Tag: Fahrenheit 451

Thankful for Books That Keep Getting Bigger

Day 3,969

One of my “Top 3 Start Doing” goals was reading more deeply rather than going very wide.

Over the past handful of years my focus has been on reading a set number of books and I’ve tended to let my mind and tastes wander a bit as progressed through the year. Whenever something caught my fancy I’d pick it up and give it a shot. This let to reading many books I otherwise wouldn’t have read, but it wasn’t conducive to deeper understanding. Occasionally one would really strike a chord and I’d read it again. Much more rarely I would stumble into a book which would re-read at least once per year.

This year I decided to do something a little different. I curated a list of twenty-five books that I committed to reading three times each in 2026. These were amongst my all time favorites, but largely focused on the ones I felt would help me grow most this year, the books that would help me work on closing the gap between who I currently am and who I’d like to grow into. For sure, there are some fiction mixed in – fiction allows a chance to reality test ideas in a sandbox, an opportunity to play and explore, a different view of the world focused through a very specific lens or paradigm.

Three of the books I’ve already consumed (or in the process of reading) for the third time have gotten better every single time I’ve read them. Fight Club, No Country for Old Men, and Fahrenheit 451 have gotten better with every single re-reading of them

Some books get smaller and less significant once you know the ending. These three keep getting bigger and more meaningful.

I wouldn’t necessarily call any of them perfect books. In fact, each has a few little quirks in the writing that annoy me every single time I read it. Somehow, I think that makes me love them more. The imperfections give them character. They feel less polished, perhaps, but more alive.

Beneath the plots are questions that don’t get resolved when you reach the final page. They’re questions humans have wrestled with for most of our existence: joy, acceptance, learning, freedom, intentionality, meaning, legacy.

Maybe that’s why knowing how these stories end doesn’t diminish them. Once I stop wondering what happens next, I have more room to notice what they’re actually saying.

The “me” who is re-reading them is not the same “me” who read them each of the last times. Life has changed since the last reading. My perspectives and paradigms and priorities have likely shifted just enough to provide a slightly new lens to view them through. Maybe the last reading helped me make a subtle change and I’m now ready to make another. Maybe I didn’t learn the lesson last time, and now I see it a little more clearly, with a little more urgency.

Regardless of the reasons, each of these books holds a gravitational pull on me. I’m grateful for the way they’ve pulled me into their orbit, and for how they continue to push and pull at the way I see myself and the world.

At this point, they’ve almost created a Three Body Problem in my brain!

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Investing Time, “Sweatshirt” Books, & a Sense of Awe

Day 3,441

Growth:

Make the time to train others on the most important things, don’t always rush to do those tasks for them in an ill-fated effort to save time. Take the time, MAKE the time to teach and train. The return on investment will blow your mind over and over again BUT only when invested in the RIGHT people.

Appreciation:

I love curling up in my favorite sweatshirts on a cool evening. They warm and comfort me, their simple presence kindles the flame of my soul on such a basic level.

Certain books are “sweatshirt” books for me as well. In a similar fashion they help when I’m running cool, and warm my soul as I open their covers and smell the old pages. The subtle printing errors and smudges bringing a sense of home and of calm, a reminder that even the best of things are not perfect, though they are closer to perfect thanks to their imperfection.

Here’s to the “Sweatshirt” book I’ve busted out on a cold season of life, its heat is already warming my soul.

Presence:

My drive home was the site of my meltdown. It was a very busy day, for the large part very positive, but such a flurry of nonstop activity that my brain was completely overwhelmed by the end of the day. My neck is still stiff from the stress of busyness throughout the day. Again – almost everything was a positive! Successes of teammates abounded, signs of business growth, progress on so many different levels, yet my mind felt run into the ground as my legs after crossing the finish line of the marathon.

As I stared blankly out the windshield there was a bright flash out of the corner of my left eye, the setting sun casting a golden glow upon the exposed sandstone of the bluffs across the river channel. Then an eagle, no, two eagles, sitting in a tree watching for prey! I was flooded with awe, with wonder, with the natural beauty surrounding me.

I was thankful.

I was calmed.

Thanks!!!