How Many Books Does the Average Self-Made Millionaire Read?

This was an interesting article kids. Interesting to learn what people read and use to become rich. We have all these books by the dozen at home, so maybe you kids need to pick this up to get better and richer :). 

The interesting bit for me was also the combination, career, how to, history, biographies, leadership, etc. etc. cool, eh? Something you need to think about why this combination works? 

Love 

Baba

Rich Habits Institute Develop the Habits to Create Opportunity Luck, Achieve Consistent Success, and Build Wealth

How Many Books Does the Average Self-Made Millionaire Read?  Jun 22nd 2015, 10:00, by Thomas C. Corley According to my research, it takes the average self-made millionaire 32 years to become rich. Those who achieve this status have adopted the daily habit of reading for self-improvement every day. According to my study, 85% read two or more books every month. If you do the math, that’s 768 books. But these millionaires don’t read just any old books. They read books that will help them grow and learn. Here’s a list of the types of books self-made millionaires read: Career-related books. How-to books. History books. Biographies of successful people. Self-help books. Health-related books. Current events books. Books on memory improvement and learning. Psychology books. Leadership books. Science books. New age books that offer inspiration and create a positive mental outlook. The key to success in life is growing your knowledge base and skills. Devote 30 minutes or more each day to learning by reading books. If you do, it will set you apart from the competition, as most people do not read. Reading every day puts you in the top 5% of the crowd.

Royalit: What Did Medieval Kings Read? - Medievalists.net

Such a curious question kids. But there's a serious point to this question. When you're in high positions, you need to read not only to improve yourself but also to entertain yourself. 
The problem with YouTube and tv is that it forces you to take whatever they are phasing on you. You are a vase to be filled rather than a fire to be lit. 
I've seen kids and students and even adults spend their time in front of the tv. They become flabby in their minds kids. 
Read. Whatever you want but read. That makes you interesting. Not boring. 
Have a lovely week
Love
Baba



Royalit: What Did Medieval Kings Read? - Medievalists.net
http://www.medievalists.net/2016/04/20/royalit-what-did-medieval-kings-read/
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Great medieval kings

I was recently reading an interesting article called by Nicholas Vincent, which looked at what we know about the books kings owned in the Middle Ages. Interestingly, there is a stretch of two centuries in which we can't prove any specific books that have survived the Middle Ages were indisputably owned by any English king (Vincent, p.73). (Later kings helpfully signed their names into a bunch of books, or wrote ex libris – "from the library of" – so that their ownership can be pretty easy to demonstrate.) But even though we can't prove their ownership, we know that kings and queens did read. The question of the day is: what did they read?
Perhaps it's obvious, but one of the big things kings read about was kingship, as in how-to books, starting with the Old Testament. If a king was expected to be as wise as Solomon, then he'd better read up on Solomon, and King David, for that matter. Edward IV had a not-so-subtle how-to book in his collection which was referred to in his accounts as "Le Gouvernement of Kings and Princes" (McKendrick, p.173). Royals wished to know more about the world they were ruling over, too, evidently, since Henry II was said to be interested in learning both European and Arabic knowledge (Vincent, p.83), and John read Pliny the Elder, a medieval encyclopedist (Vincent, p.85). John also read Valerius Maximus, whose Memorabilia, as Vincent points out, deals with "the vexed question of relations between religion and the secular authorities, between the Caesars and 'the wisdom of pontiffs'" (Vincent, p.85). Vincent also points out that John received this book mere days after the papal interdict of England went into effect in March, 1208. (Coincidence? I think not.) Royals read about themselves and their histories, as well. Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine seem to have been responsible for commissioning histories of the Normans and of Britain (Vincent, p.88); Edward the Confessor's widow (Edith) commissioned the Vita Edwardi ("Life of Edward") to commemorate her husband (Vincent, p.75); and Queen Adela did the same for her husband, Henry I (Vincent, p.88). Edward IV held a copy of Froissart's work, which would have outlined the history of the fourteenth-century kings (McKendrick, p.165). As far as administration goes, we know that William the Conqueror ordered the creation of The Domesday Book, but seems it wasn't until King John that royal correspondence was copied and kept on hand for kings to read. But, "from 1215," Vincent says, "we even have the name of the first recorded royal archivist, William 'Cuckoo Well' (Kukku Wel)" (Vincent, p.82). Rounding out the books necessary to being a good king were the moral works of the classical authors and the church fathers like Origen, Augustine, and Peter Lombard (Vincent, p.85). Oh, and also horoscopes (Vincent, p.88), because even kings need to hedge their bets.
Aside from books and records necessary to kingship were books necessary to the soul. Vincent writes,
In 1239 … to furnish the chapel of Sherborne castle, the King [Henry III] ordered a Missal, a Gradual with Troper, a Breviary (portehors) with Antiphonary, a Legendary, a Psalter, a book of collects, a Capitulary (or book of short readings) and a Hymnary (p.90).

