Are Ryan Holiday’s Reading Rules Actually Good?

0:00You're listening to the really very crunchy podcast with your hosts, Emily. And Jason, Emily, you are 21 weeks. Do you want to know how big the baby is? Not in the size of a vegetable. It's a fruit. Okay. Fine. That's a little better. What? Oh, it's better because it's sweeter. I like fruit. Oh, yeah. I didn't I love vegetables. Wait, hold on. What's your favorite fruit? Hmm. And is it roughly the size of a 21-week-old baby? Is it mango? No. I do love mango. Yeah. Man mango. What if you just lived in a place where mango just grew on trees around you? Some do. I know. We should move there. We should move there. If you live. We should move there. Oh, gross. Yeah. No, according to this app, you're going to love this. A large banana. A large banana is the worst. That's just not. Did you think banana was my favorite fruit?

1:00No. No. I knew it wasn't. But it's sweet. And I could go for a banana right now. Maybe I'm low on potassium. I don't know. I swear when I was a kid and I had growing pains in my legs. Did that actually work? I would get up and eat a banana and it was like. I don't know. I don't remember having growing pains. It's not really fair because you grew a lot more than I did. That's true. There was at some point, I grew a full foot taller than you. I had insane amounts of growing pains and it really didn't get me far. Maybe micro gains or... Or maybe my body just really refused to grow. That's why it hurts so bad. That's the thing I was probably... The body was fighting against the growing and that's what. So shorter people just have more painful growth. I don't know. Okay. I was also probably dehydrated. I don't know. Oh, true. I did drink a lot. Did you? When I was a kid. Not that kind of drinking. So my sister-in-law, her son is pretty tall.

2:05And it's kind of funny because neither of them are very tall people. And she said she thinks he's just kind of like a larger frame. Like just broad shoulders, taller kid. And she thinks it's because she kept him really warm. Interesting. Very warm. And that means your body has to exert less energy. I did start out in Tennessee in Mississippi. My formative days, which... Sorry, out there. You don't want your formative days to be in Mississippi. You grow taller. But you know, it's rough. Well, so I actually... I heard on a reel somewhere. I was joking, by the way. I love my Mississippi people. What was that? That's funny. Like the fire ants or the... Horrid. Absolutely. The yard. We had a yard that its greatest feature was if you go barefoot,

3:08you get stuck with thorns in Mississippi. That's just really sad. Every lawn I ever went to, don't go out barefoot. Oh. Okay. But we're going to your trampoline. Yeah. Well, take off your shoes when you get on the trampoline. Because seriously, no joke. It was our next door neighbor. We'd go out to the trampoline. She had one we didn't. She was cool with it. But I would forget. Now, get off the trampoline into the grass. Because our yard didn't have grass. It was just dirt. And it was thorns. And it was horrible. Like you would have to pull them out of your foot. And that was everybody's. Wow. In that area. Yeah. That's a yard that I would consider true greening. No. If I lived in Mississippi, we would true green. No. Yeah. Or weed man or whatever. No. Yeah. Weed man showed up the other day. And I opened the door and I'm like. Yeah. I'm sorry. I can't believe you haven't given weed man salesman your pitch.

4:09No. I just said very kindly. I am very against what you're doing here. I fundamentally disagree. I. Yeah. Yeah. And then they were like. Okay. Thanks. Yeah. Thank you. Well, they probably don't. Don't thank you. Get out of my neighborhood. Yeah. Well, another one bites the dust in our neighborhood. I'm a neighbor. I am. I am. And our loop. Sorry. We have a loop. It's a mile long loop. Yeah. And there's only like three yards that do it. On the other side. None on our street so far. I will take them down. But. But weed man got another customer. I am going door to door. If weed man can do it, I can do it. And I really am. I'm going door to door. When the weed man salesman comes, you should go in right behind them. You should go directly after that person to each house. I am doing it. Just so you know, I mean, it stinks for that person because they just want a job.

5:11They don't even care about lunch. I know. Yeah. It stinks. But they don't maybe talk to the weed man person. Yeah. Well, I'm sure they get money for sales. Well, I would hope so. Yeah. Considering that I don't think anybody's doing weed man sales for free. No. Well, you think it's not an, oh, you don't think it's an average. They have a small hourly pay and then they get commission. That's what I, that's what a lot of sales things like that are. Yeah. Some of them are just commission. Oh. Which is tough. I would feel that. But also stay out of my neighbor. Which good for them. They got somebody in our neighborhood recently. We saw the little sign. Well, I am calling them. I'm canceling this. Hello. This is Mr. from. Oh, one, two, three. I'd like to cancel my service. You can't do that. Can I not? That's. Can I? That's criminal. Give me permission. Can I? I will not give you public permission to do that.

6:11I have never thought to do that. You probably have to verify something, right? No. Just the address. Yeah. Hi. I am Mr. caregiver. Caregiver. He just can't speak. Probably because of your services. Also we're suing. We're suing you. Yeah. Our whole neighborhood suing you. Mm-hmm. And so you might not want to try to sell here again. Yeah. No. There might be something illegal about that. I'm not sure. Well, I am at least going door to door. You could just make flyers. Yeah. Well, you can't just put stuff in mailboxes. I did think about paying the fee to have them mailed. But then it's like junk mail that people will just throw away. So maybe I'll do both. I see. I see. Well, you know, if you put it in a letter form, addressed to that family or like family at- I'm going to figure out everybody's name. You don't. You just say family at this address. Right. You know, and it's in handwriting and stuff with like a handwritten letter.

7:13It would take some work, but it might be worth it. It might be worth it. The problem is this new guy got it. Like, basically, exactly one mile away from our house on the loop or whatever. Half a mile. Mm-hmm. Oh, right. That means that would. Yeah. We are one mile from ourselves. It's us. We did the weed man. No, we did not. Half a mile away, but directly across. So not even actually. Right. Yeah. It's not that far, if you're really. It's more of an oval. But there are trees. There's a barrier. There are multiple houses. The thing is, when they had it applied, you could smell it. I could smell it. All after a nice thing. It was crazy. I don't know if they do the same protocol as true green. I don't know what it is. Lots of granules all over the road. They're just messy with their fertilizer pellets. Yeah. Weed man's not as top quality as true green. I don't think. Yeah. When it comes to poisoning the environment. True green does it better.

