Reading

The book buying just never stops. I'm over trying to fight it. It's just a part of who I am. I'm trying to do it a bit more thoughtfully by only getting things I REALLY want to read and acquiring books from rewards programs or other non-cash means, but I know that they're just going to keep coming in. Just because I've accepted my predilection, I haven't stopped forcing myself to justify the purpose of these purchases. It can't just be to enjoy the thrill of the purchase. That would be a waste. There needs to be more to it than that.

Sure, I get a little thrill every time I buy a book, but that's a small part of why I buy them. I buy books because I like to read them. I do read the books I buy, my books read list attests to that. There's more to it than the simple act of reading the book though. It's the constant reshaping of what I know, what I accept as possible, what makes me who I am. All this time spent reading informs who I am in my relationships, who I am at work, how I live my life. It's not so much the concrete fact or specific strategy that I pick up from this book or that, it's the constant refinement of what I do with the flood of information that we experience every second of every day. 

Reading books allows me to think bigger than I ever could on my own. They give me access to ways of thinking that deviate so strongly from my own thought habits that I'm forced to think differently. I may not even be aware of this change. It just happens. That's the real magic of engaging with ideas that somebody has taken the time to share with all of us. Those ideas become part of who we are. They connect with one another, with our experiences, in all kinds of wonderful and unexpected ways.