Ancora Imparo

In a scene from the movie Good Will Hunting, Will (Matt Damon) meets Sean (Robin Williams) for therapy. At one point Will looks at the books on the shelves and says (PG version), “You people baffle me, spend all your money on all these fancy books that you surround yourselves with them, but they are the wrong books.” Sean then asks, “What are the right books Will?” Will says, “whatever blows your hair back.”

The answer may not be great, but the question is important, “What are the right kind of books?”

Here are five principles I have found useful when selecting good books:

1. Choose the classics. These are the books that have stood the test of time. Thoreau said, “Read not the times; read the eternities.”
2. It should be readable and re-readable. Not only should they be understandable, but when you return to them you find something new and worthwhile each time.
3. It should inspire us to noble ideals and pure emotions. Our minds are like the soil and what we read the seed.
4. Gives us food for thought.
5. Adds to our storehouse of useful knowledge. Benjamin Franklin said, “an investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” If a good book gives even one new idea which makes life better, that is priceless.  

St. Augustine once heard, “Tolle Lege” (Latin: Take up and read), and it changed his life forever. Reading the best books can do the same for us today.

For those looking for ideas here’s a list to get started: https://www.listchallenges.com/how-to-read-a-book-reading-list