This Week’s BIG Idea
This week’s newsletter is all about reading for fun. This is something I hinted at last week, but I recently started alternating between the books I read for learning and the books I read for pleasure I genuinely love reading books and summarizing their principles in the form of articles. But somewhere along the way, I forgot about reading books for fun.
Although I’ve never been a fan of fiction books, I recently started complementing books with other media, such as games, films, or shows that are related to the book in question. There’s something about reading a book, creating this image in your head about the story, characters, and events, and then seeing everything unfold on a screen. So for the last couple of days, I organized the list of books I want to read. My TBR now has one non-fiction book I read to learn and then one book I read for fun. By the way, the framework I use for reading is simple and flexible and you can read about it here.
What I’m Working on
I mentioned that I was working on my TBR to include more books to read for fun. Although my “to be read” list is always changing and never done, I’m happy with the books I included there. The idea is to alternate between reading for learning and reading for fun. I’ve never been a fan of fiction before, but there are some books I’ve always wanted to read. Some of those include The Road, The Fight Club, or the novelization of the Halo and Gears of War series. Some of those are going to become fun little projects I want to start in 2023.
As you can see, something I enjoy a lot of complementing a book with the film or game it’s based on. As I mentioned in the introduction to this newsletter, I think this makes the experience richer and more entertaining.
What I’m Listening to
There’s a passage in Quentin Tarantino’s Cinema Speculation where he discussed an interaction he had with Neil Pasricha. Pasricha (who you might recognize as the author of The Happiness Equation) interviewed the famous filmmaker to talk about books. As soon as I read about it, I downloaded the podcast. Although I haven’t finished the episode yet, I enjoyed the interview a lot.
What I’m Reading
Final Fantasy XV: The Dawn of the Future by Eijima Jun and Stephen Kohler: this book reinvigorated my love for reading. Although I enjoy spending my time with non-fiction books so that I can summarize them for the site, there’s nothing like reading for the sake of reading. The Dawn of the Future is a sequel of sorts to Final Fantasy XV, a game that came out in 2016. The game had a confusing timeline and to experience the story fully, you had to watch a six-episode anime, play the game, play a series of add-ons, watch a CGI movie, and read this book. In fact, the contents of the book were originally planned as downloadable content for the game but never came out, so the people behind the game decided to finish the story with this book. All that being said, the book is amazing. It’s well-written and a must-have for fans of the game.
The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone: I just started reading Grant Cardone’s The 10X Rule. This is one of those books that kept coming up again and again and I felt like I had to read it. Thankfully, the book didn’t disappoint and while I won’t be discussing the book at length here, the premise is that extreme success requires massive action. By seeing success as an obligation rather than a possibility and getting rid of mediocrity, anyone can achieve their goals.
What I’m Watching
In this 15-minute video, author Brian Tracy discusses five ways in which you can invest in yourself. These include:
- Improve your skills
- Set aside personal time
- Explore creative outlets
- Prioritize personal health
- Make a plan
This Week’s Quote
“It’s more important to get started than to spend an exhaustive amount of time researching”
Ramit Sethi
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