My Continuing Education: Bookworming
MD’s, CPA’s, and all sorts of other acronym-identified (and acronym-heavy) professions have a “continuing education” requirement. In order to maintain their certification, these lucky participants in the establishment have to take a certain number of hours of college-level courses each year. The goal is to prevent obsolescence. And, I think, to keep MBA programs well-attended.
Whether you do business with an acronym or not, though, continuing education is mandatory for everyone. You. Me. Even script kiddies. Because we’re all affected by obsolescence (usually not in a good way [1]). And professional and mental stagnation. Which is arguably worse than obsolescence.
How I Continue to Educate Myself
I’ve considered the additional college course route–but I can never keep a straight face when I do. So I’ve opted for a less organized, less structured, and lot less expensive alternative:
I read.
I read a lot.
I read–and I think this is the most important part–I read anything.
I’m always in the middle of a book. When I finish a book, I grab the next one off my stack and start reading that one.
I take any opportunity I can find to read. I read while eating breakfast and lunch (unless my wife is eating with me; I’m not stupid nor suicidal). I read in the john. I read while Windows boots up. I read while brushing my teeth. I sit on the couch and read while the family watches TV. I sit on the porch on nice days and read because sometimes you just need to sit on the porch and read.
How I Choose What to Read
I have 2 criterion for the books I read:
Criterion #1. The book must be free.
Criterion #2. The book must not be actively trying to get away from me.
I used to buy all the books I read. And I kept them in my office. Then I went broke, and re-discovered the local library. [2]
The Tulsa city-county library system is pretty decent. I can request books via the Web and have them sent to the branch nearest my house. Their collection isn’t exhaustive, but it’s pretty damn big, and they will buy obscure new books if you badger them enough.
I acquire books to read in a variety of ways:
- I walk into the library, pick an aisle, and grab 2-3 books from different shelves. [3]
- A friend recommends (or dares me to read) a book and I request it from the library.
- A friend loans me a book to read.
- I read about a new book in an article, and look it up.
- I see an author interviewed on TV, and look up her books.
- I get an idea for something I want to learn about, use Google and Amazon to find a title or two that might relate, and request them from the library.
I’ve always read a lot, throughout my life. But in 2002, as I began to take a writing career more seriously, I decided I needed to increase my “throughput”. And I especially needed to broaden my horizons. Because before then I had mostly read science fiction, the occasional thriller or fantasy novel, business books, and (of course) programming/language/API books [4].
So I adopted my 2 “criterion” listed above, and the binge began. 6 years later, it’s still going on, with no end in sight. Because, hell, hundreds of thousands of new books are published every year. I predict forever playing catchup.
Book Learning
Anyway, though I started this reading program to get more exposure to other types of writing and (hopefully) to improve my own writing, the benefits have been much broader. I would say there’s not a part of my life that hasn’t been impacted in some way by what I’ve read:
- how I write;
- what I write about;
- how I interact with my friends and family;
- how I manage my business;
- how I conduct my marketing;
- how I manage my personal finances;
- how I view the universe around me;
- and on and on.
It’s been a hell of a ride, so far. I’ve learned about genres of books that I never knew existed (e.g., science fiction romance; I’m not kidding) and even accidentally ended up reading books that are considered classics of 20th century literature written by Nobel prize winning authors (and that I’d never heard of; I’m such a Philistine). I’ve read about live storytelling. I’ve read about photography and photographers. I’ve read about investing and investors. I’ve read biographies. I’ve read history. I’ve read funny books. I’ve read tragic books. I’ve read some damn fine books. And, of course, I’ve read some real shit.
Which brings up a caveat to the criterion:
Criterion Caveat: Life is too short to waste it reading bad/dry/awful/crappy books.
Only a masochist willing inflicts pain on himself. (Maybe that’s your thing, though. If so, go for it. I can even give recommendations for particularly painful titles.) So just drop that bad book–or maybe skip to the parts that interest you or at least seem important–and get on to the next one. No guilt. No stupid vows to “finish reading every book I start.”
Beyond Book Learning
Book-learning isn’t everything, of course. You have to apply what you’ve learned. Or, at the very least, you need to discuss it with somebody. My wife hears about almost all of the books I read. As do several of my closer friends, who can put up with my dreadfully bad initial summaries to get at the real point of the book. Maybe you can find a book club you like–and can stand reading books not selected for them.
That’s the bulk of my continuing education plan. Couldn’t be simpler, I think.
-David
PS If you’re the curious type, I blog about the books I’m reading on
Guns & Magic, my writing blog (which is more reading than writing, currently).
Notes
[1] Affected by obsolescence in a “good way” means you, with your spiffy, new, just-out-of-college skill set are hired to replace someone with more experience (and a larger paycheck). I would guess this happens once per career, usually near the beginning. After that, not so much.
[2] And then I took most of those “treasured” books I had read, and sold them for pennies on the dollar at a used book store. Because, really, most of them were total fluff–especially the business books. I would never re-read them, so getting rid of them significantly reduced clutter.
[3] You’d be surprised how much time you save by not having to decide on a book to read. And, odds are, you’ll enjoy a book you pick at random just as much as one you spend 15 minutes pondering before schlepping it to the checkout desk.
[4] Most computer books manage to be both staggeringly boring and damn near useless. Exceptions exist, of course, but, overall, each book is usually good for one tidbit. Sometimes that tidbit is even worth the cover price.
