We must learn from others.
Here is a passage from the book “Wisdom Takes Work” called “Talk to the Dead”.
“It’s about the craziest thing in the world. Imagine having a superposer – being able to talk to the dead – and not using it! Imagine being able to talk with the wisest people who ever lived, as Tolstoy said, and not doing it!
When you think of the sheer price paid for the painful personal and historical lessons contained in so many biographies, memoirs, and literature, it’s almost insulting how cheap books are.
It doesn’t matter that we can read. If we don’t, as General Mattis has said, we’re choosing to be functionally illiterate. There are many paths to wisdom, but nearly every one of them runs through books. Can you think of any truly wise person who does not read?”
And that begs a very important question…are YOU reading?
“To live the best life,” the Oracle told Zeno, “you should have conversations with the dead.”
Yes! Coincidentally , I recently finished General Mattis’ “Call Sign Chaos” a few months ago. In that book he gives a his list of must reads. I tend to read a book I want to read and then a blind suggestion next. I have done that for many years and some of the best books I have ever read come to me this way. His book connected me to “Scipio Africanus” by Hart and I am currently reading “About Face” by Col. David Hackworth. After that is is “The Idiot” by Dostoevsky, “33 Strategies of War” by Greene and then “What to Make of a Life” by Collins.
Good morning from Wisconsin! Maybe we all find a new good book to read today.
Good Morning Larry! Have a great day!!
I’ve heard it said that one who can read and doesn’t is no better off than one who can’t.
Books are probably the thing you can buy with the highest value-to-price ratio.