On Reading Books
Of all the types of media I consume, books are the best. I do love a good podcast, an excellent TV show, a captivating movie, and an informative newspaper article. I consume all these types of media regularly, and wouldn't give them up. But books are king. They take the cake.
There is something about the length and format of a book that is perfectly matched to the way humans engage best with ideas. Whether it's a novel or non-fiction, a collection of sentences, paragraphs, and chapters bound together is an elegant and powerful way to experience a new world, learn new ideas, or feel like you've made a new friend you now know everything about.
I always have two books on the go: one that I'm reading on paper, and one that I'm listening to. This works best for me because I love reading on paper as part of my morning routine and I love having a good book to listen to as I'm walking, driving, on the subway, or waiting in a line. Novels seem to work better on paper and non-fiction as audiobooks, but that's not a strict rule--it depends on the book, the author's style, and the audiobook reader.
I rate all the books I read out of five stars on Goodreads. This is a great way to remember which books I liked best, so I can reread them or recommend them to others. Sometimes I regret not making notes about the key points in books I've read, something that Derek Sivers does in impressive detail. But I just don't like interrupting the flow of reading to take notes, so I don't. I believe the key concepts do stick in my brain, but probably not all of them. Even if I did take notes, I'm not sure how much that would improve my retention.
There are far too many books to ever read them all, of course. Too many to even read all the ones you consider the best prospects. My to-read list already exceeds the amount of reading time I likely have left in my life. But that's okay, you just have to give up on reading everything and take pleasure in reading what you can.
As for genres, I love them all. As a young person, I mostly liked science fiction and fantasy, but I took a lot of English courses in university and read all kinds of genres, which made me realize they are all great. At the same time, I am also pretty picky about what makes a book five-stars for me. It has to catch me, inform me, surprise me, or engage me in a powerful way. Good writing is part of that, as is the subject matter, but exactly what makes a great book great is part of the magic of books. You can't describe it precisely.
If you don't know what to read, check out Goodreads. It is a social media site only for books. It is one of the only two social media sites I use, LinkedIn being the other, as part of my professional life. You can find all kinds of lists of recommended books, and follow your friends to see what they've read and how they rate those books.