The man who does not
read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read.
- Mark Twain
My personal library is built over a period of more than three decades. Perhaps it is in
January, 1990, I added my first book to
my personal library when I was in my final year of graduation.
Computers were then in nascent stage and they were being used mainly for
bookkeeping and secretarial works. The internet revolution has still not dawn
in.
In fact, the idea to have a personal
library was in seed form much before it surfaced in 1990 when my
desire to improve my language abilities shot up to unfathomable levels. My visits to district and community libraries
during childhood days further strengthened the need to have my private
library so that I can read my interesting stuff at my own pace and time.
In my younger days whenever I see librarians, I cherish their job as they
get ample opportunity/time to read all the interesting stuff.
Like Rome was not built in a day, my library has taken years in building up. I
choose my books very carefully. The sources of knowing good books
are many viz. newspapers, magazines, TV news, book reviews, visits to
bookstores etc. But a final decision is only after seeing the
contents and reading reactions. The chapters also play a role in
selecting a book. Generally, my choice of books are : self-help,
psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, personality development. My taste of
books is an assortment of both
humanities and sciences.
Whenever I am in low mood, I open the door of my bookshelf and gaze them to
recoup my energy. I read
simultaneously 8-10 books in daily instalments. When I don't find time to
read, I feel dry. During the course of reading, I also take notes in
separate notebook, so that the information
would be handy to me whenever required.
Personality development guru Robin Sharma in his book Who will cry when you die ? suggests to build a library of heroic books. In that
book Sharma suggested 13 heroic books of
which I read the following six.
- Meditations, Marcus Aurelius
-The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
-Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse
-The Power of Your subconscious Mind, Joseph Murphy
As a Man Thinketh, James, Allen
Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill
I want to add one more book Awaken the Giant within written by Anthony
Robbins.
Books change your destiny. Personality development
guru Anthony Robbins says that music change your state of mind and books
change your focus.
Let me wrap up the importance of books with these
immortal words of Ruskin Bond:
“Book readers are special people, and they will always turn to books as the
ultimate pleasure. Those who do not read are the unfortunate ones. There's
nothing wrong with them; but they are missing out on one of life's
compensations and rewards. A great book is a friend that never lets you down.
You can return to it again and again and the joy first derived from it will
still be there.”