8:15Their top dollar. A planet destroyed my concern. We live in the bend of a creek. And. Well, we don't live in the creek. In the bend of a creek. Oh, okay. I thought I was being clever. Sorry. No, not at all. And my parents live even closer to the creek. So they have like a play set down sort of by the creek. Don't be imagining anything too amazing. It was left there by the previous owner. It's kind of rickety. And kids love rickety, though. Feels very box cart. Especially if there's like rusty nails. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Sure. There's plenty. Yeah. So to, you know, like kids want to play in the creek in the summer. But those people who are doing that to their yard are up the hill. Up the hill. Up the hill. And so that if it rains, the water comes down into the creek. Well, I mean, it's right next to a cornfield anyway. It's getting it from both sides. Cornfield basically glows at night.

9:15No, it doesn't. It's not a cornfield. It wasn't a cornfield last year. It's been a cornfield once since we lived here. Well, that video we did with the spraying. It was a cornfield then, wasn't it? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. But that it was only one time. But still, yeah, I don't approve of that field. I didn't know that field was there. Thankfully, we have tree barriers and, you know, all this stuff. Right. Well, and we live on top of the hill. So our fresh water maybe muddles the true green water a little bit. I don't know. Well, we're not playing that creek. Why don't we get some of the creek? Yeah. Not that creek. No, probably any creek, honestly. It's sad to me. I do take them to playing creeks deeper in nature. But it still crosses my mind. Yeah. Well, I'm reading the adventures of Huckleberry Finn right now. And the whole book, they're on this raft going down the Mississippi River. And it's like, okay. And they're, you know, they're catching all their food from it.

10:16They're doing all these. They're swimming in it. They're bathing in it. And it's like, that wasn't that long ago. But I wouldn't imagine doing that in the river now. Not our portion anyway. The river's disgusting. And I'm pretty sure that's everywhere. Really? I mean, there's probably some in the mountains or whatever out west. Or, you know, that are pretty nice maybe. I see beautiful rivers out west. Sure. You get into the Midwest or the South. You don't play in the rivers. You don't... People do play in the river. You don't fish in the river. People do, I understand that they do. I'm not eating that fish. Yeah, I'm not interested in that fish. No. I'm not even interested in the fish that come from the pond at the park. I can't even raft down the river anymore. I wouldn't raft down the river. I'm not getting in to swim and eat. I'm not... For what's the point of rafting down the river? Well, that sounds kind of fun to me. Yeah, but the raft? Yeah. Well, you said they built a yurt on it. Yeah.

11:16So, that sounds pretty nice. That's our next birth plan. Birth plan? Yurt on the river? Yurt on the river, birthing. Yurtin. Yurtin on the river while we're birthing. Yeah. That sounds like a really good rap lyric. Anyway. Okay. Well, that's our assessment of water. I really hate that. It really makes me sad that we're to that point that... Yeah. There's not really any going back. No, well, and I don't want my kids to be scared of stuff. So, I don't want to be like, don't go to the river. Yeah. But don't. Certainly don't put your face in it. Listen, though, if you... Your creeks are nice. But if you live near farmland, sorry to tell you, your creeks aren't as nice as you think they are. I know. Yeah.

12:16Well, yeah. It's... They may look fine. Do you just... But is the worry worse in this case? I don't know. I don't know that swimming in a pool of poison? Maybe we should go get... Get our creek tested? Yeah. But remember, I know. I wanted to test that spring I found. Yeah, how much was it? What was the... It's like $1,000 to get everything tested that I wanted tested. Just to see if the spring was... If the spring was good in that moment. How often do you have to get it tested? Oh, I don't know. Because it can be compromised, right? Yeah. Probably. So, all it takes is to be compromised tomorrow. Whoops, that spring's no good. Yeah. I don't know how that works. Yeah. Well water too. I took a drink from it. I'm fine. Sort of. That we know of. Yeah. What if this isn't even a baby? It couldn't. It might not be a baby. It might not be a baby.

13:16That would be an issue. If it was this big. It's a girl parasite. You don't have to buy baby clothes, though. I really feel it wiggle around in there. The baby's actually not supposed to move that much. Wow. All right. These days I'm all about quality of her quantity, especially in my closet. If it's not well-made and versatile, it's just not worth it to me. That's honestly why I love quints. The fabrics feel elevated, the cuts are thoughtful, and the pricing actually makes sense. Quints makes high-quality wardrobe staples using premium fabrics like 100% European linen, 100% silk, and organic cotton poplin. My favorite is their lightweight cotton cashmere sweaters, perfect for the changing seasons. And you can't miss the seasonal colors and prints for spring. They're versatile, well-made pieces that make getting dressed simple. Over the last couple years we've turned a quints for all kinds of items,

14:17like my Mongolian cashmere sweater, winter gloves, and even organic cotton quilts we use every night when we go to sleep. Right now go to quints.com slash RBC for free shipping and 365 day returns. That's a full year to wear it and love it, and you will. Now available in Canada too. Don't keep settling for clothes that don't last. Go to qunce.com slash RBC for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quints.com slash RBC. Do we keep going with this or should I move on to the next thing? I feel like it's time to move on. All right, I came across a video a few days ago. Can I say earlier I started the same I saw a video that said babies. Oh, sorry, yeah. And you just kept going. I'm sorry. And I don't, I'm not claiming this to be true. Okay, I don't know anything about this. But I saw a video that said babies born between December and February or March or something

15:23will never be as strong or have like the same level of muscle mass or ability as babies born in warmer months where they're getting a lot more vitamin D. Right out the bat, like right off. And so maybe my muscle from being a September baby weighed me down is all I was going to say. That's what you felt like you needed to get out. I did. I didn't even get it. I'm stronger than you. Per per capita of like size. So you're stronger than me if I were a five foot three woman. Okay, I will give you that. I will give you that. Yes. If I were a five foot three woman, you would be stronger than me. Thanks. Or if you were a six foot two man, you'd be stronger than me.

