Introduction: Obstacles, Reading Challenge, Benefits of Reading
As I am writing this post, it is Canada Day, and I’m feeling very frustrated.
Why?
Have you ever been in a situation where you were set to work on a commitment to yourself, and there were all kinds of obstacles in your way?
That’s what I am going through right now.
Last week, I read a great tip about reading books faster by reading a print book while listening to the audio version at twice the speed. Imagine my delight when I discovered this tip! It seemed like a great idea to me, and one that would allow me to accelerate my professional development.
When I read a book, my mind is constantly connecting what I am reading with information in other books that I have read. I never noticed this ability until someone pointed it out to me. My thinking is that if I can read books faster, then there are more ideas for me to connect. Additionally, although I would like to get more people reading books, the reality is that many people won’t because of over-scheduled lives, or they would rather be using their free time differently.
With this in mind, I want to introduce book summaries that are different from what’s already on the market. The book summaries I am writing are aimed at getting professionals to get the ideas in less time – like other book summaries – but you will also be able to connect the ideas among other related books. And this new offering would be a paid service. After you have read the summary, you can also decide if you want to invest the time in reading the book.
Anyone reading this blog knows that I love reading books because they give me pleasure. I have invested a lot of money in print books because I prefer them to e-books, and I like the feel of a book in my hand. I know that there are technologies to mimic reading a print book, but it isn’t the same thing. So I have been thinking about the most cost effective ways to get the audio versions of the print books that I already own. And this is where my frustration comes in.
Related Post: How to Read a Book Faster
Audible is my last option, since I would have to pay over $200 each year to access unlimited audio books. That’s a lot of money considering I have invested a huge amount of money already in buying print books. The public library is a reasonable option because you can access audio books through an OverDrive account. Here is my frustration – the Toronto Public Library is turning out not to be a very feasible option for me because they do not have most of the versions of the print books that I want to summarize for you. And the audio book versions that they do have, I have to place them on hold, and I am way down the totem pole because of the demand for audio books.
I love the Toronto Public Library, because over the years, through Inter-library loan, it allowed me to borrow books from libraries in other countries, which enabled me to access difficult to access books, including those that are out of print. But the Toronto Public Library is not properly funded, and hence cannot have sufficient copies of print and audio books for the public. Public libraries are still relevant today, and they should be properly funded to adequately meet the needs of people.
I can still test the effectiveness of reading a print book while listening to the audio at twice the speed because I was able to snag the audio version of Social Physics
by Alex Pentland and Thrive
by Arianna Huffington. But this may not be a viable option in the long-term if I have to wait a month to get an audio book. Although I don’t want to, I may have to sign-up with Audible.
The Invisible Mentor Reading Challenge
The question I have to ask myself is, “How important is it for me to provide bite-sized learning for people on the go?” And the answer is that your professional development is important to be. You may remember that earlier in the year, I created The Invisible Mentor Reading Challenge, to read a book a week for 52 weeks.
I created the Challenge as a response to two talks I attended at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Blending both talks, the message I received, is that to remain relevant, and prevent your job from being eliminated because of robotics, then you have to do original work. I think you can do original work by generating ideas, and reading books can help you to do so.
The Challenge is good for me personally, because one of my goals is to read more diversely, that is, intentionally read books by authors from different countries and cultures, and from different genres. The Challenge is working for me because I am reading different genres. I haven’t read as many books by authors from other countries, but I have six months to go. In my opinion, the Challenge isn’t working for others, who committed because they aren’t actively participating. They are busy or have other reasons for not participating.
I am only responsible for myself and my actions. But if I am serious about others preventing their jobs from being lost to robotics, which I am, I can assist them by offering a variety of book summaries, using my skills of synthesizing large amounts of information, as well as connecting the contents among different books.
Have you Read?
Reading Globally: The Invisible Mentor 2015 Reading Challenge
An Evening with Don Tapscott at the Rotman School of Management
The 46 Rules of Genius by Marty Neumeier, Book Review
Marty Neumeier’s Rules of Genius
Benefits of Reading
Participating in the Challenge is important, because it gets you reading consistently. You can easily access a lot of anecdotal information on the benefits of reading. In fact, many bloggers have written about how they have benefited from reading books, and they have also written about how much they spend on buying books. I read a statistic that says you should spend 10 percent of your income on professional development – that's right, you read correctly. While researching the benefits of reading books, I found the article, “Book smart; the unexpected health benefits of being an avid reader,” which references many studies done on the benefits of reading books. Benefits include – stress reduction, improved memory, and enhanced mental agility when you grow older.
Related Post: Book smart; the unexpected health benefits of being an avid reader
Another research study polled “4,164 adults equally divided between readers and non or lapsed readers, with filter questions determining the two groups.”
Highlights of Survey Results
- 58 percent of the adult population is reading regularly, with readers, averaging, 3 hours and 18 minutes of reading time a week.
- Women find, on average, an hour more than men to read each week.
- Parents of younger children read less (an average of 2 hours and 18 minutes a week) than non-parents (3 hours and 12 minutes a week).
- Twenty-five to 34 year olds spend the least time with a book.
- Reading time peaks at an average of five hours a week for people over 65.
- Readers are 10 percent more likely to report better self-esteem than non readers.
- Those who read for only 30 minutes a week, are 18 percent more likely to report higher self-esteem.
- Twenty-three percent of readers say that a book has helped them realize that other people have gone through similar things and therefore to feel better about their situation.
- Those reading for only 30 minutes a week are 20 percent more likely to report greater life satisfaction.
Source: Reading Between the Lines: the Benefits of Reading for Pleasure
Below are two charts from Statista that I thought were interesting.
Find more statistics at Statista
Find more statistics at Statista
There are many benefits to reading books, but if you cannot find the time to read, in the Fall I will be introducing book summaries to aid you in your professional development journey. I would appreciate it if you tried reading a book while listening to the audio version at twice the speed and let me know what you think.
