#MyHeightInBooks

You're doing WHAT exactly?

I'm going to read my height in books stacked on top of each other and document the process as I go.

What's the point of this?

This idea lies at the intersection of a few things I like and am very interested in - books, writing and hard interesting meaningful challenges. It seems like something fun to do!

Isn't it a bit nerdy?

Yes. Definitely. You say that like it's a bad thing!

How long do you think it will take you to read your height in?books?

A while! I'd say 4-5 years possibly. I'm a laboriously slow reader and highlight/annotate my books as I go (more details to come on this in future posts). I had thought about trying to complete this in one calendar year, but then I realised I'd need to read over half a centimetre of book each and every day and that seemed like a LOT and would take the fun away a bit. It will take as long as it takes, and that's okay with me.

Is this an original idea to read your height in books?

No, if you search #myheightinbooks there are others who have done/attempted it, but other efforts have simply been a list of books they've read which cumulatively equal their height. My effort will be more detailed and interesting (I hope).

Are there any rules?

Yes, I've spent a fair bit of time thinking about what the rules should be and this is what I've come up with:

• Only physical books count (no e-books or audiobooks), If I can't write a note in the margin with a pen, it doesn't count.
• Newspapers and magazines don't count either. It's called my height in BOOKS for a reason.?
• Only books I've never read before count (no re-reading books I've previously completed).?
• I have to read each book fully cover to cover including all introductions, epilogues, prologues, summaries, etc. I can skip acknowledgements, glossaries, and the index though. They're all a bit boring.?
• Finally and importantly, my phone has to be out of reach when I'm reading at all times. It's just too much of a distraction.

Why are you documenting this?

Why not?

What type of books do you enjoy reading?

Non-fiction only (sorry Harry Potter fans). Business books, self-improvement books, finance books, the occasional biography, that type of thing.

Sounds a bit dull written like that doesn't it?

Feel free to mute/unfollow me if it's not your thing.

Who will be interested in this?

Anyone who loves books, reading, business, or any combination of these three things.

Are you hoping to monetise or commercialise this venture in any way?

No. This project is purely for my own enjoyment.

So.... will this all be just about the books you read?

I suspect I'll explore some other tangentially related topics of interest too. Stay tuned!

So what exactly is your height (in books)?

I'm 6''6 or 197 centimetres tall. In practical terms, If I stand under a regular door frame and begin to stand on my tippy toes my head will hit the door frame very quickly.

If this challenge was?to be a race to the finish then it might pose one of the very few times in my life I wish I was shorter, along with every time I board a plane. Note to airlines, a bit of extra legroom for long limbed individuals would be lovely!

Why are you going to use LinkedIn for this? Wouldn't there be a better platform or couldn't you setup a separate webpage or something?

All of those things might be true, but LinkedIn and my contacts seem like the people most likely to read my musings, so it's a fairly obvious choice as a platform. Plus, I don't really do Instagram/Facebook except to the extent it allows me to oversee the social media profiles for my?dental practice (shout-out to my fifteen Facebook friends).