16:25I agree. You do? Why not? Don't care. Okay, that's all. Does it make you feel less of me? Does it? Does it? It's just according to the thing. There's nothing you could do about it. You can't control what mother. You're not finding him very attractive because if he were a small woman, I would be stronger. Completely inane thought. I mean, I'm a man. I'd be stronger than him. I don't know who came up with that. Why they would even come up with that. Where they would get those statistics. Why not? Why not? Just some guy. He's making claims. Vitamin D seems to be the, I don't know, elixir of life. I don't know. Okay. Okay, go ahead. You saw the video. No, it's fine. Is it edible? It's the one I saw. Parts of it. We should look for that video so that other people can see it so they know I'm not making it up.

17:25Nobody thinks you're making it up. Okay. There's no single person out here out there listening to this. I think you made up that video because there's probably a thousand of them. Take any fact you want and there's a video about it or fact posed as a fact. How many things do we watch that aren't true? Yeah. And then we take it as truth. Too much, I bet. I feel bad for boomers in AI right now. Honestly. I think it's anybody, anybody's getting tricked. I've seen lots of people getting tricked. You have a keen eye. For AI? Yeah. That sounds like a cable show, a keen eye for AI. Okay. Tell me about this video you saw. All right. This is nothing to do with our water and true green. Vitamin D. Vitamin D.

18:25But it has to do with reading. Okay. There's this guy. And this is most of what he has on here, I think it's actually pretty good, but he has a list of rules for reading. His name is Ryan Holiday. Let me introduce him a little bit. He is a best-selling author. Modern, this is on the internet. Modern stoic philosopher, media strategist, and this sold over 10 million books. So this guy knows books. And he owns a bookstore, I think in Texas. I'm not 100% sure where it is. I'm probably a passion project. If he sold 10 million books, he certainly don't have to have a shop. No. He's doing it for the love of books, I believe. To me, I just came across his videos not that long ago, but most of his videos are about books and about reading. And he's made some suggestions that are actually really great. And I'm like, oh, okay, I'll put it on my list. But he had a video the other day, or a little while ago, 20, what is it?

19:2822 rules for reading. And I was curious to make you a better reader. It was really just called Ryan Holiday's Rules for Reading. Okay. And I guess with the overall ideas to be a better reader in general. Okay. And I'm curious what you think of these as rules. Most of them, I'm like, yeah, that makes sense. All right. And then a lot of them, I'm like, whoa, you know, all right. So let's go through it. I thought it'd be interesting. Love to know what rules you follow if you follow along with any of these just innately. Well, we're just, you know, all right. Number one, quality over quantity. It's not that you read. It's what you read. Do you agree with that? Yeah. Yeah. I think so. Quality over quantity. Yeah. I think a lot of people have gotten into this trap of, you know, the.

20:30Is it an app or people are trying to read the most number of books or whatever. Yeah. And then I think people aren't absorbing the stories as much because they're just trying to get through it because there's like this status with how many books you've read. Yeah. And so I definitely would fall more in line with that. I almost can't stand it every time I see a video of some influencer that's like, I read a hundred books this year. And it's like, what do you mean? What exactly are you saying? Because I read like 12 and I feel like I was constantly reading. Yeah. So, yeah. You know, a lot of these books, they're reading, you know, they're like 100 pages as well. And there's nothing wrong with that. But it does seem like there's this huge movement of I want to be known for reading so much. And so here are my numbers where I'm very proud of my stack of six books.

21:32Yeah. Or whatever. Hard books. I don't even want my back. No, I get that. I don't even care if it's hard. Yeah, but sometimes you do choose books that are kind of hard to work through and sometimes I try to choose books that are kind of hard and I'm like, yeah, it's not happening right now. That's a very interesting. That's interesting that you said that because both of those things are addressed in his rules. Okay. Quality over quantity, particularly tailored to the person. Yeah. Okay. All right. Number two, always carry a book with you. It's, you know, he even suggests always having a book loaded onto your phone if you have to. I see. I like the idea of always carrying a book, not necessarily on your phone because I think you would agree with that. If you carry a book, then you're less likely to pull out your phone to scroll if you just have a minute.

22:32And it is more productive to read. We can all agree. So yeah, I agree with that. And even now they make these bookmark purses. Have you guys seen these? What? Yeah, it's like a bookmark. I want one. I bet they make manly look in ones, but I mean, then you're going to have like a book hanging off. Okay. I'll just hold a book. It looks so cute. It's, yeah. It's just a bookmark. You slide in your book, but then it's got a strap. And so you can carry it easily. You want one? Kind of. Oh, okay. Well, we'll find one for you. No, I agree. But I mean, I, I agree with you in carrying a physical book is one of the best things you can do because I even try to do, I work from home. And so it's like there are moments throughout the day where I just have a phone near me. I try to put my phone away from me, and I rather have a book closer to me. Right. And so it does work. Yeah. If I try to put it on a Kindle app on my phone though, you're just going to end up scrolling

23:34when you get another vacation or, yeah, you know, nobody texts me. So I don't, I don't ever get that problem. You have that problem. You're so popular. I do get texts. So then I'm, I'm going to check my the text. It's so funny. I will ask you, hey, can you look up what I'll be driving or something like, can you look up this thing? I, I want you to look something. Here's what he asked me to look up. How many net carbs are in a Yammer's lollipop that he found in our car? That's what he asked me to look up. And then he's like, no, I don't need it. No, I don't need it. And then I get on my phone and I have like five texts. So I'm reading them and he's like, what, you just got on your phone and forgot you're going to look up the net carbs. I'm like, no, you said you don't, you don't need it. Nobody ever means it when they say they don't need it. It's 5.5 net carbs in a Yammer's lollipop. And I had one and I was still in ketosis when I got home. So yeah, there's only 5.5 carbs in a Yammer's lollipop.

