5 Reasons Why You Should Read More

[Music] one of the best pieces of advice i got about reading came from george raveling the great basketball coach he's a mentor of mine civil rights pioneer he said that his grandmother called him in uh to her her kitchen one day and she said george why did the slave masters hide money in books he said i don't know grandma and she said because they knew the slaves would never read them and what he took from that is is one that reading is very valuable that um there's a huge roi in it and it's true right they don't hide money in books anymore but in a sense they do books cost like 10 bucks but people don't read them and they don't realize that a book can be the greatest investment you ever make in your life that's what warren buffett said he said the single best investment they ever made was buying a copy of benjamin graham's intelligent investor but what george ravlin told me he took from this was that reading was a moral duty that people had fought and struggled frederick douglass teaches himself to read basically under penalty of death right um you have to see reading as a moral duty people struggled and fought and clawed their way to get to a point where books are everywhere and books are easily accessible so to reject that is just not it's not just beyond stupid it's offensive it's offensive to the people who would have killed for the access to information that you have you know the stoics talk about how basically history is the same thing happening over and over and over again marx realized and meditations about how the future is going to be exactly the same as what's happening right now which is going to be exactly the same as what was happening in the time of vespasian or any of the other emperors this is really important right um that could be you can see that as depressing i see it as a profound insight if history repeats then if you want to understand the future if you want to be able to predict the future you have to read one of the best books i read at the beginning of the pandemic was john berry's the great influenza and that told me everything i needed to know about how to respond to the pandemic in that moment but it also gave me a real glimpse of how events were going to unfold in the future my understanding of the civil war my reading of shakespeare my understanding of history has helped me understand the events happening in the united states since 2016. right if you want to understand the future and if you want to understand what's happening right now the best way to understand current events like if you want to understand the rise of china and the inevitable clash of civilizations between china and the united states go read through cities history of the peloponnesian war thucydides wrote that trying to create a document that would last for all time and it is a geopolitical master class the way to become an informed citizen people go but is it when i talk about don't read the news right i say read books don't read the news and people go but how will i be an informed citizen and this is silly the best way to be an informed citizen is not to watch a breaking cnn story if you read the latest piece from the new york times or worse whatever you know news site in your filter bubble is um the best way to understand current events again is through history john adams says there is no history perhaps better adopted to this useful purpose than that of thucydides you will find it full of instruction to the order the statesman the general as well as to the historian and the philosopher right doris kearns goodwin her book leadership in turbulent times which i've recommended if you want to understand how to be a leader in turbulent times study the leaders who went through turbulent times don't read the latest harvard business review case study right go to the core of it go don't be satisfied with the gist of it and here's what i find when i read history when i read uh the core primary documents uh the the letters uh the the works the works that influence the people who wrote the letters or the constitution or the the laws um what i what i understand is their intention i understand the real truth of it and and these things are not nearly as politically charged and they're not as biased as they are when you're getting them from from the news today everyone i think things like oh i'm literate i know how to read but general mattis talks about uh functional illiteracy he says if you haven't read hundreds of books you are functionally illiterate right and what he means is that people have been doing whatever it is that you're doing in my case being a writer being an entrepreneur people have been doing that for thousands of years so if i don't avail myself of their insight i'm functionally illiterate i am i am stupidly preventing myself from understanding their insights i am learning by experience what i could be learning from the experiences of others that's why the stoics understood history that's why they read widely um they they they knew it wasn't about just reading a little bit oh like marc surely talks about how rusticus teaches him not to be satisfied with just getting the gist of it he says you have to go to the core of it right so my worry is not that i can't read i know i can read but my worry is what mark twain said he said there's no difference between someone who can't read and doesn't read they are both illiterate right so i fear the illiteracy of not having a wide breadth of understanding the human condition of history of events of philosophy so i read widely for that reason the world is a lonely place it's a scary place we all feel like we're going through stuff what i think reading does is reading makes you not alone right james baldwin says that you know you think your pain is so unique and then you read marcus aurelius felt like you know he had the loneliest job in the world but by studying the other emperors by studying history by studying kings by watching plays in the theater by reading philosophy he understood that this is a timeless problem he understood what his job really was like and what it did to people and that's why he wasn't corrupted or broken by a book is screaming out trying to connect with someone this is the the hard one wisdom of a person this is experience this is pain this is struggle and and to not avail yourself of that is so stupid to not talk to people who have been through what you've been through is is dangerous but it's it's also to do it is to solve the loneliness and isolation that we feel um it it's to make us feel connected to other people for all time you can read there's this letter from seneca that he writes i open my book still this is the key with it where he's talking about just being busy and trying and trying to focus in his apartment but there's all these noises even meditations like marcus aurelius is writing during the antonine plague and you're like oh he went through what we are going through right now and so again reading softens solitude and makes you not feel alone anymore [Music] a final note of why you read reading is a conversation with wisdom it's a way to access the wisdom of the past zeno as a young man uh goes and he visits the oracle adelphi and the oracle tells him uh you will become wise when you have conversations with the dead what does that mean he realizes later as he's standing in a bookstore in athens that the oracle meant you will become wise when you read he was reading a book of socrates and he realized i'm having a conversation with socrates as if he was here right now and so reading not only softens solitude it not only makes you you know not functionally illiterate it not only teaches you about the past it's a way to connect with the past um i feel like over the years like i know marcus aurelius almost as well as i know a friend uh or or a family member we've been having an ongoing con like he is as real to me seneca's writing is as real to me as if they actually lived because i've really dedicated myself to understanding them and because of what they put down in pages it has produced something that is immortal right none of us can live forever the stokes obviously knew the idea of memento mori that none of this lasts and that mark surrealists isn't around to enjoy his posthumous fame and yet he's as real to us in these videos and in these conversations as as anyone who is alive right now and i think that's just an incredible idea and so you know yes sure we're all ashes and dust but something survives in the form of books we can have a conversation with those who are dead and we can learn from their experiences and i would say the last time if you are looking to build a reading practice we built this thing called the daily stoic read to lead challenge it's uh it's like two weeks of exercises and practices and sort of steps that will help you have a great reading year you can check that out dailystoke.com reading and of course if you want a book to start here's some the power broker by robert carro uh roman honor by uh carlin barton man search for meaning by viktor frankl meditations by mark zurelis seneca's letters if you want to check out my books the obstacles the way still this is the key daily stoic ego is the enemy and a couple more but thank you hey it's ryan holiday thank you so much for watching our videos every day i send out an email inspired by the best stoic wisdom marx realist seneca epictetus all designed to help you live a better life that's what i'm trying to do the email takes five minutes to read over 300 000 people get it that's the largest community of stoics ever in the history of the world i'd love to have you check it out totally free unsubscribe whenever you want but i think you'll like it sign up at dailystoke.com email

Channel: Daily Stoic

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Keywords: Stoic, Stoicism, Ryan Holiday, Ryan Holiday Stoicism, Daily Stoic, Ryan Holiday Interview, Ryan Holiday Stoic, Ryan Holiday Daily Stoic, einzelgänger, massimo pigliucci, einzelganger stoicism, Stoicism TED talk, marcus aurelius, marcus aurelius meditations, ryan holiday podcast

Id: 1tz94N9p5hg

Length: 9min 59sec (599 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 20 2021