Updating Your Operating Software
Books are one of the most effective tools for learning. They can teach you things and open your eyes to a whole new world of possibilities. But, for whatever reason it is tough to explain to someone how books can change your life. The best way is by looking at books the way you look at software updates for your phone.
When you are updating your phone what are you doing?
With a normal update, you are making small changes. Fixing a few bugs, adding a couple of cool features, and making minor improvements. It doesn’t massively change your phone, just makes it slightly better. You probably barely notice. Each individual update doesn't make a huge difference, but when you stack 10 or 20 updates on each other you start to see some real improvements. These are your average books. Each book isn’t earth-shattering but they move you in the right direction.
On the other hand, we have our massive software updates. Think about when Apple launched iOS 6 and released Siri. We may not feel it now, but that was one of the most revolutionary changes. These major software updates are like books that can alter our entire life trajectory. Books like Atlas Shrugged, Animal Farm, 1984, Walden, and many more. Books like these can change your entire worldview. When you put these types of books down the world will look and feel different than before you picked it up.
The trick here is to read voraciously. A book that changes my life, could not impact you at all, and vice-versa. Only by getting out there and picking up a whole lotta books can you find the real impactful ones.