24:37Yeah. That's what we learned from all of this. But I know it's just funny. I ask you something and you just go to your texts. How many net carbs? That's what you ask me. I'm just jealous because when you ask me to look up something, I don't have any notifications on my phone. I start looking around and like, nobody's touching me. All right. All right. This one's a controversial one. Okay. Okay. Read with a pen. No. Hold on. Hold on. Let's have a couple of quotes from his video. If you're, if you're not reading with a pen, you're not really reading. If you're not taking. You're not allowed to make that noise, but fuck it. That's not a sound effect. That is Emily. It's my mouth. Into the microphone. If you're not taking notes while you're reading, you're probably not reading the right books. And then he says when he goes to a book signing, if someone tells him that it's one of their favorite books and he opens it to sign it and he looks through it, he thinks they're

25:40just blowing smoke. I disagree. I read a book. Okay. If I'm reading it on a Kindle, yes. Sometimes I want to highlight it, I'll highlight a line, but really 12,000 people have already highlighted it for me. Yeah. So I really don't need to. Right. No, this is a great story. I like it. Thank you. Yeah. 10,000 people who did that. I don't want to read because I get, or write on it because I'm so immersed in it a lot of times that to stop to make a note or something, like it would just pull me out of it. I disagree with that. I have plenty of books that I've read that I never made a mark in that I loved. Yeah. Well, you didn't really read them. Yeah. If we're going by this rule, you did not actually read them. I like, I wrote a book and didn't even make marks in it. I didn't take a note for my book.

26:41You didn't really write it then. I disagree. I agree that it's helpful if that's, if it's what you want to do and if you want to absorb information, it's always good to write down what you're wanting to absorb. That is a helpful thing to do. But to say that you're not reading, if you're not taking notes, it feels a little pretentious. I don't know if it's pretentious, but it's just a, it's a, it feels like it could be a little status thing like if I've seen these books, like I've, I've looked at videos about certain classics that have wanted to read and the person holds up their books and it's just full of notes. It's, it's got little sticky note tabs all through it and it's like, ma'am, it's the giver. So like, like, come on, what are you doing?

27:44And I admire that, but it also sort of feels like a status thing, you know, like look at how deep I went into this book. Yeah. And that's why I feel like it's a little pretentious. Who's reading where you just can write? Like I'm reading, laying on my side in bed and I've got covers sitting up with your pen hand or you're not reading. I'm, you know, I'm reading, no, no, I just, no, I just disagree. Also, I don't feel like I need to take notes in, in a, in a time to kill by, by John Grisham. Yeah. I don't know. That's not what I was reading, but yeah, I disagree mostly and I think it's helpful if you want to do that, but, um, and in like reading your Bible, you should probably take notes if, because for me, that's something I have to figure out. I don't just always get it when I'm reading it.

28:47Well, that's also good too, because you're, what, you're indifferent. His point though, and it's the same argument for writing in your Bible or whatever is that you're in a different spot in your life, you know, I mean, I'm more like, I would write prayers or something. No, I'm not a re-reader of the Bible of books. I'm not a re-reader of books, really, so that's rule number seven. We haven't gotten there yet. So like if I'm going to take a note, I'm going to turn the page and then I'm never looking at that note again. That's true. Yeah. So I, I don't like when I get a used book and it has notes in it, then I'm just reading their notes. Why would you ever give up your book? People give up their books. I, I purchase books all the time. I don't know. That's a very good point. Or let somebody borrow your book. If you're writing something kind of personal in there, that feels like vulnerable to let someone else read it. Yeah. And you can do note cards, I guess. I just, I just disagree. I think for me, it disrupts actually reading.

29:50Right. So I guess, you know, the people reading 100 books aren't doing that. No. And they're only doing audio. Oh, you can. Just fine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He does. Actually, but, um, okay. Um, so we're putting an X on that one. We disagree with that one. But it's still good. Our official notes that we have been told on 21 rules for reading. But number four, we're only number four. We got to move through these books are not precious things. You should, you should look, oh, you should look like you read the book, dog ear it, highlight it in it, do whatever you want, writing, whatever, but I dog ear books all the time. It kind of drives you crazy. It depends on the quality of the book, you know, no, I just fold the page. This one's tough for me because I, I don't want my book to get messed up, but I shouldn't really care that much. Well, you paid money for it.

30:51Yeah, but it doesn't matter because I'm just hard time buying books because you're like, you'll message me and be like, can I buy this book? I'm like, can I read you a 39 year old man with an income? Sorry. You can spend $12 on a book, babe. I'm just being whatever. Meanwhile, you'll buy a lens for the camera without ever mentioning the last time I've bought a lens. It's been a while. Three months? No. I don't know. Like over a year. Okay. And I bought it for the podcast. That's that one. All right. I agree mostly, but like I'd still have a hard time with it. I'm not, I'm not a wreck this book kind of person, but anyway, so we go. Do you know anything else? Have that book, wreck this book? Wreck this journal. Oh, journal. I thought that was kind of fun. I never did it. It's very clever. Yeah. Cute idea. If you like doing that kind of thing, you can go out and like, stomp on this page.

31:52Right. Okay. Yeah. Sure. I'm kind of going in line with that read while you eat. Now it's different with your family or whatever. I mean, he has a family. So I don't. Right now is not a good time for people like you children. We eat every single meal together. Um, actually, we eat breakfast at a different table, Jason and I, we, uh, it's, listen. It's how we survive. Our kids. So I'm sure you can tell in our videos, our dining room table, our table is in our living room. That's the only place for it. But we do have like a little table in our kitchen, like a little eaten spot. So for breakfast, the boys eat at the dining room table and we eat at the eat it. Yeah. I need my coffee quiet morning time. It's literally 10 minutes of just, no, you go in there, you go in there, you don't even eat breakfast.

32:52So I drink my coffee. Yeah. I drink my coffee. Uh, well, he's saying the, he said, the greatest respect you can give your book is spilling food on it. Okay. All right. It kind of goes with that. Yeah. Um, this is an interesting and possibly controversial one. Stop watching the news. I agree with that. The best way to understand the world right now is by reading books. I think it depends on the books you're choosing. Of course. Of course. It doesn't do anything to understand the world right now by reading, actually, I'm thinking, I tried to think about the first one together. Yes, it does. Actually. And I thought, oh, the killer mock him, but no, yeah, it does. So he's right. Yeah. That's right. For a lot of books, for a lot of books, it just gives you perspective on, especially some of the, the big ones, you know, the heavy hitters. Yeah. Um, I, well, I just think in general, we don't need to be so informed.

