“Give Yourself the Gift of Empty Shelves”
“Do not set out to live a well-read life but rather your well-read life.
No one can be well-read using someone else’s reading list.”
Wham! Immediately, author and entrepreneur
Steve Leveen lets you off the hook—no guilt. Just a boatload of ideas on navigating your own well-read life. The book features dozens of PowerPoint-worthy quotations, including this from Atwood H. Townsend:
“Never force yourself to read a book that you do not enjoy.
There are so many good books in the world that it is foolish to waste time on one that does not give you pleasure.”
To uncover the books that will change your life (the big idea of the book), the author suggests you have two libraries:
#1. The Library of Candidates (based on your List of Candidates)
#2. The Living Library (your library of well-read friends)
Leveen did massive research and one-on-one interviews with readers and book clubs before writing this book. He notes that John Armato, a PR executive, “cherishes his growing Library of Candidates. When people ask him if he’s actually read all those books, he asks if they’ve actually eaten all the food in their kitchen. ‘It is good to put up a supply of books; it increases the odds that you’ll have what you want when you’re hungry for it,’ he says.” Leveen adds:
“Give yourself the gift of empty shelves.
Like an open road,
they hold the promise of your future examined life.”
The chapter, “Seizing More from Your Reading,” gave me several new ideas—and affirmed several of my best practices. “The advice-givers all agree that you should not start by reading the first sentence of a book and then plow your way through to the end.” His practical suggestions (start at 35,000 feet and conduct three tours of the book) include this:
“Then take a third tour, and read a few introductory and concluding paragraphs from each chapter. That is where most writers sum up their major points.” When should you give up on a book?
“A few years ago I gave up on Crime and Punishment. I found it not enough crime and too much punishment.” Generally, Leveen votes for the 50-page rule: “…if you don’t like it after fifty pages, close the book and move on.”
Where do you find the meat of a book? Usually in the middle, but don’t forget my rule-of-thumb for striking gold on page 25 also. In Leveen’s book on page 25, you’ll find his generous recommendations of other books on how to read a book, including a classic,
Good Reading: A Helpful Guide for Serious Readers.
I ordered
The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life for the five scholars/grandchildren in my life. (Three are ready to begin their senior year in high school—whatever that might look like at Covid High.) Students and serious readers will appreciate Leveen’s “proven techniques for remembering” content. Example:
In the 1940s, Ohio State University professor Francis Robinson conducted the psychological research that created the system, SQ3R: Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review. One granddaughter keeps a list of the books she’s read. So far in 2020, she’s knocked off 130 books! She affirms Leveen’s suggestion:
“Another way to help your long-term retention is by keeping a reader’s journal or annotated Bookography.” He also notes that “Some of the most satisfying reading of all is re-reading. The Bible is the most re-read book of all in the West.”
Every year, my friend and mentor, George Duff, re-reads Peter Drucker’s
The Effective Executive.
Click here to read Jim Collins’ foreword to the 50th anniversary edition, “Ten Lessons I Learned from Peter Drucker.”
If you love books—and love the lifelong nourishment that good books deliver—you’ll feast on
The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life (121 delicious pages), including a tempting bibliography of 86 books. (I borrowed a few titles for my List of Candidates and my Library of Candidates.)
Footprint Leaver or Preservationist? Don’t miss the pros and cons of
Footprint Leavers (those who write in books—I’m in the marginalia camp) and the opposing group,
Preservationists (no writing allowed). Leveen received more than 2,000 responses to his blog on this Big Argument, including
“A book unmarked is a book unloved.” Read his follow-up 2009 blog post, “
Why You Should Write in Your Books Now.” Also, learn why speed reading isn’t that important (the difference between
reading speed versus
thinking speed).
He quotes Mortimer Adler, coauthor of
How to Read a Book: “Whereas a bookplate indicates financial ownership…writing in a book indicates intellectual ownership.” Leveen is encouraging. “If you have led an active reading life, your reading power at age eighty will tower over your reading power at age thirty.” And this:
“If you are not setting some books aside unfinished,
you are not sampling enough books.”
1) Do you write notes in your books? David McCullough noted that John Adams “wrote no fewer than 12,000 words inside the covers of Mary Wollstonecraft’s French Revolution (mostly disagreeing with the author).”
2) Peter Drucker would ask:
Are you a reader or a listener? Leveen devotes 15 pages to the joy of audiobooks, “Reading with Your Ears.” Bestselling author Jerry Jenkins, a fan of audiobooks, told Leveen that he was such a fan of Frank Muller’s narration expertise that Jenkins asked Muller to record some of his
Left Behind book series. Listen to
Desecration (Book #9) on
Libro.fm (9 hours, 38 minutes).
A Blogger and an Aussie Visit Powell’s!
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook
The core competency in the Book Bucket affirms, “We believe leaders are readers! We don’t just talk about books—we actually read them!”
In Issue No. 5 (Sept. 30, 2006), I wrote about “The Perpetual Power of a Perfect Gift.” After making a contribution to a national ministry in the 1980s, I received a book that I still treasure: A Diary of Private Prayer, by John Baillie. I continue to read selections in this book every week.
I now treasure another book! Several years ago, my colleague and friend, Gary Williams, and I had a free evening together in Vancouver, Wash., following a training event hosted by Murdock Trust. Gary, the very effective National Director of Christian Management Australia, was visiting the U.S.
His research on Portland (just across the Columbia River) had prioritized a visit to Powell's City of Books, reputed to be the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world. So we journeyed to Portland (for his first Uber journey!) and trekked the 1.6 acres of retail floor space. Powell’s has nine color-coded rooms and over 3,500 different sections. What fun! When we exited the bookstore, Gary presented me with a gift.
You guessed it—a book. But it was a very special book. And LOL! I finally read this gem during Covid-19! Confession: I shoulda/coulda read it sooner, but I didn’t. So finally, Gary, thank you! The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life is a remarkable book!
For more resources in the Book Bucket, check out this webpage.
JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Read any good books lately on branding and persuasion? Pearpod Media has the top titles. Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
