Books Meet Real Life

Reading something over a long period of time helps you connect the lessons in the book to real world experience. This is a reason to love long books, rather than fear them. Another option is to read the same book over and over again (I recommended this with the Proverbs in a previous post).

Think back to a movie that impacted you. Maybe you felt like your life was going to be different after watching that movie. It is easy to get immersed in a movie because it engages more than one of our senses. Movies also tend to wear off as quickly as they have impacted me. Books may not have visual and audio, but they have length, and that is their strength. This means there is more opportunity for detail, but also that you are living your life while you are reading. We typically watch movies in one sitting, but most books take longer. I read Homer's Iliad and Odyssey over the course of a year. During that time, I was seeing the world through a Homeric lens. It made me think about my life and my experiences in a new way. My world did not change, but my view of it did. There is a quote from George R.R. Martin that says "A reader lives a thousand lives...". This is where this quote is applied. When your real life meets the book you are reading, your life experience is compounded.

Reading needs to be a habit. If your mind is not steeping in a book while you are living your life, you are less likely to connect what you are learning to real experience. Making this connection is important to go from knowing to understanding.

Choose a thick book and get started. Let us know what you are currently reading in the comments section below.