33:56We just weren't meant to be so informed to know everything that's going on. You know, I started showing my kids world watch news because so many people in the homeschool community watch world watch news. And my older son, who's eight, he was like kind of concerned that other kids knew more about what was going on than he did. And he's probably right. Yeah. Because he didn't know much of anything that was going on outside of our little world. Yeah. So he started watching world watch, but I don't know that we're better for it. I don't know. You know, there's like, there's still bad news on there. And does he need to know today that we're going to war with Iran? Right. Or whatever. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I don't know. Does he need to know about the stock market? Yeah. I do a lot of fun. It is kid focused. And I don't know. I've heard a couple of them in the background as you guys are watching. I'm like, why in the world are you saying that to our children?

34:59That's weird. Yeah. That was weird. My kids don't even know about that thing yet. Like mines collapsing in Africa with kids were mining for selling. I didn't hear that. I heard. But it felt great. Yeah. Yeah. I guess. It was in perspective. So I can't decide. I like go back and forth. I'm like, okay, we'll just keep no. We're not going. Yeah. So we're partially informed partially informed. Yeah. I just get tired of it in general. It seems like a lot of news outlets are now just opinion based anyway. It does. Yeah. Very much so. All right. We come to rule number seven. Okay. The one you don't do reread books. He said, not enough people reread. The book might be the same, but you're a different person. And he quoted, you never step in the same river twice. I agree with that. I've seen this with movies. I've seen it with books.

35:59I'm not a huge rereader either. I have reread a few things. And it is true that you do, you see things differently, especially if you read them when you're like a teenager and then you read them as an adult. Yeah. Advanced eight. And then like I imagine rereading as your old, like I can see the value in it. There's not enough books out there to me that are like, man, I need to reread that one someday. Yeah. There's just so many. I want to read that. Yeah. It feels like, well, I already know what happens. So I don't really want to reread that. Yeah. I guess it depends on why you like that book. There's already a few in my 2B red pile that it's like, I have read them already. And I'm just, I'm ready to go after them again. But there's not a bunch of those. And there's definitely some that were like, this was a great book, I hope I never read it again. Yeah. Was that war in peace for you? Yeah. That was one. I was glad I read it. It was good.

36:59I'm never going to read it again. Yeah. I probably should take a crack at it. I don't know. But I don't. It depends on how long you live. Yeah. Maybe like 240. I might read War and Peace a second time. But that's one of the examples I read a book or watched a book video about somebody talking about War and Peace. And I'm telling you, the notes throughout it, I'm thinking, what did you even write about? You write about it. Yeah. What did you do? I'm interested in like, how you even do that. Yeah. Do you just write every thought that comes to your head when you're reading a book? That would be so annoying to me. I'd never get through it. I'd read one book a year. Yeah. I think a lot. So I don't want to write everything. Most of my thoughts aren't that valuable. Okay. Number eight. Don't be a snob. Read the best sellers. Read the popular stuff. Even if you don't like it, it can help you understand why the audience, the author is

38:02reaching a large audience. Hmm. Yeah. But this has happened a lot. Listen, okay. I read The Women. I know there's a lot of The Women lovers out there. A very popular book by Kristen Hanna. I'm not trying to, you know, hate on Kristen Hanna. I'm sure it hit a lot of people and that book is not for me. Yeah. You know, like, they was not written for me. Sure. It's called The Women. Yeah. And, you know, it's a good premise. I couldn't stand the characters at all, hated the book, really. Yeah. And I get why people like it. But like, that's the thing. I get why people like it. I was able to see, I understand why this is popular. I was on the fence about it the whole time and never really picked one way or the other. Yeah. I should probably not read books that are geared specifically towards women and then judge them as a man.

39:03Yeah. You started to read The Frozen River with me. Yeah. I haven't finished it. But that was another one that you were like, man, this isn't for me. You didn't finish it though. No, I haven't finished it. It's, I don't know. Am I a misogynist? I only like books with a strong male character. Hmm. That's not true because you liked The Shoemaker's wife. I love The Shoemaker's wife. You did when you read it the first time. That's one that you said you were scared to reread because you were worried. I'm afraid to reread. You wouldn't impact you the same way. I'm afraid to reread it. I really liked it. I'm not a misogynist. I like what books do I like that have females in it? I don't know. Sure, there's one. When I read The Hunger Games, that was cool. Mm-hmm. A long time ago. Yeah. When I was like 20. I don't know.

40:03You wrote books with a female lead. Yeah. That's writing to the audience. All right. This is interesting. Keep a commonplace book. That's, I didn't know what this was. A commonplace book is a personalized central notebook used to collect and organize knowledge, including quotes, ideas, poems, and recipes. So. It's a very Charlotte Mason thing. Oh, really? Wow. Okay. Yeah, you just, it's kind of like a diary, but more than that. As you're reading your entire library of books over your life, would you keep it in one journal? Yeah. I think so. I mean, you're going to fill that one up. Yeah. So are you supposed to be making notes in your commonplace book and in the book? I don't know. That's a lot. And I'm not repeating myself. Yeah. I'm not doing it. I don't, I don't necessarily think he thinks you have to write in the book.

41:04Okay. You're just right. If it's in your book, great. If it's not great, but do write out like a journal or a commonplace book. Again, I actually have tried to do that. I started doing that when I think I started reading crime and punishment. And I started like a journaling thing. And I'm like, I'm just, I'm writing too much and not reading enough. Oh, okay. And like, so I would read a chapter and I'd write, it'd take me a lot longer to write what I was thinking than, and I'm sure it's pretty therapeutic. Yeah. But it was, but it's, I don't feel like I have time for that. I don't know. Maybe I'm just not doing it right. Maybe I've never read a book. I don't know. I love the idea of doing that. Yeah. I love the idea. I don't, I just don't think I have the discipline to stick with it. I don't. I'll lose that book, that commonplace book. It's gone. Really? I lost it immediately.

