Why I Love Reading Real Books
I read novels online every 2 weeks or so, which adds up to about 25 books per year.
As a rule, I always read at least free books online every day. Often it is a lot more than that. I squeeze reading in whenever I can?—?primarily weeknights before bed and then throughout the weekend.
Of course this pales in comparison to some notable voracious readers, such as Bill Gates (50+ books per year) and Warren Buffett (500+ pages per day).
I read books primarily to learn, grow, and feed my curiosities. This means that I mostly read non-fiction books about my passions of personal development, healthy lifestyle, and business/marketing.
While I certainly learn every day on the job, books are a gateway to deeper knowledge within my profession and a way to dive into areas unrelated to my day job.
My personality is best-suited to deep exploration of a limited number of subjects, rather than casually flipping from topic to topic. Therefore I greatly prefer reading full books over magazines, online articles, or any other type of micro-content. I highly respect the amount of time and expertise it has taken an author to research and craft a 200+ page book, and I relish the process of immersing myself in that one area for an extended period of time.
Since knowledge is my primary reason for reading books, I always read novels online with a pen in hand so I can underline key passages as I go. Then, after finishing each book, I go back through the underlined sections and manually write out a ‘one-pager’ of my key takeaways in a notebook. I have been doing this for the past five years, which means I now have well over 100 one-page summaries of the books I’ve read. This makes it easy and convenient to go back and reference the points that resonated with me most.
I always feel a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment after finishing the three-step process of reading, underlining, and transcribing these one-pagers. It is at that point that I feel truly ‘done’ with a book and ready to move on to the next one.
This amount of effort might seem crazy to some people, especially since I am not being paid and nobody is asking me to do it. But reading books in this focused manner gives me so much joy precisely because it is what I want to be doing. Even after a long work day, I find it energizing to take on this additional learning during my ‘down’ time, because it is how I choose to spend the time.
I have found that there are typically one or two brilliant nuggets from each book that stand out from the rest, and those key insights often serve as the basis for my articles. Reading therefore not only fulfills my interests, but also serves as a springboard for sharing what I learn. I figure if these insights help me, they likely will help others as well, especially for people who do not have the time to read as many books as I do.
I always read novels online real, physical books?—?I don’t own a Kindle, Nook, or any other type of e-reader. I spend most of my work day in front of a computer screen, so I choose to be digital-free during my reading time. Holding and read novels online a book relaxes and invigorates me?—?and it is one of the few activities that can cause me to totally lose track of time.
Some of my best days have been spent reading and writing, oftentimes in a book store or coffee shop (and disconnected from the internet and social media). While I certainly appreciate the convenience and cost-savings of Amazon, nothing beats the physical browsing and shopping experience of a real book store (and I’m clearly not alone, as evidenced by Amazon now opening physical locations).
I also make sure to read books to my children every night, in hopes of turning them into lifelong readers.
Tuesday, January 8, 2019
Friday, September 7, 2018
Breaking Down the Perfect Next Move for Kevin Owens After 'Quitting' WWE Raw
Breaking Down the Perfect Next Move for Kevin Owens After 'Quitting' WWE Raw
Kevin Owens returned to Raw on Monday after taking a week off due to the beating Braun Strowman gave him at SummerSlam, but his comeback was about as short-lived as it could be.
After Owens failed to defeat Seth Rollins for the Intercontinental Championship, The Prize Fighter sat in the middle of the ring with tears in his eyes as he said "I quit" before walking away.
His Twitter bio is empty, his profile picture is gone and he deleted all but two tweets from August 27 showing pictures of his feud with Braun Strowman and various title wins from his time in WWE - Want to watch wwe online ?
We know this is just a storyline, but many fans are still wondering where it will lead. We have seen Owens portray a frustrated employee before on SmackDown, but this time feels different. The way WWE handles his next few appearances will be important to the success of this storyline.
The promo KO delivered before his match with Rollins and the way The Architect reacted afterward might give us some clues as to how this will all play out.
Owens was distraught over losing to Strowman at SummerSlam, but he seemed even more upset that he had to wrestle the match without his best friend, Sami Zayn by his side.
Once Rollins won, he looked down at his defeated opponent and gave an approving nod, indicating Owens had earned his respect after a hard-fought and entertaining contest.