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the oldest american 13thc Maya manuscript is now proved to be the real deal

what an interesting news item. 

I quote

Brown University’s Stephen Houston and a team of leading researchers in anthropology and Maya archeology methodically verify the authenticity of the oldest known manuscript in ancient America.PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] —The Grolier Codex, an ancient document that is among the rarest books in the world, has been regarded with skepticism since it was reportedly unearthed by looters from a cave in Chiapas, Mexico, in the 1960s.But a meticulous new study of the codex has yielded a startling conclusion: The codex is both genuine and likely the most ancient of all surviving manuscripts from ancient America.Stephen Houston, the Dupee Family Professor of Social Science and co-director of the Program in Early Cultures at Brown University, worked with Michael Coe, professor emeritus of archeology and anthropology at Yale and leader of the research team, along with Mary Miller of Yale and Karl Taube of the University of California-Riverside. They reviewed “all known research on the manuscript,” analyzing it “without regard to the politics, academic and otherwise, that have enveloped the Grolier,” the team wrote in its study “The Fourth Maya Codex.”The paper, published in the journal Maya Archaeology, fills a special section of the publication and includes a lavish facsimile of the codex.The study, Houston said, “is a confirmation that the manuscript, counter to some claims, is quite real. The manuscript was sitting unremarked in a basement of the National Museum in Mexico City, and its history is cloaked in great drama. It was found in a cave in Mexico, and a wealthy Mexican collector, Josué Sáenz, had sent it abroad before its eventual return to the Mexican authorities.”

When I went to the Mexico Museum, i fell in love with the manuscripts displayed there, the colours, the vibrancy, the art, it was just amazing. One day, I will have my own copy...and a Sumerian Clay tablet :)

‘A Man of very surprising Genius’: John Bagford, Bookseller and Collector - Untold lives blog

So a month back, kids, I went for a walk around London. It was lead by this librarian who took us around buildings and places where bagford had an association with. I've written about him earlier to you. 
I can understand why people are not happy with him. For him to cut out title pages is a crime. Heinous. 
But compared to that, he did help create some of the great libraries of London so that's good. 
Interesting chap :)

Love
Baba



'A Man of very surprising Genius': John Bagford, Bookseller and Collector - Untold lives blog
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/untoldlives/2016/04/a-man-of-very-surprising-genius-john-bagford-bookseller-and-collector.html
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[H]e was a Man of very surprising Genius, and, had his education...been equal to his natural Genius, he would have proved a much greater Man than he was. And yet, without this Education, he was, certainly, the greatest Man in the World in his way...
So wrote the Oxford antiquary Thomas Hearne of his friend John Bagford (b. 1650/51, d. 1716): a man of humble background and little formal education, a one-time shoemaker who made a career as a bookseller. Since he counted among his customers such luminaries as Hans Sloane and Robert Harley – whose libraries went on to form foundation collections of the British Museum – Bagford's activities are of no little interest in the history of the British Library and its books. Bagford is principally remembered today for amassing important collections of early printed ballads and title-pages. The latter he gathered with the object – unfulfilled at his death – of writing 'an Historical Account of that most Universally Celebrated, as well as Useful Art of Typography'.

Engraving of John Bagford by George Vertue, after the painting by Hugh Howard. © National

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Islam’s Forgotten Booklovers - The Los Angeles Review of Books

You know what I regret? Well. I regret so many things but one of the things I regret is that I didn't spend enough time or have an inclination to learn languages. It just doesn't compute that well in my head. So I have to rely on brute force to learn other languages. But my desire to learn Farsi and Italian is still there. One day I will do so. And that will allow me to read books in that language. And that will allow me to browse books in shops in those countries. It's very frustrating to be in those bookshops and see all those wonderful books but cannot identify with them. They are so close but yet so far. Very frustrating. 
But the holiday im going with Diya is going to be a dream come true. Living in a library can you imagine? It will be so much fun. I'm looking forward to it. And when I read this article, I knew I was talking to a kindred spirit. That's exactly what I do. Buy books and then some more and more. But I'm trying to make sure I read some of the books I've bought :) 
Love
Baba



