Most Books Won’t Change Your Life (But You Should Read Them Anyways)

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Being and Time: An Interesting Book You Probably Shouldn’t Read

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I just spent the last two months doing a deep dive trying to understand Martin Heidegger’s seminal work, Being and Time . You probably shouldn’t read it. It’s also one of the most interesting and thought-provoking books I’ve read in the last decade. This post is my attempt to reconcile those two beliefs. The reasons not to read Being and Time are obvious. The book is only half-finished. Of what was written, the second division is so muddled, that even after taking a companion class with dozens of hours of lectures, I still have no idea how to make sense of it. Also, Heidegger was a Nazi . It’s not clear how much Heidegger’s politics influence his writing. Especially around 1927 when this book was published. Still, there’s an undeniable ick factor. However, even if you do separate Heidegger’s politics from his philosophy, he may have bigger problems. Philosopher Philippe Lemoine describes Heidegger, half-jokingly, as “The only man about whom one can truly say that being a Nazi was...
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Words That Changed History

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Why Lincoln, Henry, and Sojourner Truth Stood Out People have delivered countless speeches in history. But even speeches delivered by the most prominent people, on the most auspicious occasions, routinely make little difference. Think of presidential speeches, like inaugural or State of the Union addresses. How many of them had any lasting impact? Just a few, like John F. Kennedy’s 1961 exhortation to “ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” What makes great historic orations so powerful? Typically, they combine well-crafted words, clarity of thought, moral passion, and an uncanny sense of historical timing. Many of the greatest speeches of history were not destined to become great. Often the speaker was not the most famous person in the room, or was not giving the keynote address. Sometimes the oration was so unexpected that we don’t even have the text of the original speech. But that combination of apt, passionate words, delivered at the rig...
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A Challenge: Create a Daily Reading Habit

By Leo Babauta As I went through last month’s decluttering challenge, I realized I had a bunch of books I want to read, but that I don’t actually set aside time to read them. A lot of aspirational clutter is like that: we have outdoor equipment, things for hobbies, clutter from different projects we hope to do, things for gardening and cooking and photography … but we don’t actually create the time to do these aspirations. What if we decided to set aside time each day for one of these aspirations? This month, I challenge you to set aside time to read all the books on your reading list, or on your shelves. You don’t have to read them all this month, but you do have to set aside time each day, so that eventually all (or most of) your books will get read. The challenge: set aside a certain number of minutes each morning (you choose how many), and actually read a book during that session. For example: I decided to set aside 30 minutes every morning. I set a daily reminder to do th...
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