Instead of reading depressing news, what will make you happy is reading books. If you are not a bookworm or not reading generally, you won’t agree with this. But as someone who didn’t read at all or was slow for a long time, I can tell you it’s true. By reading, you enlarge your horizon, you learn something new, or if you read a fantasy book, you dive into another world in an undistracted, calming way.
I rarely read fantasy, though. I get quickly bored as I’m not learning anything new. That is fine for me on vacation, but other times, I do not want to “waste” my precious time on it. For sure, that is different for everyone.
A game change was opening an account on Audible. I’m listening now to a book a month compared to before, maybe once a year. Additionally, I listen to many podcasts and try to produce besides only consuming. But reading, or in my case, listening to books, is a pleasure. If you are not reading or listening to books, I’d say you didn’t find the right book yet. Because there are 129'864'880 Books in the world, and if you find a good one, you do not want to stop reading it.
What keeps me listening to more audiobooks is that these are downloaded offline to my phone. So when I’m on a plane or anywhere else, I can listen. It’s also handy to read ten minutes if I am standing in a line, waiting for a friend, doing the dishes, or a couple of minutes before bedtime with the phone in flight mode. Listening to my favorite book instead of only waiting in line always gave me a sense of happiness.
By reading, you learn more. By learning, you are a happier person, I believe. Therefore Live as you die tomorrow, learn as you live forever.
Finishing Books
Don’t feel bad about not finishing books. Sometimes, authors write 300 pages about something that could be said in two sentences. So don’t feel shy if you get the gist after reading only part of the book and it does not get better. What I do is skip several chapters and see if it gets better. If not, I delete it from my Audible and take the next one.
Want to Read List
Keep a want-to-read list somewhere (I use Goodreads). You always have interesting books in the pipeline that people suggested or heard on a podcast. Also, the ratings on Goodreads or Amazon are good indications of whether a book is worthwhile or not. Also, please read the comments. Sometimes, some bad critics are something you like or enjoy.
# Learning from Books
A book is still the best way to get new ideas or insights. Either you discover a new insight, or you find something you disagree with, and you discover your own new insight.
A book is calm, distilled over the years, compared to fast news or continuous keeping up to date.
Origin: Personal Knowledge Management Workflow for a Deeper Life
References: My Favorite Quotes (Zitate), Books with Big Impact
Created 2022-08-27
