Life Long Learning. The Urgency to Read.

When I was 5 years old (maybe 6), my mother used to take my sister and I to the local library every week and had us join the book club. I don’t really remember much about what we did there, but I do remember every time you read a book, they gave you a silver coin (see picture above – yes, I still have them some 30 years later) or these plastic beads that can be worn as a necklace or bracelets. We collected quite a few of these little trophies…

That was in New York, and when we moved here to Canada, my mother continued taking me (I guess my sister didn’t care much for it anymore) to the library for their activities. I loved it, we would read books, have story time, watch movies and by grade 6, I would bike to the library myself and read everything I could get my hands on. I always checked out the maximum number of allowed books and would return promptly in the 3 week period to check out more. I even had my library card number memorized – 290798 08844 386 😉 (no longer valid, sorry guys :p)

In High School, my dad and I would have a weekly routine. We would go to the Central Library in Mississauga, I would find books and he would sit in the main area reading newspapers. We would then eat Onion Rings in the cafeteria inside the library building.

Lots of great memories around books and reading and mind you, all I was reading was fiction. From Fantasy, to Mystery, to Sci Fi. I fell in love with Star Wars in High School, not because of the movies, but because of the books. I read RL Stine and Christopher Pike in my pre teens. Tom Swift and ‘Choose Your Adventure’ books (remember those?) in primary school. Curious George, Bernstein Bears, Amelia Bedilia before that and I remember the Little Miss and Mr. series by Roger Hargreaves in Kindergarten.

Fast forward to my adult years, now being married, being a father and of course work (gotta pay them bills), I can’t exactly stay up all night reading a book with a flashlight or spend the entire day locked up in my room. But as reading slowed down, so did my personal growing. I became stagnant. There was a period, where I got so busy with work and family that I stopped pretty much everything that was personal growth, including reading, weekend seminars, workshops etc… I eventually entered the all too common mentality of just settling for mediocrity and found myself saying the all too common phrases of self-defeat: “hey, it is what it is…” and “what can you do…” I stopped learning, I stopped growing. And I stayed this way for quite a number of years, until one day I woke up and said what am I doing… this isn’t me at all and I started investing in myself again. And I began with how it all began, with reading…

And that really is the point that I’m trying to make. Reading or more specifically, the experience that comes from reading, is simply not valued enough. I attribute much of my current success, my intelligence and my imagination to my love and habit of reading in my youth.

Thank you mom!

Side note, for all those parents out there reading this, it really is sad to see how many kids now a days don’t read. And even sadder to know that sometimes they aren’t even encouraged to read by their parents… I honestly believe, they are being crippled mentally if they don’t have a passion to read because without books they aren’t growing and won’t continue to grow once outside the school system and into real life. Parents, and would be parents, get your kids to love books!

And getting back to you adults, even if you didn’t have a childhood of books like I did, it is never too late to start. The benefits of reading are huge!!! By doing a quick search on the good ol’ internet, you find many articles and studies done on the benefits of reading. I’ve compiled a list from those results here:

1. Better Social Skills and Empathy
2. Increased Vocabulary
3. Increased Knowledge
4. Decreases Stress
5. Stronger Analytical thinking
6. Improved focus and concentration
7. Improved Sleep
8. Increases ability to cope with change
9 Makes you attractive.
10. Provides cheap entertainment.

And probably the biggest benefit to reading is it helps you grow in experience. One of my favourites episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation was “The Inner Light”. In this episode, Captain Picard lives about 20 years of another man’s life, has a wife, has children, belongs to a community, and learns how to play a flute, all in the span of under half an hour. When he wakes up, Captain Picard recovers the alien probe that gave him those memories and discovers the flute he had learned how to play. The episode ends with him playing the flute in real life. And in many ways, a good book, gives you the life journeys, mistakes, successes and experiences, with all the lessons that come with it, all in the span of a few hundred pages. You come out each book, having lived another life. And with each set of experiences constantly being added to your internal library, there they are free to mix and mingle and help you when ever you need it. Imagine having life experiences from a collection of lifetimes.

Okay, not quite exactly like the video above, but it’s the next best thing.

Reading becomes an investment that returns exponentially.

These days, I don’t read much fiction any more, although the desire keeps creeping back. I’ve instead moved more onto self help and business books. Also, because finding time to actually read is hard, I switched over to Audio Books. While Audio Books don’t give the same exercise for your brain like reading does, you at least get all the other benefits that comes from reading and books in general.

I got myself the cheapest subscription to Audible.com and every month I get a credit which gets me any book in their catalogue, and their catalogue is the largest around.

Audio books work great as you can throw them on during your commute to and back from work. Or even driving to meet a friend or running an errand, you can get some content in. Answer this. How many books have you read last year? I won’t even ask last month… I typically get through a book each month and that’s just with casual listening during my “school bus driver” duties.

Imagine that, I get through about a dozen books minimum each year… Most people won’t read a dozen books their entire life once they have finished school. In my opinion, they have pretty much hung up their coat and have stopped growing. Not to mention, because reading is probably the best exercise for your mind, your mind like any other muscle without exercise is getting fat and lazy.

Get your free trial of Audible.com here including 2 free books of your choice! Audible Free Trial [Digital Membership]

I leave you today with a collection of books that I highly recommend. Grab them from Amazon for the best price, plus you’ll be helping me earn a commission, win/win 🙂

Amazon Canada
Must Read Titles:
Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki
The 4-Hour Workweek, by Timothy Ferriss
How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie
Crush it!, by Gary Vaynerchuk
Chicken Soup for the Soul, Multiple Authors

Amazon US
Must Read Titles:
Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki
The 4-Hour Workweek, by Timothy Ferriss
How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie
Crush it!, by Gary Vaynerchuk
Chicken Soup for the Soul, Multiple Authors

I really look forward to your feedback on this post and I welcome your questions, comments and stories.

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Life Long Learning. The Urgency to Read.

Mohammed Sheikh