Do NOT Read These Five Books

At least for?now

Before you get it twisted, I don’t advocate not reading these books.

All are best sellers. My book is hardly a best seller?—?except in certain circles.

Anyway, the point I want to drive home is not to read just any book. You can scan the list of the books I have made below.

Almost all are familiar, yes? Now, let’s take a shallow dive at each of them

1. Subtle Art of Not Giving a?F*ck

This is a subtle way I don’t give a f*ck about this book. But not in the tone you might have read it in. It’s to remind you to apply the very message this book might be telling you about life.

In a way, I am also advertising this book by bringing it to your attention. You might have wanted to read it but never got the time. You may have started but stopped mid-way, for reasons only known to you.

But there’s a subtle art I want you to cultivate, which is not in the book. I think. I honestly haven’t read the book to be too sure.

2. Rich Dad Poor?Dad

This is another book I want you not to read, especially if you’re not a dad.

I wasn’t one when I read it. But even if you’re a dad, you might be pegged with new problems every other day now that you’re a parent.

But I have an alternative solution for new dads, yet-to-be dads, and those who will never become dads. That is, the females.

3. The 48 Laws of?Power

Now this book I read with intent.

Not to become powerful, but to see the subtle lessons of what to and what not to give a f*ck about. I did that on purpose.

A good friend of mine regards this as the best book he has ever read. When you meet him, he will urge you to read it. But because you’re here reading my article, I suggest a different idea.

4. Think and Grow?Rich

I have never read this book. But every bookstore I go to has a copy.

It seems everybody wants to be rich. But this book has a conjunction.

Not just to grow rich. But to think. Merged, we have?—?thinking and growing rich. I’d like us to focus on the former since the book implies the former will lead to the latter.

Then switching the game.

5. Atomic?Habits

This is one book by an author with over 2 million subscribers to his newsletter. He has a quote I love:

We never rise to the level of our goals, but we fall to the level of our?systems.

After such a powerful quote, why would I want people not to read his book?

Again, don’t get it twisted. I have an alternative suggestion. It may or may not be atomic, but I would want you to culture this habit.

Here’s how I used to do it when I was?younger

The point I want to drive home is?—?don’t read what everybody else is?reading.

You are not in class.

You’re not doing a set book or a course-work with a deadline.

Don’t read what everybody else is reading.

I did not know I had been doing this ever since I was small until I began to reflect on the kind of books I’ve been reading since way back when...let’s just say from way back.

The one book I have read around four times or more is Charlotte’s Web. Strange, huh? Well let me tell you?—?I’d read it again!

When everyone around me was reading Gifted Hands, or The Secret Seven, or The Famous Five series?—?I also read those books, they are amazing?—?I read Charlotte’s Web. I even read it during ongoing class sessions. I don’t know how I pulled that off.

Maybe it’s a subtle message of not giving a f*ck when there’s something you really, really want to do.

Because I read this book about Wilbur and Charlotte, the message I got is not the kind you’d find from books everyone was reading at the time. No one would learn the importance of silence in class six (aka grade 6). Or that animals of different stripes could form a formidable force, echoing the importance of diversity.

No one would think there’d be life lessons from a girl regularly visiting a barn and observing. Keenly observing.

Buffet and Munger are ardent fans of observation. They insist on how much you can learn through observation. I got that from a book I read over four times, sometimes in class.

I also have my mother to thank for giving me unconventional books for my age and masculine gender. She would always get me The Babysitters Club book series. I’d devour them.

Every time I’d ask myself:

What the hell is softball?

The point I’m making is to be unconventional with your reading habits.

The very books I have listed, which every other person is reading or has possibly read, are unconventional in some way. You can go back and look at the titles or the messages they relay.

In this regard, I still market the same books, lest I meet some of the authors in person in the future.

Yes, read those books, but be unconventional in your reading.

How?

Here’s what you should do to be an unconventional reader

I started this article with the message of what books not to read.

My assumption is we just read without critiquing or questioning. Often, the people who recommend the books are people around us.

So far, I have not said you shouldn’t read the listed books. I have insisted on you developing an unconventional pattern for your reading.

This is how you can do it:

1. If many people suggest a book, set it?aside

You want to avoid echo chambers.

Same books, same message, no one to challenge one another.

The core principle is to avoid having similar ideas. You do this by not reading the same book.

Here’s an example.

While everybody was reading Sapiens, I was reading Guns Germs, and Steel. They are all written by famous, award-winning authors. But more people know about the former than the latter. What they don’t know is some of the ideas Yuval uses are from Jared Diamond’s synthesis.

2. If you still need to read a book, cast it aside until a time when another book is in?vogue

This strategy could help prime you for what to expect from the book.

Reading is different from listening. According to Naval, it is faster.

Usually, by the time you read the book, you’d have forgotten much about what you listened to. It’s not a bad thing you forgot it. It’s good. You’ll create your own perspective of it independently, without influential voices outside your.

3. Follow the authors on social?media

Look at me increasing the number of followers and subscribers of the authors!

Again, I can hardly be compared to Mark Manson or James Clear. They have a massive audience.

Chances are, the few people who’ll read my article, in comparison, will hardly make a difference to the massive following these authors have. Regardless, following them on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram makes you privy to their most important insights from the very books.

This way, you can read other books, but still challenge, if necessary, the messages they offer. Unless you’re Mike Ross, we don’t remember everything written in a book. But we remember the message.

Following them on various platforms exposes you to the messages, albeit out of context. Their books create contexts.

What you’ll be doing is creating a filter by reading other books, and hence, having alternative views from those of other people.

I have a question for?you

Would you rather be lost in the crowd of people with the same thinking or stand out?

These authors stood out by thinking differently. Their books sold out. It’s a testament to their unconventional thinking.

Culture the same habit.

Start by not reading these books. But read them later if you haven’t already.

Be unconventional.