Adult Reading Remains Fundamental. But…

How many men or women decide during the last quarter of a year to remedy a new-year goal for self-development? A common goal is “I’m gonna lift weights” or “lose weight,” or both? I’ve been doing the weights work. I’m lagging in reading.

A central reason for me to make up for ill-pursued new-year goals, is because I want to raise my quality as a man. In my youth, having shallow social skills, self-esteem and self-confidence, I glued myself to the TV! Carrying grave self-doubt and an inferiority complex, I was barely social. I aspire and deserve to be a stronger, and more well-rounded man than the young man or boy whom I was decades ago.

Famous leaders, and public servants urge younger people to make reading a habit. Decades, and countless niche talk therapy sessions later, along with carrying a greater self-concept, I aspire to be well-read. Now I heed. (Because of how I speak, I’ve heard, strangers already assume that I am!)

When I hear talking heads on TV recall facts about global affairs, the state of independent film, or men’s sartorial lives, I often wish that I had perused whatever report they had. I wonder what books Margaret Brennan, the moderator of CBS News’ “Face the Nation” or political reporter John Dickerson read. I revere the multi-faceted skills of diplomats and in-turn their reading lists, which account for these. For a daunting example, when Gen. Jim Mattis USMC (ret) was on active duty, he sent a reading list to the entire service; it numbered 6,000 titles! 

An irony Is that, rather than perusing books, I seem to collect those, which I aspire to read more than truly read them. After a second nose, the last thing I need is a new book.

One wrinkle with creating and maintaining a reading habit is the influence from newspaper book reviews, and Pres. Obama’s list of favorite books, for example. These can overwhelm me with options for perusal. 

In order to evade the common question among beginning readers “where do I begin” or “how do I choose what I’ll read,” I install practical and tactical constraints. For example, it’s important that I finish a book within one month. If I peruse 10 pages her day, then I ought not read those that are longer than 330 pages. I ignore the longer books. (Sadly, there are days when I ignore the book.)

My reading habit is fairly engrained. I bid myself to read 30-minutes or 10 pages per day. A nagging question is how well, or how much will I remember from these two or six months down the line?