Lifestyle
I Consumed 321 Books the Last Two Years and This is What I Learned, Part I
By
Contributing Writer March 3, 2023
Chad T. Manske, Brig Gen (Ret), USAF
Contributing Writer March 3, 2023
Author talking with Steve Forbes during a meet-and-greet. | Photo submitted by Chad T. Manske, Brig Gen (Ret), USAF ()
Funny story, kinda. I wanted to write this piece at this time last year but got caught up so much with my book-reading regimen that 2022 went in the blink of an eye! What I hope to convey through this article is how to establish a book reading plan, find books to consume for free or very cheap, provide ways to apply your book reading, and express why that matters to you. As 2023 gets underway and you are working your way through your New Year’s resolutions, book reading can be one that lasts. So, let’s go!
First, I want to define a term. What I mean by ‘consuming’ in the title is a combination of both reading and listening to books. My wife was quick to point out that it would be misleading of me to state I had read so many books when technically I did not. I listened to many of them. To be fair, I am a trained and practiced speed reader, and I also listen to books at between 1.5 to 2 times the regular narration speed. However, I will mostly use the term ‘read’ in this article, though its meaning will reflect both reading and listening to books.
I have always been a reader as my mom and dad would attest. I would geek out in the summertime as a young boy eager to go to the library to not only learn, but to get lost in books and compete in the summer reading challenges they offered. Some things have not changed at all. I love reading and learning things while getting lost in a narrative. As an adult, I try to apply what I read and learn to my professional and personal life—making connections and striving to improve, while often referring to that content when I want to draw upon it.
About 20 years ago the Air Force sent me to its self-proclaimed ‘toughest’ graduate school, The School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. Before beginning this rigorous education for developing strategists, some of my classmates and I took the Evelyn Woods speed-reading course. We did so because during the academic year our small cohort of 25 students was split into three seminars per course (10 courses in the year) and would meet for two hours a day, four days a week. Each two-hour seminar held us responsible for approximately 200-400 pages of material which we would not only have to read, but also process, analyze, and prepare to discuss and debate with the other seven students in the seminar. 50 percent of the grade for each of these 10 courses was based on class participation. Meanwhile, we were writing 10 to 15-page papers, completing other various writing exercises, and working concurrently on our publish-quality 100-page theses! So, speed reading became a necessity during the year which many called the ‘book-a-day’ club!
Reading is undoubtedly a great life skill. Unfortunately, reading is somewhat of a waning pastime. According to a Pew Research poll in early 2021, roughly a quarter of all Americans said they hadn’t read a book in whole or part in the previous year! A similar Gallup poll around the same time frame revealed corresponding results, specifically regarding a decline in reading over many years. I find books to be great conversation starters, especially when communicating with another avid reader. I can’t tell you the countless times I’ve had great conversations with interesting people regarding books we have read. This of course leads to numerous recommendations from both sides—a source of endless entertainment!
One instance has really stuck with me. It was almost exactly five years ago this week when I was serving at National Defense University (NDU) as the Commandant of National War College in Washington, D.C. The President of NDU hosted an occasional Speaker Series in which the speaker would address the entire university – students, faculty, and administrators alike. Prior to their remarks, the President would host a 20-minute coffee meet-and-greet session, inviting senior leadership from NDU to participate. On one occasion the speaker was Steve Forbes—yes, THE Steve Forbes. As with many meet-and-greets, there is much small talk with little time to scratch below the surface of anything. When it came to my introduction, I asked Steve if he was a reader and what he had been reading lately. His answer was a book that had just come out, and coincidentally, one that I was reading as well! As we talked about that book and others we had read, we found ourselves closing the 10-foot distance to about two, while the rest of the room seemed to disappear. We were book lovers in a verbal tango, excitedly raising our voices and sharing thoughts on our favorite books and why we would recommend them. Soon, the coffee time was over, and we had both monopolized each other’s time. Fortunately, Steve had already met everyone else in the room. He gave a great talk about his business experiences, the details of which I don’t recall. What stuck with me was our book discussion. After Steve left NDU and his plane departed, I received a text from his executive assistant saying that Steve very much enjoyed the conversation with me, and he wanted to send me something if I would pass along my address. Excitedly, I did, thinking, “what would Steve want to send me?” Within a week I had a copy of ‘The Forbes Book of Business Quotations’ with a nice letter from Steve inside. He told me how much he enjoyed our conversation and thought I would appreciate a book on the “collection of sayings that were originally put together by [his] father and grandfather.” And indeed, I did! All of this because I was a reader and made a connection with another reader!