These are small details, but they seem to imply WWE (watch wwe online now !) might be ready to turn Owens into a babyface after spending his entire run as a heel.
Why a Babyface Turn Can Work
Turning a top villain into a sympathetic figure is not going to be easy, but Owens is lucky enough to have a large following to give him a headstart on most heels.
Even though we all like to boo him when he insults our hometowns or cheats, it's hard not to like The Prize Fighter as a person and a performer.
Not only is he gifted in the ring and on the mic, but he has shown himself to be a loving father and husband through his social media accounts over the years.
The respect the WWE Universe has for him means the foundation is already built for a face turn. WWE just needs to make sure it handles the change properly.
The Next Step
The WWE Universe needs time to miss Owens. Management should have him remain at home pretending he actually quit until after Hell in a Cell on September 16.
After having some time to reflect, KO should be shown approaching Paige about returning to SmackDown as a more mature competitor, but she has to make him earn it.
The crowd needs to see The Prize Fighter battling for his career. There's something about a guy who is down on his luck that makes you want to cheer for him. Once he passes a few tests, the real work will begin.
Owens doesn't need to change much about his character. Braun Strowman is essentially the exact same person whether he is a heel or a babyface. He just directs his anger at whoever works best for his current role. The same thing can work for KO.
As one of the most entertaining talkers in the company, the former universal champion could easily turn the WWE Universe to his side with a few scathing promos directed at a heel like Randy Orton or Samoa Joe.
His skill in the ring is on par with the best in the company, so the only thing he would have to adjust about his style is how often he tries to cheat. He doesn't have to stop being vicious, he just needs to do it within the rules.
The whole transition would be complete in a few weeks. By the time Survivor Series rolls around on November 18, Owens could be in a high-profile feud, possibly fighting for one of SmackDown's titles.
Giving him a fresh start as a babyface is the best way to breathe new life into his character and create new opponents for him to face inside the ring. The only downside would be WWE losing one of its best heels, but there are plenty of other Superstar who can fill the void.
What do you think? Should WWE turn Owens babyface? Are you want towatch wwe online now ?
Ronda Rousey completed her rapid rise to the top of WWE at SummerSlam - but who will face her next?
Ronda Rousey completed her rapid rise to the top of WWE at SummerSlam - but who will face her next?
The 'baddest woman on the planet' confirmed on Raw the following evening that she will be "a fighting champion" and intends to compete in the ring every night.
With that in mind, we've picked out five candidates to challenge Rousey for her Raw women's championship in the coming months.
Alexa Bliss
Bliss will have a rematch as part of standard WWE (Want to watch wwe online) procedure and a solid argument can be made for her program with Rousey continuing.
The two had decent chemistry in the build-up to their SummerSlam match - largely in part to Bliss' ability to generate heat through her promo ability.
But after the bell rang it was a complete mismatch and the multi-brand champion was deposed in short order. She may need to be rebuilt before another long-term shot at the gold.
Nia Jax
Jax is the polar opposite of Bliss in the sense that she has the size and the power to make it believable that she could beat Rousey.
In their match at Money In The Bank, Jax got in plenty of offense and the contest was largely even until Bliss' briefcase-shaped interruption.
They definitely have unfinished business and that could be the key factor in a storyline reigniting their rivalry.
Natalya
It showed enormous courage and determination for Natalya to appear at Rousey's side at SummerSlam, wearing the jacket her very recently-deceased father had sported at the 1990 edition of the event.
Natalya would be a great opponent for her friend and training partner. She is a great in-ring technician in her own right but her closeness to Rousey in the Performance Center should lead to some excellent matches.
But it would be impossible to turn her heel at this point. She is well loved by the fans and admired and respected by her colleagues. This is a program which might have to wait.
Shayna Baszler
Rousey and Baszler are long-time friends and colleagues in the MMA version of the Four Horsewomen which also comprises Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir, both of whom are training with WWE (watch wwe online now !).
But a storyline feud between the two is a straightforward one to write; Rousey was Baszler's coach on The Ultimate Fighter in 2010 despite having seven years' more experience in the sport than her. It could easily be portrayed that she is not happy to have been in Rousey's shadow for so long.
Baszler dropped the NXT title to Kairi Sane at the TakeOver before SummerSlam and is therefore free to move up to Raw. But it would be a major acceleration of her push to face the company's biggest female star, even if she has shown she is a highly capable operator.
