how i choose my books

what kind of book you're reading tells a lot about yourself. but have you ever thought about why you picked it?
before i even get to the book, i look up the author.

not a long deep dive - sometimes just a short biography or a summary of their life. i want to know if they actually lived what they wrote about. whether their ideas came from theory or from experience. whether there's something in their story that explains why they chose this particular topic, this particular word, this particular way of seeing things.

it's always personal.

books aren't objects. they're expressions. and reading one means spending time with someone who's put everything they are onto the page. the people they met, the places they lived, the experiences that broke or built them. all of that ends up on the page.

if you don't know anything about that person, you're only getting half the picture.

how much do you actually know about the person whose book you're holding?

the first camus book i read was "the first man" - his autobiography. him growing up in french colonial algeria, poor, fatherless, surrounded by a world that wasn't built for him. once you see that, you see it in everything he wrote. the revolt, the resistance, the way he wrote about injustice without ever sounding bitter. it's all there. you just needed the context.

it's a bit like following someone online. you know their story, their background, where they came from. you've probably never met them but somehow you feel like you know them. there's that one-sided relationship. you're consuming everything they put out and it shapes how you see them. books do the same thing, just slower and with more depth.

neither the author nor the content creator needs to be like you or share your values. an entirely different background, a different time, a different culture - that's where it gets interesting. uncomfortable at first. but that discomfort is exactly what opens you up.

it's the same as landing somewhere you've never been. books take you there without leaving your chair.

there are a few different kinds of readers - and most of us move between all of them depending on where we are in life.
some read for the story, for the pleasure of seeing life through a different lens. some read out of curiosity, looking for new perspectives. and some read for confirmation - picking up books that reflect what they already believe.

but books are just one part of it. real experience is still the best teacher. talking to people, getting out there, putting yourself in situations that challenge you - that comes first. reading complements all of that. it's never supposed to replace it.

the book you reach for says something about where you are right now. choosing the right one at the right moment is the challenge every single time.

start with the author. everything else follows.