Tell me if you can relate to this.
You were an avid reader of fiction as a kid.
The Harry Potter series, The Hunger Games,
Bobby Pendragon, Percy Jackson
You ate them like ice cream,
you drank them like water in summertime after running around at the park.
You would spend hours in your bedroom, in another world, in another universe.
I was one of those kids.
That was my experience growing up.
But somewhere along the line, like early teenage years, that all ended.
I'm not sure it's a coincidence that I got my first smartphone when I was 14 years old.
Suddenly there were a lot of other things capturing my attention,
you know, better things to do.
I feel like many of us who are now in our 20s and 30s went through this.
I mean, I went years without reading anything outside of what I was required to read at school.
Last year, though,
I rediscovered books, and now they are my very favorite way to absorb new information.
I honestly think that every single book I have ever read
has changed me and my perspective of the world in some way.
Books are incredible in the sense that they are
usually thousands or many thousands of hours of work,
and energy, and knowledge, condensed into a few hundred pages.
The author is imparting in you a piece of their lives,
of what they know, or their imagination.
A part of them, basically.
It's actually a beautiful concept if you think about it.
I have a few book recommendations, but I'm gonna save that for the second half of this video.
And, like I said before,
reading transports you to another place.
And I used to think that was exclusive to fiction,
but that's not true at all.
Like I said, it was only recently, last summer actually,
that I rediscovered books through my smartphone, actually. Believe it or not.
Things always go full circle. It's amazing
I mainly listen to them in the morning when I go running,
when I'm cooking, or before I go to bed.
But they're also wonderful to listen to when you're exploring the city,
or you know, when I'm coloring footage.
I think I was really hungry for new perspectives and insights on life.
And now I'm just trying to make up for lost time because there's just something amazing about books,
and how they're able to expand your mind and perspective.
I think it's fair to say there isn't another medium that can go deeper on a topic.
Honestly, for much of the last decade
I thought libraries were extremely boring places,
and my opinion of bookstores was only slightly better.
I just think circumstances played a big role.
I felt forced to be there,
for school projects for example,
Maybe I was just a spazzy teenager, but you know what?
I've realized that not all bookstores and libraries were created equal.
So, I decided to take a trip to "La Biblioteca Vasconcelos"
here in Mexico City.
It's pretty well known here
and you're about to find out why.
All right, that's the building right there.
It's pretty big.
Holy smokes!
Oh my god!
This is craziness! Look at this!
Look at that!
Oh my God!
I'm like in shock right now, this is insane!
Don't focus on me.
All right. I'm just gonna 'skedaddle' out of the frame.
See you guys later.
God! It continues!
Check this out. I came from over there.
That's like where I entered. It continues on this side.
I must seem like such a typical American right now,
just blown away by everything.
This is kind of a random anecdote, but I remember the first time I read an entire book in French.
I had to look up every other word.
It was a major struggle, but I did it and it was a huge milestone for me.
Mainly at this stage of my life,
I'm consuming self-help books,
or work on psychology and spirituality,
and it's almost entirely audiobooks.
But the point I'm trying to make here, is there's no right way to do it.
What matters is that books are, in some way, a part of your life.
Learning new things has helped me with depression.
It's helped me with loneliness.
It's like it opens new doors when you think there's just no point.
It has never failed to give me even just a little bit of purpose
in times when I have felt absolutely no sense of direction.
Also, you're looking at the work of many thousands of human beings.
Doesn't that restore your faith in humanity a little bit?
Look at what we're capable of.
My pieces are littered with book recommendations, but I want this to be different.
I want to spark that same
excitement and joy that I feel when I'm consuming a book, in you.
So I'm gonna make this kind of like a visual and auditory experience.
I want to share what I felt when I was listening to four books in particular.
Mmm-hmm. Here we go.
"Sapiens"
This book is a masterpiece.
Nothing I've ever read has so greatly shifted my perspective on humanity.
Listening to the sweeping prose
on the origins and evolution of our race on this earth felt like I left my body
and floated above the clouds.
From there,
I watched thousands of years unfold.
As our ancestors experienced all of the evolving wonders and horrors of what it meant to be a human.
Something about this book just made things click for me.
How and why we operate and interact the way that we do.
The origins of tribalism, religion, and money,
and how these things exist in our world today.
I find these insights useful in my day to day life actually.
They kind of inform many of my decisions, and how I interpret what occurs around me.
"Essentialism"
In a very confusing world where my options are now practically infinite,
and everyone is battling for my time and attention,
I needed an operating system with which to live life.
Many times while I was growing up I felt like I was drowning,
never able to keep up while everything flew right by.
This book feels like the guide on how to handle it all.
Greg McKeown defines essentialism as "The disciplined pursuit of less, but better".
When I began listening to this book
I had the strange feeling that someone was describing the path that I'm already on.
Like flashing a light down a dark tunnel that you're crawling through.
I could immediately see where I was headed.
Just felt real it felt like a relief.
It felt like clarity on how to act and what to do.
One review of this piece summed things up delightfully:
"Less is more. It's also less. That's the point."
I can't think of a single person that wouldn't benefit immensely from this piece, this way of life.
"The Dip"
Seth Godin is such a talented writer that several of his books could have ended up on here.
I picked this one because it's incredibly short and yet it was incredibly impactful for me in my career.
"Quitting" for me has always been an ugly word.
I usually stick with things until the bitter end,
but this book really showed me that knowing when to quit can be an incredible skill.
As he said it: "Quit or be exceptional. Average is for losers."
I listened to this while driving through the Oregon countryside
at the very beginning of this year.
Wondering if posting these videos online was going to work out for me.
All I can say is: "Seth, you're the man"
"Jonathan Livingston Seagull"
This is one of the very few books I've ever read multiple times throughout my life.
It's very simple.
I think that's why I like it so much.
This book is definitely not for everybody,
and I do believe that it requires an open mind.
But for those that can connect with the story,
I feel like it has a lasting impact.
It's the story of Jonathan,
the seagull that is unsatisfied with just learning how to fly.
This is a bird with an intense desire to learn and to push limits and boundaries.
This book is about his journey, the stages he goes through,
the obstacles that he faces.
I almost don't want to say anything else about it.
Maybe because I don't want to give the wrong idea or to elevate expectations.
You could almost call this a children's book.
You can easily read it in one sitting,
but trust me when I say that it will live in your mind for far longer than that.
Just a final note about it:
I highly recommend actually reading this one,
rather than listening to it and to get the older version,
which I have linked to down below.
Both the newer version and the audio version really kill some of the magic
by adding things that aren't needed.
The original was perfect as it was, in my opinion.
I hope that this moved you in some way.
I guess this is sort of a way for me to express my gratitude to the authors of these books.
Whatever you do, if books are not currently a part of your life, try to bring them back.
They will change you.
There's a link to a free 30-day trial with Audible in the description below,
which basically means that you could try the first book at no cost at all.
If it doesn't work for you,
you know, audiobooks isn't your thing,
or you don't like one of the titles, that's totally cool.
You know, it's not for everybody.
But all I'm saying is give it a shot.
And if you're interested I will be sending out more book recommendations via my newsletter,
so, you can sign up to that also in the description down below.
Finally you can help keep this project going by supporting me on Patreon,
where I upload exclusive and bonus content,
and you can also follow my progress on Instagram.
Thank you guys so much for watching, and you know for being a part of this whole thing.
I feel incredibly lucky to have you guys on this ride with me.
So...
See you soon!