proud moments. What they did and what they wish they did. Then and only then, you extract the life lessons. That is a more reliable way of knowing whether money does bring happiness or not. The lessons should be extracted from real stories and not a formula a certified author came up with. This is precisely why autobiographical books are important. That is because they are books that tell the stories of these amazing people who learned lessons through their own way. Reading autobiographical books will make you extract the lessons you need. In addition, self-help books that incorporate many real life stories from the author and from other people are better than ones that don’t. This is my humble criticism of self-help books.