42:05Yeah. Can't keep up with stuff. I don't know how I would organize it if it's in one journal. Like how do you, otherwise it just becomes this all line and then write the title of the next book and then keep going and just draw a line. I see. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's just keeping a journal. That's what I think. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. A lot of historical figures used it, apparently John Locke, Virginia Woolf acts as a supplemental memory or curated repository of inspiration and knowledge. I love the idea. Yeah. I don't know if I could do it, but maybe I'll try. Maybe I'll start that one time sometime. Again, number 10, and I do this quit bad books. You do quit bad books? Uh, yeah. I really, really tried to make it through Moby Dick last year. I'm thought, you know what? I can just push through it.

43:05I can push through it. I couldn't do it. Yeah. I hated that book so much. And I can say that now. I feel like it's okay. Herman Melville is not still alive. Uh, I can't stand it. And I want to. I want to like it. I just read the abridged version like I did to the kids. That's where I become a snob. I can't. I can't read the abridged versions and then say I read the book. You've got all the stuff that you got. And I finished. You've got more because you finished. I agree. I don't think you should waste your time if you're not enjoying it because reading is a leisurely thing. It should be done for enjoyment. I mean. Or. Obviously, sometimes you need to push yourself and read hard things, but I also think if you just don't like it and you're not going to like it, yeah, quit. Right. I agree. All right. We're going to agreement on that. Though. Okay. What?

44:05He had a rule for this. Okay. A hundred pages minus your age is how much you should give a book before you're like, okay. I'm out. I like that. So the older you get, the less time you give a book. Right. So. That's interesting. Yeah. I usually have a general rule of thumb, like give it a hundred pages. I'm usually giving it two chapters. Wow. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You've been on Instagram too long. Well, it depends on the length of the book. I think you should go by a percentage. Let's go by a percentage to give it 10%. Give it a solid 10%. Which for a big book, War and Peace, that's a lot of pages. Yeah. But if you try, if you take on War and Peace, you kind of know what you're getting yourself into. There's going to be some digressions that you have to slog through. Yeah. So, you know, whatever. Maybe don't pick it up. If you don't think you're going to make it.

45:06Like Jason can. No, I've quit Moby Dick. Listen, I would rather reread War and Peace twice than read Moby Dick once. Mm-hmm. Just saying. And whatever. That's fine. Good books aren't hard. Good books aren't hard. The job of the writer is to make their ideas understandable, to be interesting, compelling, exciting. A long book has to justify itself. Well, yeah. I think some writers are just long-winded for the sake of being long-winded. And maybe they didn't have a very good editor to- Yeah. True. Cut it down. But sometimes, I don't know. Yeah. Hmm. I... Well, I have, for example, I was able to get through War and Peace relatively easier than I was able to get through Gone with the Wind. Both fairly the same size book, Ish, but Gone with the Wind is a lot harder for me.

46:06Yeah. It just wasn't written as interestingly as the other one. I guess. But I don't know. But other people would say the same thing, obviously. So whatever. I don't know. Do you feel that you don't feel that that's a thing? You say good books. Good books aren't hard books. I think that's... I mean, I get where he's coming from. I think that's a valid argument. I do think that sometimes you have to push yourself and you have to read something that's hard. I don't know. Yeah. I think you're better about that than me pushing through a book. Well, because I know that there are good parts to be gotten to, like, for instance, I've been told over and over and over. I need to read Les Mis and it's like, it's a giant book. Yeah. I normally read that every year. That's a lot. Yeah. It's crazy. My sister-in-law loves, it's probably her favorite book and I've just never tackled

47:10it yet. But I know there's going to be, I've read about it, I've kind of, like, prepared myself a little bit. There's going to be, like, 50 page digressions about the Paris sewer system and things like that. And I'm like, because I'm not a huge skimmer. I don't like to skim, but people just skim those parts, I'm like, but it's there for a reason, right? See, here's what I just realized. You have more liberty to read books that interest you. Like I'm having to spend my energy reading eight Enemies Guide to Childbirth, because I'm about to give birth to a child and I want a different perspective. So I am... I have to. I feel like I need to. So then there, like, I read a lot more parenting books than you or have felt the need to... Well, I've mastered parenting. So it's like, why would I need to read what other people have to say? So, like, you're over here reading Warren Peace and I'm like, uh, siblings without rival

48:13reading. Let's figure this out. Yeah. The only nonfiction self-help type book that I think is just truly incredible is really very crunchy. Yeah, I'm sure. Mm-hmm. How to remove toxins. The beginner's guide to removing toxins from your life without adding them to your personality link in the description. Mm-hmm. Thanks. I've read it seven times. It's incredible. Maybe twice. I hear... I hear the authors writing another one called Hold Fast. She is. Yeah. She needs to be anyway. Rather than doing this. Yeah. I'm writing a book. So like, I, that takes time out of, uh, reading. Yeah. It does. You know? Yeah. All right. We're getting into the home stretch here. Okay. A lot of these, uh, so here's, here we go. Number 12. Ask the people you meet, people you admire, ask what book changed your life?

49:14Okay. That's kind of embarrassing for me. Excuse me. Ma'am. Nice to meet you. What book changed your life? Uh, do you want my answer? Yeah. If you have it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's not embarrassing at all. Well, I think if you're just reading this book without really thinking about it, I don't know. I got this book just as part of a fall themed book, you know, I like to read seasonal books to my kids. And when I was reading that book, I felt a shift within me, a completely change in perspective of life. Wow. Fundamental, uh, I don't know. It was life changing to me. That book. Wow. I was so scared of death and dying. And I know I've talked about that before on the podcast.

50:18And, um, that for some reason, that book just like changed my perspective. And I was like renewed. And. It, it sounds really dumb, but it was, no, that's phenomenal. I was sobbing. I can't read it without crying. Yeah. I almost can't talk about it without crying. Um, I just love that book so much. Wow. And it, it changed my life, truly changed my life. I used to have a lot of panic and a lot of panic attacks surrounding that. And basically after I read that book, I haven't had any. That's pretty incredible. Yeah. So. Wow. I wish it was my Bible that I feel kind of bad saying that. Well, yeah, that's just a, that's a fundamental part of your life rather than like some, yeah,

51:21okay. Yeah. Um, um, um, skating my shelf. I was saying, I was saying, I wasn't saying that the Bible hasn't changed my life. It has. I was saying, like, walk away, like in a moment of sobbing and brokenness and, you know, I'm digging a hole, digging a hole. I mean, no, it's cool. Um, on a much smaller level than that, for me, it was like, it was the lion, which in the wardrobe at a very young age. See, that happened to you with a children's book as an adult, which is interesting. I haven't had that experience as adult. I've had some microchanges, like things that really speak to me. Yeah. But what's great about yours is you could reread yours every hour. I could. Yeah.