Charlotte Flair
Rousey and Flair are on collision course as the two leading lights of WWE's women's division and as the figureheads - and now champions - of Raw and SmackDown.
There really is no rush with this one. The seeds can potentially be sown soon at Survivor Series in November, when the red and blue champions traditionally go head to head. Wait !!! Want to watch wwe online ???
But the match itself has to be saved for WrestleMania. It would have to involve one of the participants losing their title and then winning the Royal Rumble to earn the chance to win it back as part of a redemption arc. Either would be a good fit for that.
With the correct build-up, Ronda Rousey v Charlotte Flair could easily be the first women's match to be the WrestleMania main event.
Ronda Rousey completed her rapid rise to the top of WWE at SummerSlam - but who will face her next?
Ronda Rousey completed her rapid rise to the top of WWE at SummerSlam - but who will face her next?
The 'baddest woman on the planet' confirmed on Raw the following evening that she will be "a fighting champion" and intends to compete in the ring every night.
With that in mind, we've picked out five candidates to challenge Rousey for her Raw women's championship in the coming months.
Alexa Bliss
Bliss will have a rematch as part of standard WWE (Want to watch wwe online) procedure and a solid argument can be made for her program with Rousey continuing.
The two had decent chemistry in the build-up to their SummerSlam match - largely in part to Bliss' ability to generate heat through her promo ability.
But after the bell rang it was a complete mismatch and the multi-brand champion was deposed in short order. She may need to be rebuilt before another long-term shot at the gold.
Nia Jax
Jax is the polar opposite of Bliss in the sense that she has the size and the power to make it believable that she could beat Rousey.
In their match at Money In The Bank, Jax got in plenty of offense and the contest was largely even until Bliss' briefcase-shaped interruption.
They definitely have unfinished business and that could be the key factor in a storyline reigniting their rivalry.
Natalya
It showed enormous courage and determination for Natalya to appear at Rousey's side at SummerSlam, wearing the jacket her very recently-deceased father had sported at the 1990 edition of the event.
Natalya would be a great opponent for her friend and training partner. She is a great in-ring technician in her own right but her closeness to Rousey in the Performance Center should lead to some excellent matches.
But it would be impossible to turn her heel at this point. She is well loved by the fans and admired and respected by her colleagues. This is a program which might have to wait.
Shayna Baszler
Rousey and Baszler are long-time friends and colleagues in the MMA version of the Four Horsewomen which also comprises Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir, both of whom are training with WWE (watch wwe online now !).
But a storyline feud between the two is a straightforward one to write; Rousey was Baszler's coach on The Ultimate Fighter in 2010 despite having seven years' more experience in the sport than her. It could easily be portrayed that she is not happy to have been in Rousey's shadow for so long.
Baszler dropped the NXT title to Kairi Sane at the TakeOver before SummerSlam and is therefore free to move up to Raw. But it would be a major acceleration of her push to face the company's biggest female star, even if she has shown she is a highly capable operator.
Charlotte Flair
Rousey and Flair are on collision course as the two leading lights of WWE's women's division and as the figureheads - and now champions - of Raw and SmackDown.
There really is no rush with this one. The seeds can potentially be sown soon at Survivor Series in November, when the red and blue champions traditionally go head to head. Wait !!! Want to watch wwe online ???
But the match itself has to be saved for WrestleMania. It would have to involve one of the participants losing their title and then winning the Royal Rumble to earn the chance to win it back as part of a redemption arc. Either would be a good fit for that.
With the correct build-up, Ronda Rousey v Charlotte Flair could easily be the first women's match to be the WrestleMania main event.
Friday, August 3, 2018
A Thousand Splendid Suns reviews
It’s not that hard to understand why Khaled Hosseini’s first novel, “The Kite Runner” (2003), became such a huge best seller, based largely on word of mouth and its popularity among book clubs and reading groups. The novel read like a kind of modern-day variation on Conrad’s “Lord Jim,” in which the hero spends his life atoning for an act of cowardice and betrayal committed in his youth. It not only gave readers an intimate look at Afghanistan and the difficulties of life there, but it also showed off its author’s accessible and very old-fashioned storytelling talents: his taste for melodramatic plotlines; sharply drawn, black-and-white characters; and elemental boldfaced emotions.
