9 Rules around Books

9 Rules around Books

1. If a book intrigues you, buy it. One idea put into action can change your world.

2. Embrace multiple formats. Audiobooks read by the author are incredible. The Print edition allows you to engage with the topic in a different way. The digital version allows you to be efficient with notes.

3. Read the great books at least twice. And give great books, that didn’t work for you the first time, another chance at a later date. “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” Heraclitus.

4. Be active with books. Dogear the pages that matter. Underline the passages that speak to you. Write notes in the margins.

5. Display your books. It will remind you of how big the world is. Of how many ideas have been thought about. Of how many lives have been lived. It is good to feel both curious and humble.

6. Read the originals (Adam Smith on the Economy), the great summaries (Richard Feynamn on Physics), and books that look at the long arc of human history (Will and Ariel Durant on Human History or Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari).

7. Read biographies. Not because you’ll face the same challenges. But because you’ll know that others have face challenges and persevered.

8. Buy used books when you can – abebooks.com is a wonderful site with great deals, especially on books a few years beyond their publication date.

9. Have multiple books on the go at the same time. I like to engage with hard concepts earlier in the day. I like to dive into an interest later in the day. And I like a good biography or story at night before bed.

Reading is the great equalizer.