A Year of Books
This is a progress report, of sorts — and to me, it’s a good one.
Earlier this year I felt a push to make 2016 a year of learning, and (more specifically) a year of books. As a few people close to me know, I began to read voraciously, essentially cutting television out of my life and carving time out of every evening in an effort to make space for reading. I had an audacious goal in mind, one that I kept to myself (mentioning only to wife) until the plan was well underway: to read a book a day for the entirety of the year.
Well, today is June 1 — and today I have read 150 books. Now that I have gotten into the groove of the thing, I’m ready to share a bit about this experience.
Out of the people I have told about this dash through text, perhaps the people who have been most fascinated by the journey have been the employees of the bookstore adjoined to the coffee shop where I spend my mornings writing. They have been no small source of inspiration, new books, and conversation (regarding both the books themselves and the very act of reading), and it’s been fun to hear their thoughts on my project.
In our conversations, I have been quick to point out that reading at a high speed means that my retention of material is shockingly low — but conversley, there is so much that I gain.
The ability to see connections I would have otherwise missed, overarching concepts that span multiple works, stories that fit together in unique ways, and (perhaps most of all) exposure to new ideas I wouldn’t have given my time to otherwise. It has been incredible.
I have also spent a decent amount of time taking notes alongside each of the books that truly strike me as profound or personally important, and I’ve finally figured out a way to share them with you. This week I’ll be unveiling a new project based on my year of reading. I hope you get something out of it, but if nothing else, I hope it reminds you to read.
It seems that the act of reading a book is becoming more and more a ‘lost art’, and that shouldn’t be so. I have been awestruck by the beauty of falling into a work, and committing to its ideas for chapters and chapters. In an age where we can barely get through a ten minute article, there is a need to remember that some ideas are worth hours of our time, not just a fleeting moment of boredom.
A year of books has reminded me of this truth, and I won’t forget it anytime soon. I’ll be sharing what I’ve learned so far, soon.