Whereas “The Kite Runner” focused on fathers and sons, and friendships between men, his latest novel, “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” focuses on mothers and daughters, and friendships between women. Whereas “Kite Runner” got off to a gripping start and stumbled into contrivance and sentimentality in its second half, “Splendid Suns” starts off programmatically and gains speed and emotional power as it slowly unfurls.
Like its predecessor, the new free novel online features a very villainous villain and an almost saintly best friend who commits an act of enormous self-sacrifice to aid the hero/heroine. Like its predecessor, it attempts to show the fallout that Afghanistan’s violent history has had on a handful of individuals, ending in death at the hands of the Taliban for one character, and the promise of a new life for another. And like its predecessor, it features some embarrassingly hokey scenes that feel as if they were lifted from a B movie, and some genuinely heart-wrenching scenes that help redeem the overall story.
Mr. Hosseini, who was born in Kabul and moved to the United States in 1980, writes in straight-ahead, utilitarian prose and creates characters who have the simplicity and primary-colored emotions of people in a fairy tale or fable. The sympathy he conjures for them stems less from their personalities (the hero of “Kite Runner” was an unlikable coward who failed to come to the aid of his best friend) than from the circumstances in which they find themselves: contending with unhappy families, abusive marriages, oppressive governments and repressive cultural mores.
This heavy-handed opening quickly gives way to even more soap-opera-ish events: after her mother commits suicide, the teenage Mariam — the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy man, who is ashamed of her existence — is quickly married off to a much older shoemaker named Rasheed, a piggy brute of a man who says it embarrasses him “to see a man who’s lost control of his wife.”
Rasheed forces Mariam to wear a burqa and treats her with ill-disguised contempt, subjecting her to scorn, ridicule, insults, even “walking past her like she was nothing but a house cat.” Mariam lives in fear of “his shifting moods, his volatile temperament, his insistence on steering even mundane exchanges down a confrontational path that, on occasion, he would resolve with punches, slaps, kicks, and sometimes try to make amends for with polluted apologies and sometimes not.”
"A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini The life of the novel’s other heroine, Laila, who becomes Rasheed’s second wife, takes an even sharper trajectory toward ruin. Though she is the cherished daughter of an intellectual, who encourages her to pursue an education, Laila finds her life literally shattered when a rocket — lobbed by one of the warlord factions fighting for control of Kabul, after the Soviet Union’s departure — lands on her house and kills her parents.
Her beloved boyfriend, Tariq, has already left Kabul with his family — they have become refugees in Pakistan — and she suddenly finds that she is an orphan with no resources or friends. When she discovers that she is pregnant with Tariq’s child and learns that Tariq has supposedly died from injuries sustained in a rocket attack near the Pakistan border, she agrees to marry Rasheed, convinced that she and her baby will never survive alone on the streets of Kabul.
At first Mariam sees Laila as a rival and accuses her of stealing her husband, but when Laila’s baby, Aziza, arrives, Mariam begins to soften. Gradually, she and Laila become allies, trying to shield each other from Rasheed’s rages and demands. Mariam becomes a second mother to Aziza, and she and Laila become best friends.
SEE SAMPLE PRIVACY POLICY OPT OUT OR CONTACT US ANYTIME In the opening chapters of the free novel online the characters are so one-dimensional that they feel like cartoons. Laila is the great beauty, with a doting father and a protective boyfriend — a lucky girl whose luck abruptly runs out. Mariam is the illegitimate daughter of a bitter woman and a disloyal father — an unlucky girl whose luck turns from bad to worse. And Rasheed is the evil bully, a misogynist intent on debasing his two wives.
Gradually, however, Mr. Hosseini’s instinctive storytelling skills take over, mowing down the reader’s objections through sheer momentum and will. He succeeds in making the emotional reality of Mariam and Laila’s lives tangible to us, and by conjuring their day-to-day routines, he is able to give us a sense of what daily life was like in Kabul — both before and during the harsh reign of the Taliban.
He shows us the Taliban’s “beard patrols,” roaming the streets in Toyota trucks “on the lookout for clean-shaven faces to bloody.” He shows us hospitals turning away women in labor because men and women are supposed to be seen at different hospitals. And he shows us the “ ‘Titanic’ fever” that gripped Kabul in the summer of 2000, when pirated copies of that film turned up in the city: entertainment-starved people surreptitiously dug out their TVs (which had been hidden away, even buried in backyards) and illicitly watched the movie late at night, and riverside vendors began selling Titanic carpets, Titanic deodorant, Titanic toothpaste, even Titanic burqas.
