Ever since you were a little kid, the world has been telling you that reading is important.
When you were a little kid, you were encouraged to read because reading is fundamental.
It’s true. When I was a little kid, I was constantly hammered with the reading is important story.
My parents encouraged reading. So did my teachers. Television and media propaganda also hammered it in to my head.
Check out this old clip from the 90’s:
This “reading is fundamental” storyline continues long after high school and college. As an adult, you a taught that successful people read a lot and that “productive members of society read.”
All of these things are true. That’s not the question.
The question is: How can you tell if a book is good?
In reality, whether a book is good or not is a matter of opinion. But that’s the point. It’s about you and what you think is good.
The way you can tell if a book is good or not is by using the fortune cookie test…
What is the fortune cookie test?
Before I explain the fortune cookie test, let’s go over the purpose of books.
In a previous post on how to read books, I wrote that books must be read with purpose.
In other words, you should not mindlessly skim through books as fast as possible just so you can say I read a lot of books.
You have to get something from the experience. What should you get?
In my experience, you should have gotten at least one of the following after you have finished reading a book:
1. Knowledge- A book should enhance your knowledge in one form or another.
2. Inspiration- A book should inspire you in some way. Maybe it inspires you to improve your life. Maybe it inspires to accomplish something.
3. Entertainment- A book should entertain you with its story.
A good book will pass at least one of those tests. If it does not fulfill any of the requirements, then it’s not a good book for you.
For example, Wuthering Heights was not a good book for me. I was forced to read that book in AP English. It’s a classic but it was not a good book for me. I did not gain any special knowledge from it. It did not inspire me. It did not entertainment me.
The fortune cookie test is a rather forgiving test when it comes to content.
You ever eat a fortune cookie and read the little message you get inside? The same concept applies.
It’s very difficult for a 500 page book to be completely inspiring, entertaining, or chock full of wisdom. As a result, the fortune cookie test applies.
If you can get one little golden nugget, whether it be a single line or single quote from a book, then you just read a good book. It may even be a life changing book, depending on what you do with that little golden nugget.
That’s the test.
It doesn’t matter how small… if you get something that inspires you, entertains you, or serves as some sort of universal truth for you… that book was worth your time. You found a winner.
Be grateful.
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