I was a great student in grade school and a good student in college, but reading books was neither a strong suit nor something I gravitated to. And my 20's were characterized by a distracted attention span that never seemed to make room for sitting down to read a book. But for a good chunk of time now, I've embraced reading books, to the point that even now that my life is packed to the gills with a demanding job, heavy civic responsibilities, and being a husband and a dad, I still clock in at about 50 to 60 books a year (this year I'm on pace for the lower bound of that range). Ultimately devoting time to anything when you're busy is about deciding that that thing is so important that you're willing to make time for it, even at the expense of other desirable things. So it begs the question: why do I spend so much time reading books? Well, I'm glad I asked myself.
To begin with, I'm an introvert whose life is full of people and noise. Which in my case means that it is important, both for my self-care and for my being ready for my world, that I make time to replenish myself through solitary time, and fill my head with facts and ideas on my terms. Which of course reading checks all those boxes, and which by the way drives when and how I do most of my reading, which is in bed right before I go to sleep. Sure, there is the occasional vacation time block or train ride when I can fire up my phone's Kindle app and get through a chapter or two. But by and large my reading happens literally at the very end of my day, in the complete silence and solitude of my bed (Amy goes to bed even earlier than me so she's there but asleep). After the crazy days I now have, lying there taking in a good read I can literally feel myself being rejuvenated.
OK, but what about the content itself? After all, not everyone is like me, and in fact the act of reading, while restful and necessary for me, may feel like a very unnatural action for others. So it can't be the act of reading alone, but the content and output of reading must also compel people to do it.
Which is really the case for reading books. Consider first that books represent the creative production of a talented writer, vetted through a publication and editing process that yields only the best offerings and has polished them to the point of highest readiness for consumption. Talk about a life hack! To tap into, every time you read a book, the very best that a very good writer has put together! And to think, this happens every single time you read a book. What a great way to extend yourself, whether to take you to new worlds, characters, and storylines (as is often the case with fiction) or to teach you something about the world (as is often the case with non-fiction). If you're more into fiction, consider that humanity is marked by art, and stories are a form of that art, and books allow you to tap into humanity's greatest story-tellers telling humanity's greatest stories. If you're more into non-fiction, consider that humanity is characterized by the collection of a historical account of itself and of knowledge gained along the way, and books tap you into the foremost authorities of a certain slice of that knowledge base.
Finally, consider the perspective enhancement you gain from reading a book, especially when it is about something you know little about and/or is written by someone who is very different from you. It was only a few years back that I committed to a more diverse portfolio of books to read, from all non-fiction and mostly written by old white men, to making sure to include heavy doses of fiction and books written by women and people of color. And I am way better for it, first for tapping into areas of immense human talent that I had been too lazy to tap into before, and second for broadening my take on the world by walking a mile in someone else's shoes.
Hopefully that takes you into what motivations drive my commitment to reading books. It rejuvenates me in a way that I sorely need, it taps me into the best humanity has to offer, and it enhances my view of the world by helping me see how others view the world. If all of that was available to you, wouldn't you grab as much of that as possible too?
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