Thursday, November 12, 2009

GOALS ARE WHAT KEEP US ALIVE AND VITAL!



I was perusing the infamous '1001 BOOKS YOU MUST READ BEFORE YOU DIE' list the other day (click on the title to go to it), and found some interesting things about my reading habits. First off, of the entire 1001 books, I have read a measly 120. It's not that I don't read. I do it incessantly. It's just that the books I read don't seem worthy of 'must read' status.

I was compelled to look up the source of the list and find the criteria used. I found an article about the book entitled, Volumes to Go Before You Die.  Here are a few quotes from the article. (Click on title to read it in its entirety.)
If the “1001 Books” program seems quirky, even perverse, it’s no accident. “I wanted this book to make people furious about the books that were included and the books that weren’t, figuring this would be the best way to generate a fresh debate about canonicity, etc.,” Professor Boxall informed me in an e-mail message. And how. . . .
No matter how well read you are, you’re not that well read. If you don’t believe it, pick up “1001” and start counting. . . .
That’s the thing with reading lists like “1001 Books.” There’s always that host of the unread.
When you consider how many books are published in a year (approx. 295,523), and how many years since writing was invented (approx. 6000 years ago), no one can truly be said to have exhausted even one genre or topic.

But what a goal!

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