This post was published on Aug 22, 2018. Since then, lot more has been added. The changes are highlighed. – 28/06/2019

Since previous 7 years, I’ve read more than 350 books (front to back). I have had around 900 books in my digital library. I rejected many books only after 20-30 pages. Reading books have been an extraordinary journey. This is the story of me reading books and the evolution of it.

This is the part I of 3-part series. This is more a story part of this series. Part II is about practical aspects about How I read Books – Practical Steps. In Part III, I’ll share some notable books I read.

The Prelude

Every Evolution needs prelude. I will keep it short though. I was a bright student, yet I was not very good being with many co-students. The reason may be the thinking wavelengths, which usually have had not matched. The other reason was jealousy. Being first in class, I always attracted jealousy. I could not belong in groups since that time. So the ultimate solace for me was my imaginations, my family, and books. I will tell you about the third one here.

The Forward

For me, book reading seeds were sown while I was a child. I had many books to read when I was young. Especially those bus-stop comic books. I loved chacha chaudhary comic books. The colourful images, the realistic words, and the super-thinking human concept attracted me. My father was never reluctant to buy any comic book at that time. He used to take me to the bus-stop bookstall and I used to scan all the book covers like a child looking at a chocolate stand. I have read as many comic books as I could get my hands on at that time.

My chacha chaudhari book collection

Then I found something evolving in books. Magazines. Car magazines were my particular favourite. Anything on wheels runs through my veins. The photography, the articles, and the lists attracted me. There was a problem though, they were not particularly cheap. In times where getting one ₹5 cadbury was tough, they used to cost more than ₹50, some used to cost even ₹100 too. Though my father never refused to buy them. I was the only one who was reluctant (A middle class 8th standard child who only had at most three dresses at that time). Many times, when we used to visit some urban city, my father would continue his work, and I used to roam streets finding magazines. I read as many as I could get my hold on though, not more than ten, yet they were my prized possessions. I kept them for years with me.

In those time, I found another kind of books too, the self-help kind. Shiv Khera’s You Can Win was one of my favourites, because of the heroic-short-stories. I had read The Secret by Rhonda Byrne at that time too. I read some assorted books from that category at that time, though I found them tough to understand.

The Outing

After X, I moved to Pune for higher education. Of those three things, I was away from my family and I did not take books with me. There too, I did not find any human friends. I was left alone with my imaginations only. I started to search for books in Pune.

God gifted me with Crossword bookstores. It is a bookstore, yet you can read books seating there as well. I used to be afraid if someone would yell at me reading books for free, but it never happened. I think they too know the importance of letting someone read. I used to walk around 5-7 kilometres on weekends to go to there. It was worth it. I never read any books or novels there, I only read magazines. Magazines related to cars and motorcycles, mobile phones, and science and technology.

It was the Crossword where I learned to care books. Still now, I handle my books like I hold a baby. I never bend my books, I never slide pages, instead I turn them with delicacy. This way, I have utmost respect for its physical form, as for the metaphysical form.

A typical Crossword Bookstore

Another gift Pune had in its bag was newspapers. Times of India was my favourite. Especially the Life section. It was luxurious. The Van Heusen advertisements were my favourite. I used to collect those pages too.

I found in Pune that I could buy old magazines and chacha chaudhary at fraction of their price at the ‘Raddi Store’ (Knacker Store). I used to roam Pune streets finding those raddi stores. I bought from there as well. In summary, I was always in search for friends, I found them in books.

The First Gear

When I left engineering, I ordered three books on Stock Market. They costed me whooping ₹1700. Spending this much money when you are doing nothing and your family is debt ridden is not easy. Even though your parents approve it, you on your own find it tough. The Three books were The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham, Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits by Phil Fisher, and Reminiscence of a Stock Market Operator. As the money spent have had far more importance, the first thing I did was I got them bonded. They were for life. I even thought that these are the books with which I will win the world (It is true, I am here because of them). These books were the first gear. I read The Intelligent Investor thoroughly, glanced Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits briefly, and left Reminiscence of a Stock Market Operator only after 5 pages. I guess The Intelligent Investor was more than enough for me.
I bought Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham after reading The Intelligent Investor. It costed whooping ₹800 at that time. This was the book which changed everything. I read and I read and I read, and the foundation was set up on its own.

My first copy of a hardcover book, The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham

The Top Gear

And then I decided that I have no other option other than reading. I got critically sick. I was only on coconut water for 30 days. I felt that I won’t recover, these may be last moments. Eventually, I recovered. This was the time I accepted my aloneness. In the debt ridden peak, I took a leap of faith, I bought Amazon Kindle. This was the rabbit hole, the door to Utopia. It costed ₹5995.

