It’s 2007, so rejoice! That’s 365 more days (well, 363.5 as I write this) in which to learn a new skill (I’m going to learn how to brew beer) or improve a skill you already have. It’s also 365 days in which to kiss your spouse, hug your kids and tell your parents and friends how much they mean to you. They’re days in which to lose weight (or not), run a five-minute mile, or become an "informed investor" whatever that really means (I’m in the middle of John Bogel’s The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism" and yeah, "informed investor" is a bit of an oxymoron.) Or, they’re days in which to read up to 365 new books. Book reviewer Digby Diehl swears he reads a book a day, but I can’t hope to compete with that kind of productivity–I’m happy with a book a week, so 52 new books this year is my goal. But if productivity is your goal for the new year, you’ll want to read what Mike (in Tokyo) Rogers has to say on the subject. (I’ve ordered his picks from Amazon.)
If you need a few more helpful hints on where to start all this new reading, I’d suggest you first take a look at George Ure’s Independence Journal website (I’ve set it up as a typelist). It’s not my only source of news in my daily reading but it’s worth the trouble. Scott Burns from the Dallas Morning News has a few suggestions on financial reading material. If you take his advice about reading Andrew Tobias’ book (which I’d also recommend) you might also want to take a look at his website which is more of AT’s great writing style. He even works some decent financial information in there once in a while.
Next, you might investigate AlterNet’s Top 10 Most Popular Book Reviews for 2006. I admit to not reading every book on their list, but AlterNet is generally good people. Read everything that Bill Moyers ever wrote. Ditto for Carl Sagan, but you can start with Cosmos (the TV series is on DVD and everything.) And take a look at what Library Journal book reviewer Marylaine Block has to say about various volumes on her Book Bytes web page and her Exlibris library e-zine.
Lately I’ve taken on an enormous personal project–I’m inheriting a huge collection of old science fiction tomes from my father-in-law’s best friend. What I’ve seen so far is absolutely amazing, but that’s for another post to be written after I organize what I have.
The bottom line for me is (and always will be) that the world is filled with books, so Read! READ, for %$@* sake!
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