Read to Live

“Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live.”

Gustave Flaubert 

With great excitement, I hereby announce that I am working on a major project called “Read To Live“, which is an organization aimed at encouraging the Malaysian youth to read more — to change the perception that reading is a luxury or a pastime, instead of an absolute necessity. 

With Read To Live, you will learn insights on how to read more, how to read well, as well as short book reviews and discussions. 

What prompted me to start this project?

Firstly, if I had a nickel from every person who tells me that they don’t have time to read, I could buy myself a wagyu steak for dinner — and still have some more money to give away to charity. 

The thing is, you have time. You just need to make it. Just as you don’t ever find the time to eat or to shower, that’s exactly how you must go about your reading. You treat it as a must. 

Secondly, there are still a lot of youngsters out there who aren’t aware of the ROIs of reading, or feel intimidated by the act of reading. 

I am compelled to show them that reading isn’t boring or complicated, as long as you pick the right book for yourself. I am out to show them the many ways in which reading can enrich their lives — one of those being : reading saves you needless trial and error by learning from other people’s mistakes and experiences.

Resounding a quote from Otto von Bismarck, Ryan Holiday said,
“For 5,000 years we’ve been recording knowledge in the form of books and poems. That’s a lot of smart (and dumb) people talk about their experiences. Why wouldn’t you want to avail yourself of that? Why wouldn’t you want to save yourself a lot of painful trial and error? One book — that cost $15 — could make you millions of dollars. Or help you meet the love of your life. Or give you an idea that changes the world. Or solve your anxiety or your resentment towards your parents. But that can only happen if you pick one up and fucking read it.”

When reading’s a must for you, you don’t read only when you feel like it. You don’t read only when it’s convenient. You read because it’s essential. You read because you treat it like work. You read and you spend money on books because reading is an investment — and the returns are much larger than their price tags. You read to become a better person. You read so that you could improve your life and that of others.

You read to live.