“I love two things: books and beautiful women.”
That was my opening remark at a seminar I attended last Sunday.
I love reading,
And I also love lending books.
I have a habit of underlining, highlighting and filling the pages and flyleaves of books with notes. It is a way of organizing what I learn. Thanks to this habit, a book that takes me 3 hours to read the first time takes only 30 minutes to revisit using those underlined summaries.
After finishing a book, I also tend to write a few lines on its flyleaf, then add my signature and the date.
For this reason, I can feel hesitant about lending someone a book that is no longer pristine and looks rather worn. Should making future reference easier for myself prevent me from giving, from lending books to others?
Yet I felt completely at ease.
The reason was that I only needed to make one very small improvement.
I ask borrowers to write their thoughts and opinions in the book as they read, putting their names before each note so that we can tell them apart.
They can then note on the final page how many annotations they have made and on which pages. This part is optional.
At the very least, borrowers should write a few lines on the flyleaf about how the book made them feel, what they learned, or anything they feel compelled to put into words after reading it, followed by their signature and the date.
I call this game “Journey Of Books” – “The Adventure of the Books.”
Imagine, 10 years from now,
Or when I grow old,
I open a book and look at its flyleaf:
“I will reread this book many times; it carries enduring values and lessons – Minh Tuấn – 20/5/08”
“Thank you, dear Tuấn, for lending me this book – Thảo – 21/7/08”
“This book truly startled Minh awake and into action – Minh – 3/4/09”
“Hải made some particularly meaningful notes on page 52 of this book – Hải – 6/7/09”
“Besides this book, please read … by …; it will greatly complement the knowledge in this book – Hoàng – 1/12/09”
“Hoàng borrowed this book, then Khiêm borrowed it from Hoàng. Khiêm will lend it to Ngọc next. This book is so good – Khiêm – 2/2/10”
“The book that changed my life – Ngọc – 15/3/10”
…
…
…
I could now “keep track”: I knew who had held this book, when they had it, what they felt and what they thought, and I treasured it all.
Those are Memories.
That is Fun: a small pleasure in everyday life. If we can make every page more interesting, more surprising and more valuable, and give ourselves even more reasons to read it again, why wouldn't we?
It is also the “Wisdom of the Crowd.” How wonderful that a book, once an expression of its author's perspective and worldview, can become a forum for discussion among the many people whose hands it has passed through, with contrasting and complementary viewpoints. That is where the value of knowledge lies :-)
And so, the books begin their journey.
Will you join us?
Tạ Minh Tuấn – TMT – is a successful entrepreneur pioneering several startup fields in Vietnam, 1 of Vietnam's 30 most outstandingly successful and influential people in the prestigious “30 Under 30″ ranking by Forbes, the world's leading business magazine, and the founder of YUP! Start-Up Education & Incubation Centrer (www.yup.edu.vn).
