One Book a Week is a Lot of Books
Believe it or not, when I was a teenager (Which was not that long ago actually) I rarely read any books. There was one or two here and there, and I enjoyed reading! I just did not have the discipline nor the wants to focus on it. In 2023 I decided to change that. I wanted to try a new hobby that would take my mind off of a few things that I had going on in my life at the time. I have a very varied taste in books, and the first two that I read were "Burmese Days" by George Orwell and "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury, and I finished both of them on the same day, 8th January, 2023. You may notice that I took this challenge seriously given that in the first week I read two books already. It later turned out that that was unnecessary, since I finished that year with 88 read books; After each book read I would add it to my Notion template (By now I moved to a full paper version) and quickly summarise the book, give my impressions on it, top 3 quotes, and answered a few question. What have I learned from it? Strong discipline for one. I found out that I liked being on a deadline. Having reading as a task was enjoyable. I like tasks! One of the biggest reasons that I have a Bujo. But apart from discipline, I also learned a lot of perspectives. I think this is the one thing that every book without exception gives you, some give you more and some give you less. This reminded me a lot of David Foster Wallace's speech "This is water". You get into the writer's mind, and see with his lenses for just a short while. This is the value of books. To truly extend your viewpoint to other people for brief periods of time.
I believe that in an ideal world where everyone read at least a few books a year, Everyone would be more understanding and tolerant.