Reading More Good Books: How I Can Enrich My Life Cheaply
March 5, 2008

A colleague copied me on an email he wrote recently asking for reading recommendations. "I'd prefer non-fiction," he wrote. "Something that might have challenged your thinking or surprised you in some way. I'm sending this note to just a few, select people. Most of the time when people recommend books to me I find that they are idiotic."

I wrote back saying, "I appreciate the vote of confidence but I'm worried that if I send you a recommendation this year and don't get a letter from you next, I'll have been put on your list of idiots."

But I thought it was a good idea: asking friends or colleagues for book recommendations. And I thought about the non-fiction books I'd read this year. Which, if any, could I recommend?

Most of the most memorable books I read in 2007 were works of fiction: The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Blindness by Jose Saramago, Saturday by Ian McEwan. I was disappointed in rereading Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises.

I could barely remember the non-fiction books I read. Still in my mind were the most recent books I had read while K and I were touring Delhi, Agra, Jaipur and Udaipur and while I was in Mumbai two weeks later on business. These were smallish books on history, religion, art, and architecture - not the "big idea" kind of book that my friend was looking for.

He was looking for recommendations for books like The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell or The Long Tail by Chris Anderson These were books that helped me rethink the way I was doing business. They sped up some thoughts I had been developing. They provided, eventually, some very practical value. They made my life simpler and richer.

There was Bill Bonner's book, Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets, which had a big idea and was well written. But I have not yet finished that yet and more importantly I am sure my friend has already devoured it.

Finally, I decided to recommend Christopher Hitchen's God is Not Great. I sent my friend an email saying, "I can't say this changed my thinking. In fact, it reinforced my intellectual prejudices. But I completely enjoyed the book. I found it endlessly interesting. I learned from it. I luxuriated in Hitchen's good prose. And I relished little gems such as:

The Buddhist walks up to the hot dog vendor and says, "Make me one with everything." The hot dog vendor takes a hot dog from his bin and slathers on pickles and onions and mustard and ketchup and hands it to the Buddhist. The Buddhist hands him a twenty dollar bill. The hot dog vendor takes it and puts it in his pocket. The Buddhist stands there, munching his hot dog. Finally he says, "Where's my change?" "Change comes from within," the hot dog vendor says.

Searching for a recommendation-worthy book got me thinking about reading. I am reading more than ever these days. I'm not sure why. But part of the reason is that I've become a better reader. And the benefit is that I am enjoying more books.

I would like to read more books this year. Why? Because doing so will make my life richer. A richer life is a better life. And there is no reason why life shouldn't get better. Not, at least, that part of life which one I can control: the life of my mind.

Right now, I am reading The Ginger Man (a novel banned for obscenity in the U.S. when first published in 1955) and a book about Hindu art and architecture, and rereading Gene Schwartz's Breakthrough Advertising.
I am also reading through the lyrics of Bob Dylan and the poetry of Walt Whitman to stimulate ideas for poems. Last year I wrote a poem every day. 365 poems in 365 days. This year I will write one big poem about America. Dylan and Whitman should be helpful there. Also The National Enquirer, People magazine, etc. On my to-read book list right now are:
What are you reading? What have you read recently that was worthwhile?

posted by M. Masterson @ 11:44 AM,

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