A&B #11

Hey friends,

I'm writing to all 2,984 of you today. I hope everyone's enjoying their weekend and spending some time reading. Yesterday I spent the day reading and then had a relaxing wine night with friends.(PS: Trader Joe's has their own private label wine that's only $3 a bottle and it's delicious. I'd recommend the pinot grigio.) I've been working with a coach to help guide me through the process of building an online course. We'll be opening it up for preorders in less than two weeks. I'm super excited to share what we have in store with you all.It will cover three main topics: how to find amazing books, how to get more books into your life, and how to get more life out of your books. Stay tuned for more details (and an exclusive deal for everyone here). 

Alright, let's dive into this week's newsletter!

Podcast Update:

No new podcast last week but I'll be releasing a new episode with author Nir Eyal this Tuesday. Nir was an absolutely fantastic guest and shared an incredible amount of wisdom so keep an eye out for it.In the meantime, I've been cutting clips of some of the best lessons I've learned from my guests and uploading them to YouTube. Here are two worth checking out from James Altucher:

• Strategies for finding your passion

• How James overcame depression after losing millions of dollars

Book Lessons:

Last week I came across a great quote about reading from Lin Yutang (a Chinese inventor, novelist, and philosopher). I ordered his book The Importance Of Living and dived into the reading section. Here are a few short lessons from the book: 1) Books Open Up A World of Knowledge People who don't read books are limited to wisdom from a few friends and acquaintances. "The man who has not the habit of reading is imprisoned in his immediate world, in respect to time and space," writes Yutang.However, those who do read can travel through space and time without leaving their feet to connect with the brightest minds throughout history. "The moment he takes up a book, he immediately enters a different world," writes Yutang. "He is immediately put in touch with one of the best talkers of the world." 2) Don't Force Your Kids To Read Books They Don't LikeKids have different tastes than parents and chances are they won't like the same books you enjoyed. You can recommend books to your kids, but don't force it down their throats or they'll start to dislike reading altogether. As Yutang says, "A parent cannot expect his children to have the same tastes as himself. And if the reader has no taste for what he reads, all the time is wasted." As a parent, your goal should be to help your kids to develop a habit of reading and let them follow their own interests. 3) When You Read A Book Is Just As Important As What You ReadFor a book to be truly life-changing, it needs to be read at the right time. If you gave an awesome book like Atomic Habits or 12 Rules for Life to a 5th grader, chances are they won't find it very valuable and it would be much more effective to wait till they were in college to read it."When one's thoughts and experience have not reached a certain point for reading a masterpiece," advises Yutang, "the masterpiece will leave only a bad flavor on his palate." Additionally, when you read the same book at different periods, you'll get a different flavor out of it. This is because you'll have new life experiences and look at the book from a slightly newer perspective.

 Actionable Advice:

• Books give us the opportunity to talk with the wisest minds to ever live.

  • Take advantage of books and learn from them.

• Don't force kids to read books they don't like.

  • Of course, feel free to recommend books you think they should read, but if they don't like the book, allow them to move onto a new one.

• When you read a book is just as important as what you read.

  • Related to the advice above, perhaps your child isn't ready for a book you want them to read. Save it for later when the right time comes.

  • A fun challenge: Reread one of your favorite books from years ago and see how your opinion of it has changed.

Reading Tip:Instead of a reading tip this week, how about a story about reading?Learn how a single book changed Scott Kelly's life forever and influenced him to become a Navy Captain and NASA astronaut.

• Related: Read how a single book changed Matthew McConaughey's life forever.

Weekly Quote:“Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for.”–Socrates

Photo of the Week:

If there's one thing I learned throughout my life is that you never know where life will take you.

Never would I have thought I'd:

• Play basketball at Madison Square Garden.

• Go mountain biking and break my shoulder.

• Start a brand around inspiring people to read.

Life is an adventure. You will experience highs and lows. It won't make sense looking forward, but you'll be able to connect the dots looking back. Thank you all for coming on this journey with me. 🙏

Hey everyone, this week's newsletter is brought to you by Podcast Notes. Podcast Notes makes it possible to learn the best ideas from the world's best podcasts in minutes. In other words, they write summaries on your favorite podcasts so you don't have to listen to a 3-hour Joe Rogan conversation to learn what was covered.They have notes on over 1000+ podcast episodes. By becoming a member, you'll get an ad-free experience and access to all of their notes, including 100+ member-only posts.Use code "books" to save 10% on any of their membership options. 👈 Thank you for your support everyone, I'll see you next week!Read on,Alex W.