52:21Probably need to go read it now. Probably. Yeah. Every night. Just reread it. You know, you get a little tired of it. Well, like, for instance, in the brothers Karamazov, I just finished that and it has this whole section, which that has some slog sections throughout the whole thing. But, uh, the ending where it's just this whole monologue about father, and it's just like, oh, my goodness. Yeah. You're basically, he says, um, a father has to earn his title of father. Title of father. Yeah. You're not a dad just because you had a child. Yeah. You have to earn the right to be called father. And it obviously goes into more detail than that, but that's kind of the domain takeaway. And it's like, wow, yeah, I always earn that makes you think about it. Yeah. Good books do. All right. The next one, uh, we can go through this pretty quick, um, find your number 14, find your

53:22next book in that book. Go through the footnotes, the annexes, the bibliography. Yeah. That's, I, that's true. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that if the scarecrow doesn't have any. No. Right. A lot of fiction doesn't. Yeah. I guess that more so applies to a lot of nonfiction stuff, but, um, yeah, the good thing about a lot of nonfiction books, you just have a whole book list in the back. And if it just speaks to you, go for it. Yeah. Um, number 15, read everything by authors you love. And this is where I start to disagree a little bit. Perfect example. Um, Anthony Doher, do DOER. I don't know. He wrote all the light we cannot see. Wonderful. Love that book. It's one of my top favorite books. Love that book. And it's a top five, I think. And then I read his next one and I'm like, what happened? Yeah. And the same thing, and I'm going to hurt some people here, happened to me with Brandon

54:24Sanderson, my beloved fantasy author, loved so many of his books and then kind of lost me, kind of lost me there. Who was that author I fell in love with? Oh, uh, Rush Home Road. Um, that's kind of a rough. It's not like not that one. Well, I have it. No, I loved that book, but it has. Lori Lansing. We're Lansing. I really loved a couple of her books. And then anyway, that I just feel like I don't want you to go like check out Rush Home Road. If you are sensitive to sexual abuse, there's like a scene in there that's rough. So, um, yeah. I mean, everyone should be sensitive to that. But some people are extra sensitive to reading. Sure. Yeah. Of course. So, um, yeah. But I loved a few of her books and then, um, yeah, totally lost me on some. Yeah. So I don't, I, I, I don't necessarily think just read everything by author.

55:29She loved that they're, they're not going to bat a hundred percent. Right. So that's fine. Except for me, right. Unless you've read really, very crunchy, um, which has great reviews, by the way. I imagine her second book is just going to be even better. Even better. So there's some you should do that with totally. Yeah. Yeah. Um, Emily Morrow is the author or Jason Morrow. I don't, are any of your books still out? Not really. Don't worry. Don't look me up. Um, number 16 by books. Immediately. Don't sweat the price. Don't wait for it to be on sale. If it's interesting to you, get it because books can change your life. Um, the only problem I have with this. Okay. I go to a bookstore and I see the prices of the books there. And I'm the type I see it and it's, it's $25 for a paper back.

56:30And I look it up on Amazon just to check out the reviews. It's interesting to me. And it's like $7 on Amazon. And I'm not saying that that's a good thing that I just, but it's like so hard. It's fine because you're at Barnes and Noble doing that. Sure. So yeah, I wouldn't do that in an independent bookseller independent bookseller. Just pay the extra to keep the love of bookstores alive. I agree with that. I agree with that. But, um, if you, it was, yeah, if you're a Barnes and Noble or books, a million even or we don't have any, you know, independent, not. We have one little use books or it's very small. Yeah, yeah. So I mean, sure, yeah, if it is, whatever, cool. He says, I always check Thriftbooks for, oh, and he does say like if you don't, you know, go to Thriftbooks, go to the library. If you can, if they have it, well, sometimes they don't have it. But yours has been out of the library for ages on a waiting list.

57:31Has it still? Yeah. I don't know. I haven't checked lately, but it was for like 16 weeks. Yeah. I'm just saying, buy more copies library. Come on. Uh, number 17 speed reading is a scam. Um, he doesn't really go into much detail with this. He just kind of says it. Um, I, I, you're not a speed reader. Not in the least bit. I'm not a speed reader. I'm a faster reader than you, but I actually think I've gotten slower. Because I don't know why it's tired. Yeah, that's all right. Number 18, build an anti library. I don't know why he calls it this, but it's more so have near you, whether it's your nightstand or a desk that you sit at regularly, a little stack of books that you haven't read yet, that you want to get to to constantly remind you that you have more to read. Why would he call it an anti library? I'm not sure. But that's what he calls it. Yeah.

58:31Okay. I think I like it. Sounds good. Sure. Why not? I have a little stack and kind of depresses me because I'm like, how long has that book been in that stack? That's what it becomes a problem. I read that book that becomes a problem where I buy that book during a season that I'm like, I really need to read that book. And but I'm in a different book in the season passes. And I'm like, I'm never reading that book. I think that's fine. Yeah. Yeah. All right. That's fine. Uh, read like a spy number 19. Um, take wisdom from wherever it comes, however it comes, read books that you disagree with books, you know that you're not going to agree with. Um, for the sake of, for the sake of perspective. I like that. Yeah. I like it too. I like it too. I like it too. I love having friends who have a different perspective. I mean, I love having friends who have different beliefs, different perspective because I want to know what they think, why they think it. I agree. How they think it. I actually really, I mean, I can't stand people who have the same beliefs as me.

