#booksforchange

 

While I wrote this, I googled to have found out a Swiss-supported organization working in Nepal and India with a similar name to the title of this blog. I have nothing to do with that organization but would love to know more about them. But earlier this evening on a scooter ride home, the very three words "books for change" rang in my mind out of a little conversation I had with my friends during book shopping. 

Samip picks up "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" from one of the aisles inside Nepal Mandala Book Shop at Lakeside and comes next to me. 

Me - ' I want this too.'

Samip - 'You can get one.'

Me - 'That would be stupid of us to buy the same book.'

Dilip - ' Right, it's not a textbook.'

All of us smiled. And definitely, Samip picked the same book and I picked a different one. 

Checking out at the counter:

Me - 'I bet, I can read this book in a week. Can you do that?'

Samip - 'Yes, I can. But if you can't, you will have to buy me a new one.'

Me - 'Same applies to you.'

We never discussed on the third alternative ie. neither of us would read the whole book in a week. It's too obvious that we will continue reading and exchange or buy new sets again.  Either way, we do have incentives to read new books if we stick to the soul of our conversation. 

Books-for-change to me is an ambiguous concept and it's not a new concept for sure. I have books for exchange and I want books for a change. A lot of things I have learned in three decades of my life were missing in textbooks. A lot of things about life 101s are on the pages far beyond we can imagine. A - book - a - week has been a thing in a book reading culture, though it may seem ambitious. Reading habit is reported to be one of the most powerful habits of leaders/corporate leaders/billionaires around the globe. They all have been a lifelong learner and combined with reading habits to other virtues could have only brought about the achievements and changes they envisioned. 

Having said that, learning through information access has gone through a paradigm shift due to the advent of the digital boom. But writings have always been the primary source of information relay throughout the human history and until tech engulfs everything, the paper books should still be around. As for now, I am also going with the trend and writing a digital blog for someone to read in this universe for eternity. 

Clinging to the conventional wisdom-seeking-practice and longing for changes that we can bring about in several aspects of our life, family, and community, I pledge to be a lifelong learner. 

Here is a list of books I have for exchange :

1. Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman

2. Money, Master the Money Game, Tony Robbins

3. Lenin, Robert Service

4. You are the World, J Krishnamurti

Take one, give one. Non-fictions preferably. 

The book in the cover picture is my read for the week.

#booksforchange