Newsletter Week 39 | 2021
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Hey there.I hope you've had a great week.
On reading
I started reading books — besides school — in 2017. How many books did I read that year? 1.
But that was all it took. It started a cascade that has changed my life more than I could ever dare to put words to.It cultivated my already insatiable curiosity. It satiated it for a few moments, but it's only grown stronger. The more questions I answer, the more questions I seem to have.
Reading has become a keystone habit of mine. I'm not afraid of skipping a day or two, because I have a 'hunger' to always return to it.
I read about 50 books a year, but have over 450 books on my 'want-to-read' list on GoodReads. I sometimes stumble upon books that I find looks very interesting, only to find out that I've already added them to the list.
I rarely ever think about why I started reading anymore. I just do it. So why did I start?
In March 2019, I posted one of my first blog posts ever — and it was about reading. ''How You Can Achieve Success By Reading', I called it. A lofty promise. In that blog post, I said that by reading, you can obtain knowledge; and knowledge is power.
Do I still believe that? Yes. But I have more perspective and understanding now. I've come to realize that everything is much more nuanced than I once thought. There's never just one answer in such matters. That, I think, is one of the most important things reading has taught me — that I actually don't know anything. I won't say that I've overcome the Dunning-Kruger effect. I'm sure that I'll think myself unwise and naive.
I think I made a good choice. I'm proud of where it's gotten me, and I don't think that I'll ever stop reading. After all, I'm doing it to learn.Should everyone read? Yes, no, maybe. Should you? If you can find the time, I think it's a great way to learn. But it's not the only way.Reading is not the only way to learn and grow. That's the end; reading is just a means to it.
If you want to get started, you can check out my GoodReads profile or my book notes to see which kind of books I read. Who knows, maybe we have similar taste?
Great tools
I browse Twitter on my computer frequently, but have found the site too cluttered. Recently, however, I stumbled upon Minimal Twitter (Chrome) (Firefox), which turned out to be an amazing tool; it removes all the unnecessary stuff.
Quote
You could try to pound your head against the wall and think of original ideas or you can cheat by reading them in books.
— Patrick Collison, CEO of Stripe
— Patrick Collison, CEO of StripeThe reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.
— Renè Descartes
— Renè DescartesTo your success. Regards,
Christian Bager Bach Houmann