In the end it is these glimpses of daily life in Afghanistan — a country known to most Americans only through news accounts of war and terrorism — that make this novel, like “The Kite Runner,” so stirring, and that distract attention from its myriad flaws.
Whereas “The Kite Runner” focused on fathers and sons, and friendships between men, his latest novel, “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” focuses on mothers and daughters, and friendships between women. Whereas “Kite Runner” got off to a gripping start and stumbled into contrivance and sentimentality in its second half, “Splendid Suns” starts off programmatically and gains speed and emotional power as it slowly unfurls.
Like its predecessor, the new free novel online features a very villainous villain and an almost saintly best friend who commits an act of enormous self-sacrifice to aid the hero/heroine. Like its predecessor, it attempts to show the fallout that Afghanistan’s violent history has had on a handful of individuals, ending in death at the hands of the Taliban for one character, and the promise of a new life for another. And like its predecessor, it features some embarrassingly hokey scenes that feel as if they were lifted from a B movie, and some genuinely heart-wrenching scenes that help redeem the overall story.
Mr. Hosseini, who was born in Kabul and moved to the United States in 1980, writes in straight-ahead, utilitarian prose and creates characters who have the simplicity and primary-colored emotions of people in a fairy tale or fable. The sympathy he conjures for them stems less from their personalities (the hero of “Kite Runner” was an unlikable coward who failed to come to the aid of his best friend) than from the circumstances in which they find themselves: contending with unhappy families, abusive marriages, oppressive governments and repressive cultural mores.
This heavy-handed opening quickly gives way to even more soap-opera-ish events: after her mother commits suicide, the teenage Mariam — the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy man, who is ashamed of her existence — is quickly married off to a much older shoemaker named Rasheed, a piggy brute of a man who says it embarrasses him “to see a man who’s lost control of his wife.”
Rasheed forces Mariam to wear a burqa and treats her with ill-disguised contempt, subjecting her to scorn, ridicule, insults, even “walking past her like she was nothing but a house cat.” Mariam lives in fear of “his shifting moods, his volatile temperament, his insistence on steering even mundane exchanges down a confrontational path that, on occasion, he would resolve with punches, slaps, kicks, and sometimes try to make amends for with polluted apologies and sometimes not.”
"A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini The life of the novel’s other heroine, Laila, who becomes Rasheed’s second wife, takes an even sharper trajectory toward ruin. Though she is the cherished daughter of an intellectual, who encourages her to pursue an education, Laila finds her life literally shattered when a rocket — lobbed by one of the warlord factions fighting for control of Kabul, after the Soviet Union’s departure — lands on her house and kills her parents.
Her beloved boyfriend, Tariq, has already left Kabul with his family — they have become refugees in Pakistan — and she suddenly finds that she is an orphan with no resources or friends. When she discovers that she is pregnant with Tariq’s child and learns that Tariq has supposedly died from injuries sustained in a rocket attack near the Pakistan border, she agrees to marry Rasheed, convinced that she and her baby will never survive alone on the streets of Kabul.
At first Mariam sees Laila as a rival and accuses her of stealing her husband, but when Laila’s baby, Aziza, arrives, Mariam begins to soften. Gradually, she and Laila become allies, trying to shield each other from Rasheed’s rages and demands. Mariam becomes a second mother to Aziza, and she and Laila become best friends.
SEE SAMPLE PRIVACY POLICY OPT OUT OR CONTACT US ANYTIME In the opening chapters of the free novel online the characters are so one-dimensional that they feel like cartoons. Laila is the great beauty, with a doting father and a protective boyfriend — a lucky girl whose luck abruptly runs out. Mariam is the illegitimate daughter of a bitter woman and a disloyal father — an unlucky girl whose luck turns from bad to worse. And Rasheed is the evil bully, a misogynist intent on debasing his two wives.
Gradually, however, Mr. Hosseini’s instinctive storytelling skills take over, mowing down the reader’s objections through sheer momentum and will. He succeeds in making the emotional reality of Mariam and Laila’s lives tangible to us, and by conjuring their day-to-day routines, he is able to give us a sense of what daily life was like in Kabul — both before and during the harsh reign of the Taliban.
