“In my whole life, I have known no wise people – over a broad subject matter area – who didn’t read all the time – none, zero.”
— CHARLIE MUNGER
“Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Day by day, and at the end of the day – if you live long enough – like most people, you will get out of life what you deserve.”
Also CHARLIE MUNGER
Reading is a great way to learn anything. ANYTHING. Elon Musk understood how to make rockets just by reading voraciously, and he has not done bad for himself:) Us lesser mortals can still grasp any subject under the sun, by making reading a habit. A superpower actually. As I read someplace – schools are just wrappers for a load of books nowadays…
As Naval Ravikant puts it – Read what you love until you love to read. A bit more from his podcast:
“Everybody I know who reads a lot loves to read, and they love to read because they read books that they loved…So you may start off reading fiction, then you might graduate to science fiction, then you may graduate to non-fiction, then you may graduate to science, or philosophy, or mathematics or whatever it is, but take your natural path and just read the things that interest you until you kind of understand them. And then you’ll naturally move to the next thing and the next thing and the next thing.
Someone in my team asked me to suggest books for her eleven year old. I told her to take the kid to a bookstore, give her a budget and a fixed time, and let her choose what she likes instead. Let them pick – it piques their interest and then they build on it.
And it does not have to be an expensive affair. There are plenty of second hand book stores that you can pick books from, and get part of the money back when you return them – in good condition that is. Books are an investment, never an expense. And they can be passed on to friends, kids, spouses, parents…
Another tip, from me. I read a couple of books (at least) at a time. usually diverse topics. Helps to maintain interest, much like watching a couple of series which is quite normal. And I do give up on some books – it makes no sense in carrying on just because you started the book. If it does not appeal to you, stop and start another. Simple!
Even within an interesting book, there lie many pages that can be dreary. Skim through them, its ok!
to be continued…