aeblog

a new stack

Life is better when you are reading a book. Maybe I'll make it a new year's resolution (not that I really believe in such things) to always have a book going and to try to read at least a few pages a day. I've been doing this recently and I have really noticed a difference in my life. By simply having this additional input of something - a story, new facts, scientific reasoning, a remarkable character - into my brain on a regular basis, I have found that I feel much more intellectually stimulated.

I am currently reading Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point, which is fascinating, and I find that though I only spend maybe 20-30 minutes a day actually reading it, the content is going in and out of my head all day, mixing with everything else I have going on including music marketing, my new song, artist statements etc etc. It also gives me a treat to look forward to.

Now that I don't have a real job, I am finding myself at home, alone, much of the time, and pathetic as it seems, having a book going is an important way for me to have the external stimulus that perhaps I am missing by not interacting with a variety of people quite as much. I get excited when I look at my stack of new books to be read that I got for Christmas. There's some good ones in there, I think!

I've always had a steady flow of new music into my life, as that comes more naturally to me. But books are different; and very welcome. The strange thing is that everything I have just written about, I have known for some time; I just seem to forget it somehow. I get caught up in my life and forget about things that are important that don't come naturally. Maybe part of the problem is that I force myself to finish books even if I don't like them, resulting in the pace of my reading slowing asymptotically to zero. I need to stop this habit. I am grateful that I have been recently reminded that reading really is fundamental.