How often do you actually put into practice what you learn from reading nonfiction books (if you read nonfiction, that is)?
Musings Mondays Question By:
http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/
I am influenced easily when it comes to non-fiction books, or so I was until I realised that I don't always take a great deal from them, but love to devour them in any form.
Through my teenage years I delighted in reading books about writing and over the years have picked up many tricks, methods and ideas about how to use the exercises, prompts and suggestions to help me and my inspiration when it comes to writing. Out of the books I have read, most of which I can only remember by the ones I own on my bookshelf and by re-reading them some time later, I barely remember anything I have learned and yet am always coming up with new turns on old tricks and methods I wrote down in journals I stupidly threw away.
Nowadays I seem to put into practice techniques and exercises only when I am reading through the book and hardly after the back cover is turned. In fact, I have a book just recently read that is post-it noted with pages of learning experiences and provoking exercises and I have completed maybe one or two of them since the months of finishing the book.
In the recent two years, three depending on how far back I want to look, I've opted my love of non-fiction for fiction. Every now and then I love to grab a self-help book to read through, since they are quick, colourful, realistic and full of information to challenge my brain and provoke me into changing my lifestyle.
It wasn't until a recent experience and reading this question that prompted me to ask myself how much have I really taken from these books? And from all the notes, post-it notes, notebooks and tit-bits of information stored through all these mediums and inside my brain, I realised I haven't changed since I allowed myself to step outside the comfort of The Famous Five and into the real world and the truth; that I have a strong passion for learning that is fogged and suppressed by fear of failure, guilt, turmoil, self-confidence, lack of determination and constant exhaustion.
It is through these powerful pages, these creations through each word strung together to bind the perfect blend of humanity, courage, strength, triumph, inspiration and so many more emotions and sensations, beauty and ugliness that I have wasted behind the covers and haven't taken into account what I could have learned and what can still be learned each time I read a non-fiction book, even more so than a fiction book.
Truthfully, I have taken some memorable experiences from reading non-fiction books. One in particular changed my idea of what Heaven and Hell were, another helped me on the path to believing the existence of Angels and to become more acquainted with them even though I am not religious and have a track with the more negative sides of spiritual existence.Ive also learned that humanity is a slowly degrading race and that scares me even more into wanting to learn everything I can from non-fiction books about many topics in life, even if I may not fully understand them or have any high interest in them.
My challenge, or goal for the rest of the year is to hopefully take something, not only from the fiction books that I will be reading and have read, but the non-fiction books I own and the many books waiting on a shelf out there that are beckoning to be read. If I can take at least one thing from each book and apply it to my life, then I think that is something to be proud of and an achievement in itself.
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