Enlightened

Upsides of Reading | Review of Some Five Books I Read Recently

Let me start with this childhood story of mine. Can you actually guess my age at the time? I was six years old. But before then, I grew up amidst the locals, however our parents gave me and my sister premium care in the best way they could. We hardly interacted with the kids in our neighbourhood. There was language barrier, English Language is my mother tongue; it was my first language, and today it remains the language in which my mind processes my thoughts subconsciously.

It was around my late childhood before I became fluent in Yoruba Language which is the second of my three languages today. So as at the time, my sister and I spoke English Language, but the neighbouring kids spoke Yoruba Language, we didn’t understand Yoruba and they didn’t understand English. This made our chances of interacting very slim, except for a young boy ‘Afeez’ who loved us so much that we started communicating using signs, we were friends for a little while.

Fast forward; my younger brother was born. The day my younger brother was born was a school day. My sister and I couldn’t go to school because my dad who takes us to school every morning was at the hospital with my mum. I woke up that faithful morning, went to my parents’ room as my custom was every morning, and there was no one in the room. So I started fumbling around the house, in search of my parents. Not long after, a relative came to inform me and my sister that our mum had given birth, and she took us to the clinic. To cut the long story short, we skipped school that day.

The following day, Dad dropped us off at a junction where he was certain we could find our way to school without trouble. We saw one of our teachers afar off, so we waited for her, walking with her would give us some measure of safety. As we walked, she asked me “Rotimi, why were you not in school yesterday?”. To which I replied, “My mum delivered a baby!” I still remember clearly that those were the exact words I used. Unknown to me, the teacher was shocked and super-impressed by my choice of words. It was rare for a kid of my age, in that locality, and at that time, to use those choice of words. She was expecting something like “My mum born baby” or at best “My mum gave birth to a baby”. But I used the word “Delivered” and she was so impressed that she told my Dad about it the next time they met.

But for me, it was nothing. I mean, it wasn’t even a big-grammar to me. So I was surprised that she was surprised. I had bigger grammars in my English vocabulary as at the time. How was this? The books my mum made me read at the time were of standard, so I got familiar with a number of big words early enough. That for me, was one of my first lessons in life about the value of reading.

In our fast growing world, and with the speedy pace of technology. One of the questions on the heart of the elites is whether or not reading is becoming obsolete. But subjectively, I mean based on my personal view, reading isn’t obsolete. I believe that reading remains an essential part of communication, education and entertainment. In fact, the ability to read is considered a fundamental skill that is necessary for success in many areas of life.

While it is true that some people may choose to consume information through audio and video formats, reading continues to be a valuable way to learn and process information. In addition, many forms of entertainment, such as books and magazines, rely on reading as the primary means of consumption.

I once had the privilege of writing on a friend’s blog, and I stated in my write-up that reading makes a person beautiful. And that is true, because true beauty actually stems from the inside out. Knowledge has a way of lightening and brightening your inner man, that’s why good information is known to enlighten us. When you are well enlightened, it reflects in your carriage, your relationships, your businesses, and your entire decision making process. Knowledge influences our decisions.

As advantageous as many other sources of learning are, one advantage that stands out when it comes to reading, is that it heightens your focus. You can’t read and assimilate when you’re distracted, when your mind is not calm. So reading a book from cover to cover actually trains you to calm your mind and helps you keep focus on a particular subject, for a reasonable amount of time. This calm state is what opens your mind to fresh ideas and insights that were not even written by the author.

Reading a book from cover to cover teaches you discipline. I remember buying a particular big book during my undergraduate days, it had many pages and very small font size. But one thing I noticed the moment I finished reading the book, is that no other book of big volume scared me again. It takes discipline to finish a book, especially when it is not for exams, and not because you are to give to account to someone.

One additional upside of reading is that it keeps your brain active, and can help reduce risk of cognitive decline in old age. It is a form of mental exercise, improving memory retention, concentration and analytical thinking. I still believe that reading is vital for personal growth and development, as there are books written on various subjects, meant for our study, in order to ease our path in life.

I would review shortly some five books or more that I read recently, I promised to do this last year, but I eventually couldn’t because I went on a social media break. My review of these books is not a recommendation to you as pertaining what to read. I choose books mainly based on my area of focus per time. There is a need to address the place of knowing what to read. What you read is of more importance than mere reading itself, choosing what you read is choosing what information you absorb. So you might need to ask yourself about the area of knowledge you really want to build.

Personally, I love to engage books on the subject of spirituality (my walk with God as a Christian), leadership, inter-personal relationships, finance, nutrition, creativity and personal development. Your preferences may be different from mine, so know yourself, know your interests, and stay there. However, I need to add that the words from the Bible are my ultimate sources of personal convictions, every other thing I read must be subject to the content and truth of scriptures, if it antagonises scriptures, it cannot be my view. Meaning that I read every other book subjectively. I’ll suggest you do the same, as there is no end to knowledge.

So now it’s time to review;

1.       Steal like an Artist by Austin Kleon: I really love this book because it is so short and handy, you can actually complete it in few hours if you’re a fast reader. It’s a book about creativity, I do believe that reading it as a creative, especially a graphics or visual designer, would give you insights as regards how to create something that appears new or unique from things or concepts that are already existing. It’s a beautiful book. If you finish it and you want more, then I’ll recommend ‘You’re more Creative than you Think’ by Rod Judkins.

2.       5am Club by Robin Sharma: I don’t know if it is just me, but I find this book amazing. My first read was 2020, yet I had to give it a second read last year. It’s a book that instils personal discipline as a virtue to be possessed. It teaches how to maintain focus in a tech-distracted world, opens your mind to the dangers of the multi distraction of the average human being in the twenty first century, and teaches how to position yourself above them. In a summary this book by Robin Sharma, talks about how to elevate your life by owning your morning. It’s a great book.

3.       Money by Rob Moore: This book strikes a good balance on the concept of money in relation to happiness. It emphasizes learning as key to increasing your earnings. And one of my major lessons from reading this book is how it emphasizes that being born poor isn’t your mistake, but dying poor after living a good long life is your mistake. It further explains that time and hard work are not proportionately related to money, value and services are. It’s a good book, but trust me, you must be really passionate about personal finances to finish the book.

4.       Mindset by Carol S. Dweck: I was gifted this book late last year by an amazing sibling of mine, and it came just when I needed it. This book gives contrast between possessing a fixed mindset and possessing a growth mindset. It explains what the growth mindset is, and how it is vital to make it ones default programming, as it helps you grow above the failings and challenges that life may throw at you.

5.       The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo: Personally, I didn’t really like this book much during my first read, but I’ll still talk about it because it is actually amazing too. And I feel I might fall in love with it whenever I give it a second read. It emphasizes that realizing ones destiny is a person’s only obligation. The Alchemist is a fictional story with a number of silent life lessons. You can give it a read if you love fictions.

I actually read more than double of my list here in the previous year, but let me just pause at that. I want to believe that you picked a thing or two from this article. So, please tell me what stood out for you in the comment section below.

Do you have trouble accessing quality books? Let me know in the comment section below, it will be my pleasure to link you up to my book plug.

Do you have challenges when it comes to engaging personal, please share it in the comment as well if you don’t mind, let’s see how best we can discuss it together.

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To your success!

Oluwadurotimi Okediji.

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