Islam's Forgotten Booklovers - The Los Angeles Review of Books
https://lareviewofbooks.org/essay/islams-forgotten-booklovers/
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THOUGH I'VE NEVER BEEN to Baghdad, where Muslim booklovers gathered on al-Mutanabbi Street till a huge car bomb exploded there in March 2007, I've visited most other countries of the Middle East. And everywhere I've been, I've sought out shops, stalls, and roadside stacks of books. My earliest encounter with the booksellers of the Middle East came on a visit to Istanbul as a 17-year-old. Used to spending weekends browsing the dank Victorian bookshops of the Midlands, I stumbled upon a book market in a caravanserai, the Sahaflar Çarşisi. Centuries earlier it had been a Byzantine paper mart. Though I couldn't even read their titles back then, their covers looked so bright and beautiful. I bought a crimson Qur'an with a traditional ornamented case-binding and for the next month carried it all over Europe by train. A couple of years later, I visited Delhi for the first time. Seven hundred years before Lutyens rebuilt it for the Raj, Delhi was the shelter of literary refugees fleeing the Mongol invasion of Persia. There, in the crowded gullies around the Sufi shrine of Nizam al-Din, I found a copy of a book I had kept out on loan for much of my first year in college: R.A. Nicholson's edition of Rumi's Dīvān-i Shams-i Tabrīzī. Though Rumi hadn't fled to Delhi — his family instead escaped the Mongols westwards to Asia Minor — his poems have been read, and sung, in Nizam al-Din's shrine there for centuries. I carried that copy of the Dīvān around for another summer by train.

Top Ten James A. Michener Books

I love James Michener kids. He has few things which I admire. He has a vast sweep of history. A huge imagination. A great attention to detail. And a great ability to write prose. So his books take you through the great spread of history on the topic and dip into interesting segments of the history. 
Just last weekend I was reminded of his book Hawaii while researching one of the great feasts thrown by the last king of Hawaii. Truly amazing. And yes. If you want to take one book with you on holiday, you can do worse than to take one of his books. Very highly recommended. 
Love
Baba



Top Ten James A. Michener Books
http://blog.bookstellyouwhy.com/top-ten-james-a-michener-books
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Feb 3, 2016. 9:00 AM.
Topics: Literature, History

James A. Michener is well known for his historical fiction, in-depth research, and lengthy volumes. His books are strong narratives that take an intimate look at the human experience through the lens of historical events and times now past. They will also make long layovers, lazy beach weekends, and stretches of time disappear in a sea of historical fascination. These are ten of his biggest and best books of all time.

1. Tales of the South Pacific

Michener is well known for this tome, and it won him his Pulitzer Prize. It was adapted for the stage as the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific. The book is not only based on true facts of World War II, but also on his own experiences while stationed in the New Hebrides Islands. What makes this one such an enjoyable read is the engaging multiple characters and the riveting tales of human interaction across cultures.

2. Return to Paradise

If you loved Tales of the South Pacific, you'll be glad to know that there is a sequel. Return to Paradise picks up where Tales of the South Pacific leaves off and is yet another collection of short stories that depict life in the South Pacific in the late 1940s: a great read and a welcome return to an evocative and exciting narrative.

3. The Bridges at Toko-Ri

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how the words crumble

How to read?

Did Saladin destroy the Fatimid Libraries?

last year, I came across a fascinating paper. The paper said that there is a belief in the middle east that Saladin destroyed the Fatimid Dynastic libraries. Saladin is a famous character and he is best known for how he tweaked Richard's nose.

But his story is fascinating, not least because of the reactions. Cairenes who are educated and know a bit about their history hate him. Why? because he took the wealth of Cairo and took it off to Damascus...but this was worse...when he conquered Cairo, he apparently destroyed the Fatimid Libraries.

I didnt know that there was a library in the first place! You always associate Egypt with the Library of Alexandria, not something in Cairo!

check out this link. The numbers look a bit OTT but suffice to say that there were 40 rooms full of books, manuscripts, documents, papers and the like. FOURTY rooms full of amazing stuff.

As it so happens, the paper, Did alā al-Dīn Destroy the Fatimids' Books? An Historiographical Enquiry by FOZIA BORA published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society July 2014, pp 1 - 19, takes us through a fascinating story about how the collection wasnt actually destroyed but sold on. Let me quote a little bit from the paper which made me really wince and cry.

Abu Sh  ̄ ama’s informant describes the collections that fell into S  ̄ .alah ̄. al-D ̄ın’s
34 and then reconstructs related events as follows:
1171,
1. Qad ̄. ̄ı al-Fad ̄.il, a lover of books, was allowed to survey the collections and take ‘a great quantity’ of them.
2. S.alah ̄. al-D ̄ın cut off the bindings from many of the rest that were in a good condition, to sell or re-use the leather, and threw the unbound contents into a lake.
3. Other volumes were sold to the public,35 over a period of ten years.
4. When news of the books in the lake became common knowledge, ‘people’ recovered
those, too, because ‘[books] are revered items’.
5. Much of the corpus that was initially discarded was thereby preserved, and this is how
‘that which we have [today] was attained’.

