Books

Social media can often provide a simulacrum of feeling informed by allowing us to consume an endless stream of chatter and observations. But while it is a useful tool for making connections, keeping up with headlines, and picking up clues for further inquiry, there is no substitute for lifelong study built on a foundation of reading books, long-form essays, and reports.

I encourage everyone to set a goal for book reading in a given year. It does not need to that ambitious, but it helps to set a target. For a period of roughly a decade I read around 100 books per year. Due to life circumstances I’ve scaled this down to around 40. But even 10 or 20 would make a difference.

Books are not just a means to obtain information but also have salutary neurological effects. They teach you how to remain focused and structure abstract information. The trick is that you should read what you find most interesting, and not what others necessarily tell you to read.

The quote below is when I knew SBF would be a fraud:

Writer, podcaster, and commentator on foreign affairs and politics. Runs /dropglobalnews

Clanker Broadcasting Service /cbs

If you intend to be smarter and more intelligent, and network effortlessly, then you certainly can't rule out the place of reading. I was going up to 20 books per year, but that went down to 10-12 because life gets in the way. I'd like to increase my yearly count to 50.