I’ve always been a reader.
Growing up, I would read everything I could put my hands on. I read 20 books one summer to win a library contest. I love reading fantasy novels filled with dragons and spells and magicians – to the point where I’d hide books inside whatever reading in English and read during class.
As I got older, I started to enjoy non fiction, particularly business, psychology and personal development. I like that I can get useful, practical and actionable knowledge that I can use to make my work and life more successful.
Earlier this year, I ran into to a VC I knew. He had a friend with him who saw that I was holding a book – The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman (a book densely packed with wisdom, by the way). This VC’s friend asked to see the book and examined it briefly.
“When I was in business school, one of my professors was an angel investor. Made over 90 major investments and lots of money. He said he never read business books – they were a waste of time.” he said, as he handed the book back to me.
“My recommendation? Don’t read it.”
That guy is a complete moron.
That attitude really pisses me off. It’s one thing to say you don’t have time to read (which I respond – do you have time to eat? to sleep? to exercise? Because reading is on that level). It’s another thing to say it’s actually useless to read.
I once heard someone say that reading a book is like having a conversation with the author. Which means I’ve been able to chat with some really smart dudes: the former/current CEO’s of General Electric, Zappos and Amgen (one of the most successful biotech companies in the world) for instance. Those guys poured hundreds of hours into distilling decades of business knowledge into books that I’ve had a chance to read.
If you’re interested in succeeding in business and that’s not worth 15 bucks and a few hours of you’re time, you’re hallucinating.
Perhaps that professor was able to succeed without reading business books but that does not at all make it a broadly applicable heuristic.
Whatever field you want to succeed in, I guarantee there are books that you ought to read that would give you immense value and a competitive edge. So make the time. It’s so worth it.
I’ll end with a quote from Mark Twain:
“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.”
I know what kind of man the VC’s friend and his professor falls under – what about you?
I am writing a book called
Winning Isn't Normal.
Check it out.
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It’s that time again! I’m holding my 2012 readership survey to better understand my audience and make this blog better. I found last year’s survey very helpful and I made a number of changes based on the feedback I recieved, so I’m looking forward to doing it again.
Jason Shen is the co-founder of 