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I have decided to make a new important addition to my website, a recommended reading list and I think you should too. My inspiration from this came from T.Rex Arms who recently published their own reading list along with some other individuals I’ve noticed around the web who like to recommend books, but it is the reasoning and format of the T.Rex Arms Book List (at least in its current form) that I intend to emulate.
I shouldn’t have to tell you that you should be reading good books, I trust you already know the benefits of reading so I’m not going to waste time explaining that. What I will say is that you should also be able to recommend good books to others. There are a lot of gems hiding on dusty shelves that you might know of that others don’t that you have the power to uncover. Everyone should know that they should be reading good books but most people struggle to find those good books, creating a reading list is a great service to those who trust you because it helps them find good books. Sure someone could go on YouTube and search “top ten books” or whatever but a recommendation from someone they trust is much better for a person than watching some random productivity YouTuber talking into a camera explain why Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is so great.
Your reading list should be yours. I won’t be putting Meditations on my reading list because it seems to be on everyone else’s, I also haven’t read it so I’m not actually in a position to recommend it. 1984 is another great book that everyone says you should read, and even though I have read it and do think you should read it I’m not going to put it on my reading list either.
I feel like a lot of people struggle to get into reading because they feel like they need to be reading the books that everyone else says they should be reading. Sure every business guru is going to tell you to read How to Win Friends and Influence People but that doesn’t mean you’re going to enjoy that book. A person is much more likely to find success reading if they read a book that was recommended to them by a friend. We should be providing this service to our friends and creating a reading list is a great way to start.
The T.Rex Arms Book List is a great example of a reading list. In its current form it is about 12 pages long, highlights a few dozen books divided into multiple sections and each book has a paragraph giving us an idea of what the book is about and why we should read it. I hope one day I will have a reading list long enough to take up that much space and be divided into sections like that but I don’t think I’ve read enough books to have that extensive of a reading list right now. If you are reading this article the same day I publish it my reading list (which I intend to have live) will likely just be a draft and I might not have an explanation for all the books I have on there. (I’d rather have this article out sooner so you can start working on putting together your own reading lists than wait until mine is perfect).
Of the sections of the T.Rex Arms Book List the children’s book section might be the most important. It is hard to find good kids books these days, a lot of parents are reading their kids books that I remember coming out when I was a kid. There is nothing wrong with those books but it could be hard for parents who didn’t grow up with a healthy reading habit to find those older good books in a sea of newer low-quality books. It will probably be a while before I add a children’s section to my reading list since I don’t have kids but if you do have kids you’ll need to keep your eye out for good books for them to read since there seems to be a lot more bad ones out there.
The T.Rex Arms Book List is also constantly evolving, as should yours. Isaac Botkin (the main curator of the list) has mentioned that he should have put a version number on it so people could tell which list they have when he starts updating it. You should do something similar with yours. Part of the header of mine will include a “Last Edited” date. Once you have written up your reading list you should revisit it once every couple of months to see if there is anything you need to add or subtract.
And I do hope I’ve made it clear that I believe you should write your own reading list, especially if you have a website. I know a lot of you reading this were inspired like I was by Luke Smith to make your own website and claim your own internet property but Luke never told you what to do with that property. I’ve visited a lot of your sites and you’ve put forth the effort to set up a homepage and a few other things (that often look nicer than my website) but after doing that you can’t seem to answer the question “What’s next?” You have a website but nobody has a reason to visit it. Your reading list is what’s next. Take some time to put one together, start with just five books or so and expand from there. Once you have that reading list up there you have a useful reason to show your site to other people other than, “Hey, look at this cool thing I made,” and you will feel more accomplished.
But you don’t have to have a website to have a reading list. Type one up for yourself and save it as a PDF on your phone so that you can share it with others when the need arises. People will think you are a lot more interesting if they know you read and can recommend good books.
If for some reason you haven’t read enough books to be able to put together a recommended reading list you should fix that problem. Feel free to pick something off of my reading list or find something else out there to read that I haven’t read and if it’s any good let me know. I’d love to see what books you’d like me to read.