He shows us the Taliban’s “beard patrols,” roaming the streets in Toyota trucks “on the lookout for clean-shaven faces to bloody.” He shows us hospitals turning away women in labor because men and women are supposed to be seen at different hospitals. And he shows us the “ ‘Titanic’ fever” that gripped Kabul in the summer of 2000, when pirated copies of that film turned up in the city: entertainment-starved people surreptitiously dug out their TVs (which had been hidden away, even buried in backyards) and illicitly watched the movie late at night, and riverside vendors began selling Titanic carpets, Titanic deodorant, Titanic toothpaste, even Titanic burqas.
In the end it is these glimpses of daily life in Afghanistan — a country known to most Americans only through news accounts of war and terrorism — that make this novel, like “The Kite Runner,” so stirring, and that distract attention from its myriad flaws.
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
Why Reading Books Should Be Your Priority, According to Science
When was the last time you read free novels, or a substantial magazine article? Do your daily reading habits center around tweets, Facebook updates, or the directions on your instant oatmeal packet? If you’re one of countless people who don’t make a habit of reading regularly, you might be missing out: reading has a significant number of benefits, and just a few benefits of reading are listed below.
1. Mental Stimulation
Studies have shown that staying mentally stimulated can slow the progress of (or possibly even prevent) Alzheimer’s and Dementia, since keeping your brain active and engaged prevents it from losing power. Just like any other muscle in the body, the brain requires exercise to keep it strong and healthy, so the phrase “use it or lose it” is particularly apt when it comes to your mind. Doing puzzles and playing games such as chess have also been found to be helpful with cognitive stimulation.
2. Stress Reduction
No matter how much stress you have at work, in your personal relationships, or countless other issues faced in daily life, it all just slips away when you lose yourself in a great story. A well-written novel can transport you to other realms, while an engaging article will distract you and keep you in the present moment, letting tensions drain away and allowing you to relax.
3. Knowledge
Everything you read fills your head with new bits of information, and you never know when it might come in handy. The more knowledge you have, the better-equipped you are to tackle any challenge you’ll ever face.
Additionally, here’s a bit of food for thought: should you ever find yourself in dire circumstances, remember that although you might lose everything else—your job, your possessions, your money, even your health—knowledge can never be taken from you.
4. Vocabulary Expansion
This goes with the above topic: the more you read, the more words you gain exposure to, and they’ll inevitably make their way into your everyday vocabulary. Being articulate and well-spoken is of great help in any profession, and knowing that you can speak to higher-ups with self-confidence can be an enormous boost to your self-esteem. It could even aid in your career, as those who are well-read, well-spoken, and knowledgeable on a variety of topics tend to get promotions more quickly (and more often) than those with smaller vocabularies and lack of awareness of literature, scientific breakthroughs, and global events.
Reading books is also vital for learning new languages, as non-native speakers gain exposure to words used in context, which will ameliorate their own speaking and writing fluency.
5. Memory Improvement
When you should free novels reading, you have to remember an assortment of characters, their backgrounds, ambitions, history, and nuances, as well as the various arcs and sub-plots that weave their way through every story. That’s a fair bit to remember, but brains are marvellous things and can remember these things with relative ease. Amazingly enough, every new memory you create forges new synapses (brain pathways)and strengthens existing ones, which assists in short-term memory recall as well as stabilizing moods. How cool is that?
6. Stronger Analytical Thinking Skills
Have you ever read an amazing mystery novel, and solved the mystery yourself before finishing the book? If so, you were able to put critical and analytical thinking to work by taking note of all the details provided and sorting them out to determine “whodunnit”. That same ability to analyze details also comes in handy when it comes to critiquing the plot; determining whether it was a well-written piece, if the characters were properly developed, if the storyline ran smoothly, etc. Should you ever have an opportunity to discuss the book with others, you’ll be able to state your opinions clearly, as you’ve taken the time to really consider all the aspects involved.
7. Improved Focus and Concentration
In our internet-crazed world, attention is drawn in a million different directions at once as we multi-task through every day. In a single 5-minute span, the average person will divide their time between working on a task, checking email, chatting with a couple of people (via gchat, skype, etc.), keeping an eye on twitter, monitoring their smartphone, and interacting with co-workers. This type of ADD-like behaviour causes stress levels to rise, and lowers our productivity.
