Fall Into a Good Book

This weekend we're calling both days "Fall into a Good Book." We do a variation on this topic about twice a year. It gives you a chance to let us know what you're reading these days and to make recommendations to your fellow travelers in literary life. The topic is not limited to genre. Fiction, non-fiction, history, science, politics, how-to, self-help, cookbooks, and any other book that you've made the time to read is fair game for a phone call. We've also put together a line-up that includes four authors with four very different subjects. We're beginning Saturday by tracking a history hidden for eons under the ice now just returning to the surface, and we follow it with a galvanizing tale of one of the most controversial and celebrated automobiles. Sunday then gives us a harrowing and fractured memoir from a young writer before finishing up with a fascinating study of the empty places of the past and the possible. I have read them all, and each has a lot to recommend. I am very excited, because, as you know, I am an avid reader.

Over the time I have done this show, I know many of you are reading and listening to books as well. So I thought I would use today's post to explain why Dave Nemo Weekends has made a commitment to books and then offer helpful advice to those who want to join the fun.

When Dave Nemo asked me to join this broadcast, one of the first things that caught my attention was the possibilities of the Sleeper Cab Library. At the time, that title was just a catch-all for a book Dave thought his listeners should check out or the appearance of an author on a segment of his show. Even when Clare and I began booking more writers, it wasn't a formalized thing until we committed ourselves by adding a page to our website. It still isn't all I envision, but I am proud of what we have already created.

Since 2017, Radio Nemo of North America has read hundreds of books and hosted as many authors. Some of those writers have become regular guests like Mark Greaney while others such as Peter Stark, Megan Kate Nelson, and Matthew Hulbert have recurring segments. You could make a case that Revolution Road, since its guests are all published writers, is simply a subcategory of the Library. We did all of it for two reasons. It is our ongoing belief that a well-read trucking industry is an informed, emotionally healthy, and powerful one. Equally important, Dave has always felt that trucking radio need not be a pandering race to the lowest common denominator. He believes truckers are a diverse, educated group who hunger for a rich, vital life of the mind. I concur.  

Every once in a while, we get an email telling us to stop doing book reports and start doing the sort of complaint-driven programming so popular these days. For the most part, though, the books and their authors have been warmly received, led to great conversations both on and off the air, and, on occasion, recommendations for listeners and guests.

The ability to read a book from beginning to end might be among the most crucial skills for thriving in the coming years. That seems a counterintuitive assertion, because the methods of receiving and consuming information continue to rapidly accelerate. It would only follow that as they do, reading gets left behind. But reading, done properly, can serve as a Jake brake for the sensory overload of the modern world. The simple act of reading can reset our thinking and allow us once again to see the world as a complete thought.

Simple, not easy. Our brains have been rewired to accommodate a bombardment of colorful, hollow content. It delivers little if any information, and it is instead designed to capture our attention, distract us, and infuse us with a sense of "what's next?"  It's a bag of Jay Leno's Doritos. Its providers bet we can't eat just one and count on us to demand another bag the moment we're done. And on it goes, forever hungry, always unsated, and left hopelessly searching for that initial taste. 

Becoming a reader is to take a stand against that.

While I am interested in anyone who seeks to become more well-read, I have a particular passion for those choosing to do so later in life. 

That is an act of courage. Starting that chapter disrupts firmly fixed rhythms of fixed schedules, personal associations, and emotional investments. In short, choosing to become a reader later in life changes a person's very identity. 

That successful transformation is no less dramatic than those who truly recommit to their physical or mental health in middle age. We've all been around those kinds of people. They begin subtly, sometimes withdrawing for a time. They reemerge with noticeable changes that then seem to rapidly accelerate. One day, it dawns on you that you are not so much speaking to a different person but the best version of a person you have always known.  

I want that for you.

So, I have some tips. I'll outline them in this post and use some later posts to give you my own idiosyncratic approaches to those tips. I also promise you that at no point will they include a recommendation to join a book club. While terrific for those who are already readers looking to expand their circle of friends, I don't think those clubs assist in making a reader of someone who previously was not. If you've never been a reader, how can you join a club of readers? You don't even know what you like to read. The wrong book club is a recipe to quit before you even start. 

I'll start with an elevator pitch. 

Becoming a reader begins by figuring out how to get your eyes on a page. It's a lot easier if you create a space conducive to reading. Not only must you carve out time and space for reading, but you must also train yourself to enter that space. Once you're satisfied with your surroundings, start reading the subjects you love in the short form. Only then should you move on to more ambitious works. 

Always keep in mind it is a space designed for joy, so while it will be hard work at first, it should not feel like a chore or an obligation. If a subject really isn't for you, don't become trapped in it. On the other hand, when you read something you love, make sure you have a way to keep it with you. 

Finally, once you've done your daily reading, reenter the world as a reader in search of more to read.

If this was the introductory chapter of a self-help book, I might do it something like this:

• Set a time and place to read. Make it as comfortable as possible. Stick to it.

• Take a moment. Center yourself before reading.

• Avoid heavy lifting at first. Begin with shorter work from a subject that already holds your interest.

• Don't keep reading things you can't get into. Give it a chance, but remember it isn't homework.

• Create a quote book. Fill it with the wit, insight, and beauty of what you read.

• Use the internet for good. Search for anything that will expand your reading list.

  
  

As I said earlier, along with all the other writing I have planned, including a return to "The Weekend 34 Road Trip," I will unpack those ideas in more detail in further entries. Let's put a bookmark in it for now.

But I wanted to end by pointing out that today's post is simply an offer of help to those who want to become readers. Maybe you've got children who seem to be moving towards books, and you want to join them. Perhaps there is a particular topic you are passionate about in which you want to be more informed. And it just could be, at the most basic level, that you feel it would change your life for the better. I am here for that. Today is not about recommending the reading of particular books. Nor was it to suggest that you are somehow lacking if you are not a bookworm. The former is a topic for other posts. The latter is just not true. We all have our passions. Reading is one of mine. 

What is the point of a passion that cannot be shared? That is today's point.