All My Money Goes Towards Books (And Video Games)
My recent book purchases
“I’m so glad I can’t read as fast as you!” My grandmother tells me after I show her what page I’m on. I’m halfway through a book I had just purchased this morning.
That was a couple of weeks ago, I think. The book is now in the personal library I’m working on.
This past Saturday, we took a trip to Ollies– a store that has a crapload of stuff for cheap. $29 books can be found for as little as $3.99. I walked up and down the aisles, picking up more books than I could carry. I’d grab a book off the shelf and flip it over so I could read the back. Then I either put it back or added it to the stack under my arm. Eventually, I went to find my grandmother so I could dump them in our buggy and go back to the book section.
The first book to join my growing collection was Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. I bet you can tell what it’s about by the cover. It’s a memoir by the creator of Nike. Phil Knight went from selling books out of the trunk of his car, making $8K in his first year to racking up annual sales of $30 billion. I happen to be an aspiring sneakerhead. My grandmother is always telling me I don’t need to buy new shoes — right before I buy a new pair. This book has been on my Amazon list for ages as I patiently waited for the ebook to go on sale. When my eyes locked onto this baby, I snatched it off the shelf as if it were a fifty dollar bill. I can’t wait to read it. I might write a review on it after I finish.
The second book I picked up was Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson. Everyone loves to mention Einstein in school, right? However, teachers don’t really teach us about him. They pick out bits and pieces that they think will inspire us to study hard and pay attention. Teachers don’t talk about how he challenged conventional wisdom and poked at mysteries others didn’t care to touch. Einstein was a rebel, but nobody would dare tell a kid that.
Another Einstein book I really want to pick up is Moonwalking With Einstein by Joshua Foer. I’ve heard nothing but great things about this book. When I realized I missed an opportunity to swipe this book off of Amazon for $2, it almost broke my heart.
Here is the little information blob:
Moonwalking with Einstein recounts Joshua Foer’s yearlong quest to improve his memory under the tutelage of top “mental athletes.” He draws on cutting-edge research, a surprising cultural history of remembering, and venerable tricks of the mentalist’s trade to transform our understanding of human memory. From the United States Memory Championship to deep within the author’s own mind, this is an electrifying work of journalism that reminds us that, in every way that matters, we are the sum of our memories.
A up and coming successful coder by the Instagram name of Meetrobel recommended this book on one of his IG stories. I will get my hands on it soon.
Last but not least, the third book I picked up was Running With the Champ: My Fourty–Year Friendship with Muhammad Ali by Tim Shanahan with Chuck Crisafulli.
A lot of people at least know who Muhammad Ali is. However, very few people know how much hatred this man got when he was alive. “They don’t love you ‘till your dead” is the saying that reads true for lots of famous people. Some hated his abundance of confidence. Ali was banned from boxing for three years after he refused to serve in the U.S. military for religious reasons. He was a black man that never backed down to anyone during the heart of the Civil Rights Movement. His bravery and tenacity lived at legendary levels.
Did you know that he recorded an album of spoken verse? Columbia Records released it in 1963. I didn’t know either, and I hope to learn a lot more about him in this book.
I couldn’t tell you the number of books on my Kindle account, my IBooks account, or in my house. I’ve been reading since my mother and grandmother taught me how. My mother and I used to spend full days in the library, reading line after line. I can still spend days with my nose in a book, and sometimes I feel like she’s right there — reading with me.
Feel free to drop your recent reads and/or purchases down below. I’m always looking for new stuff to read. If you’ve read any of these, I’d love to hear your thoughts as well.
B ❤
cc: Zayn Singh, Gloria Bates