When you read a book, all of your attention is focused on the story—the rest of the world just falls away, and you can immerse yourself in every fine detail you’re absorbing. Try reading for 15-20 minutes before work (i.e. on your morning commute, if you take public transit), and you’ll be surprised at how much more focused you are once you get to the office.
8. Better Writing Skills
This goes hand-in-hand with the expansion of your vocabulary: exposure to published, well-written work has a noted effect on one’s own writing, as observing the cadence, fluidity, and writing styles of other authors will invariably influence your own work. In the same way that musicians influence one another, and painters use techniques established by previous masters, so do writers learn how to craft prose by reading the works of others.
9. Tranquility
In addition to the relaxation that accompanies reading free novels online, it’s possible that the subject you read about can bring about immense inner peace and tranquility. Reading spiritual texts can lower blood pressure and bring about an immense sense of calm, while reading self-help books has been shown to help people suffering from certain mood disorders and mild mental illnesses.
10. Free Entertainment
Though many of us like to buy books so we can annotate them and dog-ear pages for future reference, they can be quite pricey. For low-budget entertainment, you can visit your local library and bask in the glory of the countless tomes available there for free. Libraries have books on every subject imaginable, and since they rotate their stock and constantly get new books, you’ll never run out of reading materials.
If you happen to live in an area that doesn’t have a local library, or if you’re mobility-impaired and can’t get to one easily, most libraries have their books available in PDF or ePub format so you can read them on your e-reader, iPad, or your computer screen. There are also many sources online where you can download free e-books, so go hunting for something new to read!
There’s a reading genre for every literate person on the planet, and whether your tastes lie in classical literature, poetry, fashion magazines, biographies, religious texts, young adult books, self-help guides, street lit, or romance novels, there’s something out there to capture your curiosity and imagination. Step away from your computer for a little while, crack open a book, and replenish your soul for a little while.
1. Mental Stimulation
Studies have shown that staying mentally stimulated can slow the progress of (or possibly even prevent) Alzheimer’s and Dementia, since keeping your brain active and engaged prevents it from losing power. Just like any other muscle in the body, the brain requires exercise to keep it strong and healthy, so the phrase “use it or lose it” is particularly apt when it comes to your mind. Doing puzzles and playing games such as chess have also been found to be helpful with cognitive stimulation.
2. Stress Reduction
No matter how much stress you have at work, in your personal relationships, or countless other issues faced in daily life, it all just slips away when you lose yourself in a great story. A well-written novel can transport you to other realms, while an engaging article will distract you and keep you in the present moment, letting tensions drain away and allowing you to relax.
3. Knowledge
Everything you read fills your head with new bits of information, and you never know when it might come in handy. The more knowledge you have, the better-equipped you are to tackle any challenge you’ll ever face.
Additionally, here’s a bit of food for thought: should you ever find yourself in dire circumstances, remember that although you might lose everything else—your job, your possessions, your money, even your health—knowledge can never be taken from you.
4. Vocabulary Expansion
This goes with the above topic: the more you read, the more words you gain exposure to, and they’ll inevitably make their way into your everyday vocabulary. Being articulate and well-spoken is of great help in any profession, and knowing that you can speak to higher-ups with self-confidence can be an enormous boost to your self-esteem. It could even aid in your career, as those who are well-read, well-spoken, and knowledgeable on a variety of topics tend to get promotions more quickly (and more often) than those with smaller vocabularies and lack of awareness of literature, scientific breakthroughs, and global events.
Reading books is also vital for learning new languages, as non-native speakers gain exposure to words used in context, which will ameliorate their own speaking and writing fluency.
5. Memory Improvement
When you should free novels reading, you have to remember an assortment of characters, their backgrounds, ambitions, history, and nuances, as well as the various arcs and sub-plots that weave their way through every story. That’s a fair bit to remember, but brains are marvellous things and can remember these things with relative ease. Amazingly enough, every new memory you create forges new synapses (brain pathways)and strengthens existing ones, which assists in short-term memory recall as well as stabilizing moods. How cool is that?