You will say that I am very much concerned with amounts, and I remember them too. The reality is I had to think for days to spend ₹10 for PaniPuri at that time (Street Food is my favourite food).

Kindle opened doors for me. I could download and read any book I wanted to. This was a god mode for the availability of books. I started reading books after books. 6-7 hours a day, in 2-3 chunks. I read in the heat of summer sitting beside open breezing window (I was too concerned about fan bills too). I read in colds, I read at nights and in the mornings too. I read without coffee – I did not know about coffee at that time. I did not leave home for week or week. I was invisible to my own city (For a good part, I still am invisible at present too).

The first moving book I read was The Snowball by Alice Schroeder. It is a detailed biography of Warren Buffett. It moved me. I still remember what is where on every page. I started reading non-fiction books. Business results needed it. I did not read one or two, but many. Books were ranging from stock market to wisdom to scientific studies to human behaviour to thinking to marketing. It did not stop. I did not read any fiction book in that time. Performance and practicality was needed at that time. I could not afford to read fiction. Like coffee, I did not even know what fiction was like at that time.

While I was in the period of reading non-fiction, a friend recommended me two books, which were fictions. He wrote those both down on back of my shares research notebook. I still have that book. I wanted to read, yet I did not take it on priority though. I did not even care about remembering their names too. Perhaps, I had one thing in my mind though, my friend has recommended two books and I will read them some time in future. It took 2-3 years to get over non-fiction, but eventually, I got time to read fiction too. When I was exhausted with non-fiction (and business was running good too), I searched for that research notebook in house to find which those books were. The books he had recommended were ‘The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand’ & ‘Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand’. Those first three pages entering into the world of fiction were tough, but then gravity evaporated and everything went flying. It was mind-boggling. It was like tasting a great cup of french press for the first time. I was fascinated by the beauty of sentences, the persona of characters, and the boldness of story, I was mesmerised. There started my journey into the fiction. If non-fiction was limits, fiction was limitless. Even though it was limitless, everything was relatable. I am a fan of Ayn Rand. I read both books. I started searching for others. I found Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman, How to Get Filthy Rich in Asia by Mohsin Hamid, A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammad Hanif, and many more. Like Coffee, I can not express my euphoria. Fiction is the greatest gift for the human kind. So is real life stories too.

I tend to avoid books with studies and findings with cute anecdotes. I feel that you don’t need to read a whole book to understand what is in it. Instead, out of non-fiction books, I like biographies, human wisdom, stories of companies, real life events, and practical guides.
Biographies tells us that a common person can do miracles. Human wisdom creates a yardstick for life and guides us. Stories of companies shows us that behind every great company is an idea, hard work, and dedication. Real life events shows us how human is a superhuman where he can conquer. Practical guides are the best advice books, as they are created from practical examples. To define above books in a sentence is not the way, though they are to be experienced.

The Present

My calibre library (calibre is an app to manage digital books) has around 975+ books. My Kindle has same amount of books. I have bought Hardcover copies of notable books I read. Total count of them are around 101 books. You can see the updated bookshelf here. I don’t prefer paperbacks, they don’t tend to be with us for lifetime. Yet, I don’t buy Hardcover books straightaway, they are the costliest. I buy Hardcover books only when I find that they are worth it.

My calibre library

At present, I read around 4-5 hours a day in 2-3 chunks. I read 3-4 books at times depending on mood. Usually, I read 2 new books simultaneously, and reread 1-2 old books simultaneously. I highlight, I write in hardcover books with pencil, I take notes on kindle, I type them in a word-processor app (Currently Bear App) on my Mac. Coffee (not nescafe or any instant coffee, but roasted beans) is a great stimulant to enjoy books, though recommended at your own risk.

The Epilogue

Books are the direct connection with the greatest minds. Imagine, you are sitting with Warren Buffett or Steve Jobs and living their life, their secrets, their intelligence, and their happiness. This is the Magic of Books. Reading books is a way where you can beat time. You live thousand lives. You can read in present, you can live in past, and you can imagine in future. Reading books destroys boundaries of mind, and let you Fly.

As Mohsin Hamid wrote in How to Get Filthy Rich in Asia –
But when you read a book, what you see are black squiggles on pulped wood or, increasingly, dark pixels on a pale screen. To transform these icons into characters and events, you must imagine. And when you imagine, you create. It’s in being read that a book becomes a book, and in each of a million different readings a book becomes one of a million different books …
Readers don’t work for writers. They work for themselves. Therein, if you’ll excuse the admittedly biased tone, lies the richness of reading. And therein, as well, lies a pointer to richness