On reading…

“What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years.”

~ Carl Sagan

"I consider reading the greatest bargain in the world. A shelf of books is a shelf of many lives and ideas and imaginations which the reader can enjoy whenever he wishes and as often as he wishes. Instead of experiencing just one life, the book-lover can experience hundreds or even thousands of lives. He can live any kind of adventure in the world. Books are his time machine into the past and also into the future. Books are his "transporter" by which he can beam instantly to any part of the universe and explore what he finds there. Books are an instrument by which he can become any person for a while—a man, a woman, a child, a general, a farmer, a detective, a king, a doctor, anyone.

Great books are especially valuable because a great book often contains within its covers the wisdom of a man or woman's whole lifetime. But the true lover of books enjoys all kinds of books, even some nonsense now and then, because enjoying nonsense from others can teach us to also laugh at ourselves. A person who does not learn to laugh at his own problems and weaknesses and foolishness can never be a truly educated or a truly happy person. Also, probably the same thing could be said of a person who does not enjoy learning and growing all his life."

~ Gene Roddenberry

“The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.”

~Immanuel Kant

“A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity and once more in old age, as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon and by moonlight.”

~ Robertson Davies

"In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn't read all the time -- none, zero."

"I think that one of the reasons I was as economically successful as I was in life is because I read so damn much all my life, starting when I was about six years old. I don't know how to get smart without reading a lot."

~ Charlie Munger

“I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

You internalize the ideas of what you read, not the exact contents.

"The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."

- Mark Twain

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.”

~ George R.R. Martin.

“Qui pauca legit, pauca scit.”

He who reads little, knows little.

“It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones. “There are things in life that we need to always have plenty of supplies, even if we will only use a small portion. “If, for example, we consider books as medicine, we understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, then you go to the ‘medicine closet’ and choose a book. Not a random one, but the right book for that moment. That’s why you should always have a nutrition choice! “Those who buy only one book, read only that one and then get rid of it. They simply apply the consumer mentality to books, that is, they consider them a consumer product, a good. Those who love books know that a book is anything but a commodity.”

~ Umberto Eco, who owned 50,000 books

Books are a forced meditation.

A private library is not an ego-boosting appendage but a research tool.

A good book gets better at the second reading. A great book at the third. Perhaps any book not worth rereading isn’t worth reading?

Reading is active; Watching is passive.

Reading provides wisdom and self-knowledge, promotes empathy (delving into the inner lives, thoughts, and feelings of a fictional character allows us to exercise a greater capacity for understanding others in real life,) comprehension and imagination, alleviates depression, reduces stress, helps you sleep and may contribute to preventing Alzheimer's.

Speed and Comprehension Tips

Move your finger along the words as you read as fast as you can

Write notes in margins in addition to highlights/underlines

Read more than once, the second time slower

Take breaks as concentration starts to wane after 25-30 mins, recall what you read during the break

Know when to give up!

The librarians agree on the 50-page rule. Read to the bottom of page 50. If you’re enjoying it, of course go on. If you just can’t slog through it, then stop reading. If all you care about is, did they get the killer?, then turn to the last page.

As one turns age 50, there simply isn’t  enough time left to read all the books that you want to read. So after 51 and up, subtract your age from 100 and that number, which gets smaller every year, is the number of pages you should read before you can guiltlessly give up on a book. When you turn 100, the ultimate reward is that you can judge a book by its cover.