For most of my life, I only picked up fiction books to read for enjoyment, but through friends, family members, and classes, I’ve been exposed to many other influential books. When you’re surrounded by books and people who enjoy reading, there’s a good chance that the right book will come to you at the right time in your life, and I remember when I first realized that…

When I was perhaps nine or ten years old, I received a beautiful collection of Sherlock Holmes stories from a friend of the family. Although I liked reading when I was a kid, I wasn’t really interested in (or ready for) the Sherlock stories, but I loved the book and kept it on my shelf until I was about twenty-two, which is when I took a year off from my college program and went to work as an archaeologist. I decided the time was right to read Sherlock Holmes, so I brought the book with me and read it every day after work. We lived in nature, camping in forests and on islands, while we were working, so there were no computers or other modern conveniences. It was just me, my book, and my imagination. I enjoyed it very much and realized that there is a “right time” in your life for any book. 

In the following years, I read many books, but these are a few of the more influential ones:

Bones of the Master by George Crane helped me get through one of the worst illnesses in my life. At a time when I thought I might die, my curiosity about what would happen next in the book gave me strength to keep going.

Shake Hands with the Devil by Romeo Dallaire showed me how dark and cruel the world can be and also what tremendous courage and strength it takes to do good where you can while enduring the things that you cannot change.

And while I’m not a fan of the author today, Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki was the book that got me (and so many others) to finally think about financial literacy and take a more active and informed approach to managing my money.

At the moment, I’m reading a book called Stolen Focus by Johann Hari that came to me by chance after I visited my grandmother recently! It’s a very interesting book about why it’s becoming harder and harder for us to concentrate.

I think it’s important to read both fiction and non-fiction. From fiction, we can understand different kinds of people, their personalities, their motivations, and their shortcomings. We can imagine ourselves in many different situations through fiction, and we learn to be more empathetic toward others. From non-fiction, we can learn about the world and benefit from the wisdom (and the mistakes) of others in order to improve our own skills, knowledge, and ability to deal with different real-world situations, and we can also travel without moving and learn about the world by reading books about other countries and cultures.

Reading is declining in popularity these days, but it’s such an important mental activity (and a great way to learn a language as well), so I hope everyone will continue reading, at least a little bit, and I’ll keep reading, too!