As many of you know, I love to read. It’s one of my hobbies that I find I can really lose myself in and something that I wish I could spend more time doing. And to that end, I hope I can share with you why I love to read, some of the inspirations as to why I read, and hopefully encourage you to read more as well.

Why I Love to Read:

• mental stimulation / intellectual challenge (you can find books on pretty much every topic imaginable)
• learn new ideas and concepts (why reinvent the wheel if someone’s done it for you already?)
• learn from other people’s mistakes (so hopefully I won’t do the same thing)
• build your vocabulary (they say there’s a positive correlation between salary and vocabulary – though nothing yet for me so far)
• explore what life is like in another world, through the eyes of an interesting character (as I fantasize about my next travel adventures, this will have to suffice for the interim until I can get out there myself)

Some Inspirations

• Will Smith – check out this video and you’ll understand the title of this post. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEMEBBwO6J8
• I’m remember hearing somewhere this potentially apocryphal statement that the average American reads less than 1 book a year and if you were to read just 1 book a month, you’ll find yourself in the top 10% of the population in terms of reading. Do you want to be in the top 10%?

Want to Start Reading, but Don’t Know Where?

• www.goodreads.com – social networking for book lovers
• www.whatshouldireadnext.com – interesting book recommendation engine, different than Amazon
• www.personalmba.com – a great resource for business books
• your local pubic library – your librarian will have lots of recommendations

Some Personal Recommendations by Yours Truly:

• Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
• The 3 Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas
• The Lord of the Rings, by JRR Tolkien
• as a side note, I just realized that these first 3 books are quite lengthy, but definitely worth the read
•  Influlence: The Psychology of Persuation, by Robert Cialdini
• The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
• The ABC Murders, by Agatha Christie
• shorter and much more manageable books, but still great reads
• Who Moved My Cheese, by Spencer Johnson
• The Dip, by Seth Godin
• Fantastic Mr. Fox, by Roald Dahl
• even shorter books that you can read in less than an hour

Now get out there and start reading, what are you waiting for?