You’ve finished reading a book, and it’s time to start another. Which one do you pick? What process do you use to decide?
In a way, you’re about to meet someone new, to form a new relationship. As a reader, you’ll be engaging with the thoughts of a writer. At the beginning, you don’t know where that relationship will go. With most books, the connection will make a fleeting impression, then recede into fading memory. For a golden few, though, the relationship will endure a lifetime, refreshed by periodic re-readings.
Carl Sagan’s Calculation
One thing’s for sure—you can’t read ’em all. As Dr. Carl Sagan pointed out in his TV show, Cosmos, you’re only able to read about 3500 books during your lifetime (one book a week for 70 years). That’s the number of books published in eight hours, so no matter how fast you read, you’ll only make it through a tiny sliver of all literature.
Four Quadrants
Not to make this too scientific, but let’s explore one way to categorize this. You could choose a book for fun and enjoyment, just the pleasure of it. Or you could select a book to learn new knowledge, for your betterment.
Next, who’s making the choice? Are you opting for the book yourself, or picking one chosen by others or by pure chance?
Since these quadrants overlap, let’s depict them with a Venn diagram.
Fun/Self
In the diagram’s upper left circle, we can include books: (1) by a favorite author, (2) in a favorite genre, (3) written in, or about, a favorite time period, (4) appearing next in your To Be Read (TBR) list, (5) that inspired your favorite movies, or (6) that suit your mood.
Betterment/Self
The upper right circle includes reading classics, and reading books in non-favorite genres to broaden your scope.
Fun/Others or Chance
Moving to the lower left circle, you can choose a book at random from a favorite genre or author, let chance decide which book in your TBR list to read next, or read one a friend enjoyed.
Betterment/Others or Chance
In the final circle at the lower right, you can read a book assigned by a reading challenge or book club, or a book found while browsing in a library or bookstore, or a book recommended by trusted readers—perhaps friends or family.
Thomas Jefferson’s Method
Here’s another idea, one that doesn’t fit into my quadrant schema. You could read several books concurrently, flipping from one to the other in accordance with your mood and interest. President Thomas Jefferson did this, and built a revolving five-book stand to facilitate the process.
So, Choose Already
Faced with more books than you can read, and with such a variety of ways to choose between them, some facts seem clear to me. What book you read is unimportant. How you select it is up to you. That you read books—ah, there’s the vital part.
In the meantime, I’d love to know how you choose what to read next. Feel free to reveal your decision process as a comment for—
Poseidon’s Scribe
