Y'all do it? Want to be able to write like Hat? Ever dream of being as verbose as Tenny D? Want to e-crush all of your virtual enemies with clarity, precision, and impenetrable logic? Read. Read well. Read books. As for me, I enjoy reading biographies. Just finished Edmund Morris's The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. That he was a Harvard grad, celebrated academic and historian, cattle rancher in the Dakotas, state assemblyman, New York City police commissioner, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Colonel who led the 'Rough Riders" at San Juan Hill, and governor of New York--all before being elected Vice President at the age of 42--speaks to Roosevelt's immense talents, manliness, and versatility. On top that, the man was a voracious reader, as most great men are. He read for hours most days in addition to his other duties. Both humbling and inspiring, books like this make me want to be a better husband, father, employee, and human being. So what about you? Some of you are very well read, and some not so much. I fall somewhere in between. Many of my shortcomings as a writer and communicator stem from the fact that I barely picked up a book before the age of 20. For those of you that read often, what do you like to read? What are you reading now? Has it impacted your life or shifted your thinking on a topic? For those that don't read: start. Perhaps this thread can give you some ideas of where to begin. Deke supports this thread.
I've heard from NYY that Tenny D reads mostly from the truck stop magazine section in between "business meetings" if you catch my drift. I like to read -- mainly books about politics, presidents, Russian history, boxing, movie and music criticism, and food. But honestly some of the best writing around are a lot of the young guys and gals populating places like the New Republic, the New Yorker, the Weekly Standard, New York Times Magazine, etc. I am a sucker for anything Malcolm Gladwell, David Brooks, Wright Thompson, Roger Ebert, Antony Bourdain, and even some of the folks at Deadspin. And this is very odd given my political outlook, but I love reading Malcolm X's stuff. The way he turns phrases and uses words is brilliant.
Being in a PhD program, I read endlessly. I took a political ecology course that exposed me to a lot of Leftist ideology I had previously only known indirectly. I enjoy historical biographies as well, but I haven't read one for a couple of years. That last one was Admiral Doenitz's autobiography. He had a very interesting and unconventional perspective on the Third Reich, and WW2 from a German leadership perspective.
Enjoying your responses so far. Due to my upcoming travels to Boston, just read Walden and have started John Adams. IP-what are you studying? I can imagine its a ton of reading. I was enrolled in a theology PhD program when i finished my masters but opted for the work world instead. The reading list I was responsible for on top of classes and research was daunting.
