“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you will learn, the more places you’ll go.” Dr. Seuss said. This famous quote is definitely one of my favourite and it somehow motivates to read more as I age. As I grow up, I’ve came to realise that books are powerful and they are influential tools that are able to change how we see the world. No matter how many books you’ve read, you will still be able to discover new things or knowledge in the next book you are about to read. As a matter of fact, knowledge is the beginning of wisdom, the more you read, the more you’ll gain something from it and makes you eye-opening, give you the opportunity to see things from different angles, in other words, you will be a wiser person! Here are some of the books that left me an impact and changed the way I think.
The most recent book I’ve finished reading is Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. May I just say, this book completely blew me away! I’m not sure if I’m exaggerating but hear me out, this book talks about the most successful and intelligent people, not leaving out the most athletic ones too, basically the people who are the best of the best in the world! That’s why they are outliers. When I was reading this book, it took me on an intellectual journey through the world of these successful people of the world or should I say the world of “outliers”. The book tells me there are a few factors that contribute to a person’s success and it is definitely not self made. Those factors could be the help of others, a person’s effort and luck or opportunity. I personally feel that sometimes the society pays too much attention on a successful person’s achievements rather than focus on his journey to success, this is probably the biggest take-away from this book for me!
Next up, another book that left me an impact would be Irresistible: the Rise of Addictive Technology by Adam Alter. If I have to point out one thing about people from the current generation is, we are freaking addictive to our screens! Phone screens, laptop screens, tablet and television, you name it! You might think this is such a bad thing because we are literally glued to screens non-stop, but here’s the thing, it’s the aim of the people who created these technologies to make us addicted to their creations and that’s how the never-ending advancement of technologies keeps happening up till this day. The book itself is so interesting and it even makes me think that I should reduce my daily usage with my phone and make a difference! At the end of the day, we should be the ones who set boundaries for ourselves by creating a balance life, I’d had to admit I’m addicted to my phone screen but at the same time, I wouldn’t want to spend my entire life glue to my screen and missing out all the funs I could have with my loved ones in life! Get this book and you won’t regret.
Another amazing read that I want to recommend is Hunger by Roxane Gay. This book is definitely for those who have struggled issues such as self image, weight and self doubts. The author is so raw by telling her own past story in this book, she wrote about she got raped at the age of 12 and ever since then she just started eating so much to grow bigger in size as if she was building invisible shield around her. Unfortunately, people these days instantly make assumptions about anyone without personally knowing each other’s life stories and the stories behind each body like why things are the way they are, society are too quick to judge! This book taught me to never judge a book by its cover. What an amazing yet raw powerful memoir, highly recommend.