6. Stronger Analytical Thinking Skills
Have you ever read an amazing mystery novel, and solved the mystery yourself before finishing the book? If so, you were able to put critical and analytical thinking to work by taking note of all the details provided and sorting them out to determine “whodunnit”. That same ability to analyze details also comes in handy when it comes to critiquing the plot; determining whether it was a well-written piece, if the characters were properly developed, if the storyline ran smoothly, etc. Should you ever have an opportunity to discuss the book with others, you’ll be able to state your opinions clearly, as you’ve taken the time to really consider all the aspects involved.
7. Improved Focus and Concentration
In our internet-crazed world, attention is drawn in a million different directions at once as we multi-task through every day. In a single 5-minute span, the average person will divide their time between working on a task, checking email, chatting with a couple of people (via gchat, skype, etc.), keeping an eye on twitter, monitoring their smartphone, and interacting with co-workers. This type of ADD-like behaviour causes stress levels to rise, and lowers our productivity.
When you read a book, all of your attention is focused on the story—the rest of the world just falls away, and you can immerse yourself in every fine detail you’re absorbing. Try reading for 15-20 minutes before work (i.e. on your morning commute, if you take public transit), and you’ll be surprised at how much more focused you are once you get to the office.
8. Better Writing Skills
This goes hand-in-hand with the expansion of your vocabulary: exposure to published, well-written work has a noted effect on one’s own writing, as observing the cadence, fluidity, and writing styles of other authors will invariably influence your own work. In the same way that musicians influence one another, and painters use techniques established by previous masters, so do writers learn how to craft prose by reading the works of others.
9. Tranquility
In addition to the relaxation that accompanies reading free novels online, it’s possible that the subject you read about can bring about immense inner peace and tranquility. Reading spiritual texts can lower blood pressure and bring about an immense sense of calm, while reading self-help books has been shown to help people suffering from certain mood disorders and mild mental illnesses.
10. Free Entertainment
Though many of us like to buy books so we can annotate them and dog-ear pages for future reference, they can be quite pricey. For low-budget entertainment, you can visit your local library and bask in the glory of the countless tomes available there for free. Libraries have books on every subject imaginable, and since they rotate their stock and constantly get new books, you’ll never run out of reading materials.
If you happen to live in an area that doesn’t have a local library, or if you’re mobility-impaired and can’t get to one easily, most libraries have their books available in PDF or ePub format so you can read them on your e-reader, iPad, or your computer screen. There are also many sources online where you can download free e-books, so go hunting for something new to read!
There’s a reading genre for every literate person on the planet, and whether your tastes lie in classical literature, poetry, fashion magazines, biographies, religious texts, young adult books, self-help guides, street lit, or romance novels, there’s something out there to capture your curiosity and imagination. Step away from your computer for a little while, crack open a book, and replenish your soul for a little while.
How is the habit of book-reading useful to a person
Reading free novels is like going through someone's thought process. It's like reading their mind in and out. That process gives us many insights about life in general. There are many kind of books out there. Depending on what you're reading, they'll be useful to you.
I'll classify a few categories according to my knowledge. Please excuse if there are any inaccuracies.
Novels : These are works of fiction. They're fun to read. Few books are generally pot boilers with nothing new to teach. Like the book called “If tomorrow comes.” And there are extraordinary books like ‘The Fountainhead’ which teach you a hell lot. Depending on the book, there are many possibilities. If you choose a random erotica or a stupid sassy romance novel, then it's not going to teach you anything. But might give you pleasure. These novels may or may not teach you something new.
Non Fiction : These are everything else apart from fiction novels. Now these books will be more on the ‘Productive’ side. You could read good personality development books. Books on various topics that interest you. Like economics, finance, relationships, science, history etc.,
Comics : Don't know whether I must mention this as a separate category or not. But chuck it. These are super fun. I personally love all kinda books.. But these are special. They might or might not be informative.
At the end, I would like to say that a book can or cannot give you info, knowledge or output based on YOU only. At the end of it all, YOU have to read free novels. If YOU have the capability to comprehend what's written or discussed in a particular book.. You'll definitely understand and learn.
And yeah, when you're someone who wants to learn about Time Management but buys ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ and says books aren't informative or worth reading, then you are crazy.
No offense, but pick the right kind of books. Pick the books that are relevant to you. That's all what I can say.
Cheers. Happy Reading.
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