I love to read. There, I said it. I love to read. It seems that actually taking time to read books, and particularly to read widely, not simply business books or one type of book, is increasingly rare. I was reminded of this in several ways this week, including:
- Shane Parrish encouraged us in a recent blog to read “just 25 pages a day“, highlighting how so many simply don’t take the time to read
- Walking past a public library and seeing that they only open two half days a week anymore
- Talking to a client and fellow introvert and recommending the book “Quiet – The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking” by Susan Cain, and hearing them reply “oh yes, I’ve read it. Twice, in fact”. I find it rare that people have read books I recommend to them, let alone read them twice, so this was most refreshing!
That last interaction also reminded me of a famous comic bit by the late, great Bill Hicks. I first referenced Bill in one of my earliest daily blogs, from back in late 2017: “To burn out or to fade away” (he died in 1994 aged just 32), then again in “It’s just a ride”, which includes a link to a video of him delivering the piece in the image above.
Tom Waits described Bill Hicks as: “Blowtorch, excavator, truth sayer, and brain specialist. He will correct your vision. The others will drive on the road he built”.
So, to a clip of one of his most famous “bits”, where he finds himself in a Waffle House in Nashville reading a book. This was from the mid-1980s, but in this age of vanishingly short attention spans, seems even more relevant now. I do warn you, Bill Hicks is rude, so if easily offended, don’t watch the video.
Meanwhile, I’m now going to pause to read, perhaps a chapter from each (after all, “the unit of reading is a chapter“) of a few books. Currently, I’m dipping into “The Fall of Constantinople” by Runciman, re-reading “Consider Phlebas” by Iain M. Banks, “Transport for Humans” by Pete Dyson and Rory Sutherland, “The First Crusade” by Peter Frankopan, “Helgoland” by Carlo Rovelli, plus one or two others.