Bloody Kurd, the second point made me furious - how he ripped off the bindings! just to sell the sodding leather, but it gladdened my heart to read about how the Cairenes felt that the books are revered items. do not think that this has stopped, look at this story from recent times. So sodding painful to see. May their groins be infested with camel lice and may their arms be too short to scratch.

that said, dont forget the Lavon affair, when the Israeli's bombed the libraries in Cairo.



All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

The girl with a book

One of the lovely paintings I saw. I love these sights. When I’m able to discreetly look at these bibliophile girls who are buried in their books. How they twirl their hair around their fingers. How their eyebrows quirk and how their eyes widen and narrow and blink as they are immersed and follow the book. Forgetting the cacophony of the trains and crowds of people on the platform. Lovely.

A Brief Guide to Starting a Rare Book Collection

There's something about gathering rare books. I like collecting old books on history and not that fussed about the first editions. It's more to do with the age and the topic. And I hope they will be worth few bob when I die and then you can decide to keep them or sell them off. 

It's just such a lovely feeling when you start to explore the rare and antiquarian book. You imagine the various hands it has passed through. The people who have bought it. The people who stocked it. The people who browsed it but didn't buy. The people who stacked it. The people who dusted them. The people who read it. The people who had the book read aloud to them. The people who saw it. Books passing through multiple generations of a family. The weight of tradition and love and emotions and feelings. It's just such a lovely feeling. And then I stand in front of our bookshelf and say, hello ladies. Who shall I date tonight :) 

I'm so happy that both of you are interested in books :) love it. 

Love you

Baba

A Brief Guide to Starting a Rare Book Collection
http://blog.bookstellyouwhy.com/a-brief-guide-to-starting-a-rare-book-collection
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Collecting rare books is at once a hobby, a passion, and an art form. The process is filled with nuances, and there are perhaps as many ways to go about forming a collection as there are collectors. However, some universal truths are present in the book collecting world. Here, we've compiled a brief guide to help you along your collecting ways. Whether you're just starting out or if you have been at it awhile, we hope what follows is helpful. And we hope you'll share with us in the comments below what you've learned and the skills you've honed through your own personal collecting journey.

What is a Rare Book Collection?

Before we begin, it is only fair to note that there is a difference between a book collection and a personal library. Both are good and beautiful things, but they are different. Many of us have personal libraries in our homes: all those used books purchased for college courses, the stack of children's books peppering the bottom shelf, how-to compendiums for the first-time homeowner, etc. In short, a personal library includes books we've acquired in numerous ways, and there's often not a clear theme present. It is what it is — a library with many topics in its arsenal. A collection, on the other hand, is a focused attempt to amass a specific type of book, usually of a certain quality.

So, now that we've identified the difference between a personal library and a book collection, we must also recognize that there are different types of book collections.

Collecting Around a Central Topic

Many collectors choose a topic of interest to them and base their collection on it. We've heard of collectors who focus on a particular sport, an event in history, a part of the country, etc.

Keep in mind when you're deciding on a topic-based collection that some topics are too broad to allow for a thorough and full accumulation of texts. World War II, for instance, may be of particular interest to you. Yet, collecting books on WWII without a more refined search criteria could leave you floundering. Instead, perhaps it would be better to focus on a particular author in the WWII era, or on a particular battle, or books out of a specific region written during or about the war.

Collecting Around a Specific Author

As we mentioned above, another way to go about focusing one's collection is to pick an inspiring author and go after his or her works. We've written about the challenge and reward of Rudyard Kipling, for example. He is just one of many authors who provide an outstanding outlet for book collecting enthusiasts. Think about who speaks to you through their work, and start there.

Keep in mind that collecting as a 'completist,' that is, aiming to collect every item from a single author (all of the works of Charles Dickens, for example), is an incredibly ambitious, expensive, and in some case, unfeasible endeavor. Rather than getting overwhelmed by the daunting nature of such a task, we'd recommend choosing a tighter focus within the category of your author of choice and going from there.

If you're not sure where to begin your collection, you can look to lists of award-winning books or authors (Pulitzer Prize winners, Nobel Prize winners, etc.) for some inspiration.

Collecting Books Based on Looks

Other collectors focus on aesthetic appeal when they are acquiring books. Some prefer to compile a collection of leather bound books. Franklin Library editions, for instance, include beautiful classic, leather-bound books. In recent years, many have been signed by the author. They make for very aesthetically appealing collectibles.