59:35Just kidding. I was going to say I almost enjoy it more, but that's not true because it does feel good to be so seen. Sure. And like a buddy that you can go to and know that they're going to see. Yeah. I would understand why you feel the way you feel. And but even the people who don't agree with you on some things, you still find common ground. And so that's, that's the beauty of it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Oh, I like it. I like it. Number 20, go to bookstores. I think that's better with like independent bookstores. People like with actual shops, not the big box stores. That's, I agree. Yeah, especially used bookstores. It's fun to go to a bookstore. I love going to a bookstore. Well, it depends on where you are. We went to a bookstore. I was in St. Louis, the kid section was like, do you guys have kids? Yeah. I don't think so. Some of them get a little weird. It was weird. No. It was a weird kid section. I mean, you just got a, oh, yeah, I saw a, I saw a, oh, yeah, a real or something the

1:00:38other day. It was this guy showing a kid section about kids eating people or something. What? It was, I don't, it was, I think it's real. I don't think it was fake, but it's just supposed to be funny. But like, it's kind of horrible. Yeah. Yeah, it's very hard to find quality kids books around a lot of them feel like they're out of print. I know of one. That's great. It's called a little helper, big imagination for little kids. I would recommend it for little kids to, by two time best selling author, Emily Morrow. Yeah, it's phenomenal. The links in the description. Two time best selling author. It was like best selling in green living there for three days on Amazon. Does that still count in your humor, humor? I was in humor. Crunchy humor. No, the only book is crunchy humor.

1:01:39No, no, you did better than that. Number 21, don't skip prefaces. It adds context to the book. Huh. Yeah. I want to skip. I'm so bad. I almost want to skip introductions. Yeah, yeah. Well, the problem is a lot of times there's spoilers. He says he doesn't care about spoilers. Then he just wants all the information he can about the book before he reads it. So he can know what he's getting into. I'm more of a surprise me. Yeah, me too. Kind of guy. I want the story to unfold. Yeah, particularly in fiction. Again, a Huckleberry Finn. The whole introduction is about like the ending of the book. It's like, well, I don't want to read that. Is the preface usually written by the author or something? No, it's usually, well, typically it's by somebody's talking about the book. Right. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not reading that. I mean, I think it can be written by the author, but usually it's just an introduction or something. Yeah, I barely want to write a read introductions to, but I do, mostly,

1:02:43my book doesn't have a preface, does it? It does have an introduction though. But no preface. I should have written a preface. Why didn't you write me a preface? I'll write a preface next time. I'll write a preface for a holdfast. All right. Last one, and this is a good one. Rule number 22, pay it forward. If you read something good, tell people about it. Well, yeah, because we need to keep the world of books alive. Of course. I do want to tell you about a book. It's called really very crunchy. And little helper, big imagination. Stop, please stop. They are good. Thanks. Yeah. You know, there's obviously the whole, he doesn't do audio books. He doesn't like e readers that much. I fully disagree with him. I think read any way you possibly can. Yeah. I think the most important thing is to read, don't really put too much thought into it, just read. It's kind of like how people submit all these things to a thousand hours outside

1:03:48asking, like, does it count if you're in the garden section? She reads a ton, I know she does read a ton. She probably reads more than 100 books a year. Yeah, but she's actually like reading them and she writes, I know. She writes and she's taking the notes and reading the book and writes in the book. And but she's like, um, interviewing people on her podcast, right? So yeah, she is very well read. But anyway, so people submit all these questions, like, does this count? Does that count? And really it's just about getting outside, like, just do it. If you think it counts, sure, at least you're trying to get outside, like, you don't really have to make rules for everything. Just read a book. Yeah. I don't have to be all these rules about it. Stop over analyzing it. Just read. Well, unless you're not taking notes, then you didn't read it. Really read it. You're, you didn't, you didn't know. Honestly, an audio book will save your life in like a Russian novel or something

1:04:49where you can't have pronounced the names and stuff. And then you kind of listen to a few chapters or whatever. And it's like, oh, okay. That's how you say that. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, any kind of translated book helps a lot with audio books because my mind wanders. I'm a mother so I can shut out noise. So I just start ignoring it. And then I'm like, who is talking? And, suddenly, stop. This does not sound like my inner monologue. So I don't, I really don't do well with audio books. I want to because it's such an easy way to get words and like to get reading in. Yeah. While you're cleaning, while you're whatever, you know, you just while you're folding laundry, just listen to a book. Yeah. I can't. If a book is ignored, if it's long enough, I justify getting the audio book and the regular book because I like to do, I like to physically read something.

1:05:50Jason likes to have the audio book, the paper copy and the Kindle edition. So that he can read the Kindle while I'm asleep in bed because he wakes up randomly. So he doesn't want to use a book light that's too bright. So he's trying to be like thoughtful. Yeah. But he could just listen to the audio book at that time. I fall asleep. If I'm in bed and I'm listening to an audio book, I'm out. Yeah. I'm asleep, which is probably good. Maybe I need to try. Yeah, maybe you should try that. But okay, to be fair, if it's a classic, they're only like 99 cents. Yeah. So it's like, except you said that you don't like some of those because they don't have chapter breaks, so you have to like click through. You can't just sink it to your audio book. Right. Oh, well, it is funny. I think it's cute that you do that, that you have all three. Oh, I think it's cute. It's quirky little thing. I like that about you, Jason. Well, it helps you get through like something about Jason. You should leave a review.

1:06:53If you've ever read anything, read down to where the reviews are and leave your own, become a writer today, write a review. Thank you for listening to the really very crunchy podcast. Hope you're reading some. Let us know what you're reading. Yeah, what are you reading or what do you want to read? I'm reading Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry and the Ena May's Guide to Childbirth. But I read in the beginning of that childbirth book, it was like so much fear is surrounding childbirth. And so I think the best way to get over fear is to read all these wonderful stories about birth. And then I was reading it last night and it was like, and death and dying death. Death death. And I was like, oh, why did you put this in here? It's to make the better, the lighter sides better. So, so maybe don't read all the stories at the beginning. If you're not looking for that, but I'm also reading.

1:07:54It's a two section book. So then she has advice on moving on to the advice. Yeah, okay, when things get heavy. Anyway, hope you guys have a great week. Alright, see you next time. Bye.