Another option for collecting books based on looks is to work to accumulate fine press editions. Fine press books often have truly unique stories behind their creation, making them not only items that look pretty on the shelf, but also inspirational pieces of craftsmanship. A fine press book is often printed by a small press in close collaboration with the author, thus limited quantities are usually available. This makes for a supremely interesting and usually incredibly visually appealing addition to one's collection.

A Note About Dust Jackets

Speaking of aesthetics, keep the importance of dust jackets in mind as you begin your collection. Finding books in their original dust jackets is a challenging and fascinating venture. Early dust jackets (pre-20th century) are incredibly unique and a major bonus to one's collection. For modern first editions (most of the 20th century), acquiring a book with its original dust jacket in fine or near-fine condition will mean the difference between an incredibly valuable collectible and one that doesn't hold much weight. Many early dust jackets were destroyed by the original owners who wanted to display the actual bindings of the books, which now means that dust jackets still in existence and in good shape are rare and valuable finds.

Narrow Your Focus

The key to any book collection is a specific focus. One must outline her budget, her goals, and create a reasonable plan of attack. A narrower focus allows you to zero in on what's important and build a truly rich collection of works that matter to you. That way, you're not wasting funds and shelf space on books that don't really suit the needs and purpose of your collection.

Once you've decided on a type of collection (and you can most certainly have more than one!), it's time to start figuring out what kinds of books you'll be looking to add to your shelves.

Collecting Basics

It's important to understand the terms of the trade as you sift through the many pools of rare books. You can look for collectible books at library book sales, rare book fairs, auctions, antiquarian book stores, online, or in your grandmother's attic. Truly, the opportunities and avenues to starting a rare book collection (and building it!) are endless. Whatever route you choose, though, it's helpful to know what different terms mean when you're presented with a copy that may be of interest.

We've compiled several glossaries of rare book terms to help you along.

In many cases, serious book collectors are after first editions. As you are getting started, keep in mind that first edition/first impression (or first edition/first printing) is the real gem, whereas a first edition and a subsequent impression often wouldn't be considered as appealing. It can still be valuable and a worthwhile purchase, but in most cases, you shouldn't be paying as much for it.

An essential tool to help you along your collecting way is a bibliography. Bibliographies exist for different authors or different collecting categories, and they chronicle imperative information regarding first edition 'points' so that a collector can identify and distinguish first impressions (first printings) from later impressions.

Other Collecting Considerations

A signed copy of a text you've been coveting makes a brilliant addition to one's collection, as does a limited edition. Limited editions are printed, much like the title suggests, in limited quantities. Usually, they will be numbered, and once they are gone, they are gone.

A limited edition book is different than say, a deluxe edition. Though they both may include extra features like illustrations or an author's note, a deluxe edition is not necessarily printed in limited quantities, which again, affects its value.

Once you've started to amass a collection, it can be exciting to try to add ephemera and other artifacts that are associated with your topic, author, or collection style. Playbills, advertisements, newspaper articles, letters, and a whole host of other options are often some of the most fun elements of any given collection.

Why Should You Collect?

Individuals collect rare books for a variety of reasons. As we just mentioned, some are after it for the fun — the thrill of the chase and the satisfaction of nabbing a pristine copy. Book collectors will tell you theirs is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding hobbies. What's better than a collection of books to serve as a conversation starter when guests arrive?

Beyond that, though, a book collection is wonderful for posterity. Many collectors collect with future generations in mind. Whether their aim is to pass down their collection to family members or bequeath it to a community organization, book collectors often use the acquisition of their rare books to serve the greater good.

Caring for Your Collection

Once you've started to compile a book collection, it's important to take good care of it! You've worked hard, and you don't want your collection to lose any of its value because it has been stored improperly. Remember when you're choosing where to house your collection that storing books in a sunny library can lead to sunning. Likewise, exposure to humidity can lead to foxing. Many book collectors choose to store their dust jackets in protectors separate from the books themselves. That way, they get the benefit of looking at the book binding while also having access to the valuable dust jackets (and knowing that they are in a safe spot!). Keeping in mind that a collection is often prized for the sake of posterity, it makes sense to take good care of one's books not just so they maintain their material value, but also so they can be enjoyed for generations to come.

Key Takeaways

In conclusion, our recommendations are to start small, with a manageable focus. Learn the terms of the book collectors world so you know what to look for, and what you're paying for. Make sure you care for your books. And most importantly, enjoy the process and the fruits of your labor!

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Admit it. You've done this as well?