Dear Reader: How Do You Choose?
Dear Reader,
Have you ever stood halfway down the isle in a store, boxed in by shelving that reaches from way below eyelevel to way above eyelevel—colors, letters, packaging, competing-products-that-all-look-virtually-alike—and somehow, out of all this chaos, you have to choose one box (ONLY one box!) of crackers???
If you have, you may have felt like that experience was weirdly similar to choosing your next book.
There are millions of options. Millions of competing colours, titles, covers. Millions of choices.
You want to make a good selection. But the very options are bewildering. No wonder people read Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (despite its outrageous title!). It came out at a time when British publishers produced approximately 100 new books a year. As opposed to generously exceeding 180,000 in a given year today.
So How Do You Choose?
Among the dazzling array of books—how do you choose?
We’ve explored some foundational convictions for interacting with specific genres through our Dear Reader posts in the past.
Today, let’s take a look at three criteria that can help you choose books that will be worth the reading, in any category.
Choose Books that Build Your Faith
Well, that’s a sweeping suggestion, isn’t it? And one you just knew I was going to make!
But I do think it’s a valuable rule—even though it’s a test no one but you can apply. The books that build you faith are worth choosing.
Does that mean that every book you read needs to be directly spiritual?
I’ve always been drawn by this quote, written about a mid-Victorian lady, who spent close to thirty years in a wheelchair after suffering a devastating accident as a teenager:
“Her reading was not limited to what are called religious books; but all books and all objects were religious to her, because she regarded every subject in its relation to God.” – “Eliza, A Real Portrait,” The Monthly Packet, June 1866
Whether our books are speaking directly about Him, or only capturing the wonders of His world and people, the books that draw our hearts to “regard every subject in its relation to God” are the books that shape our lives for eternity.
Choose Books that Grow Your Mind
Have you ever spent a whole week eating baby food?
It’s okay—I haven’t either. At least not since I was a baby. And to be perfectly honest, even for an adventure, I don’t think I’d like to try it. Applesauce and pureed sweet potatoes are great for infants. They even taste nice (alongside some more substantial dishes!) at a meal or two once you’re grown up. But once we grow past babyhood, they’re not enough to keep our bodies going.
And it’s exactly the same way with our minds. Growing minds need food that will strengthen and develop them.
Don’t be afraid to choose books that stretch your reading level. They build concentration, they expand your vocabulary, and develop your English—more than this, they develop your mind itself. You are at the stage of life when your mind is growing as fast as your body. Maybe even faster! Make sure it has healthy books to nourish it, and make it stronger.
Choose Books that Fill a Purpose
Back in Newton’s day, an enterprising bookworm with a well-filled bank account could possibly have made it a rule to read every book that came off the press. As long as the book was innocent, he had time and resources to devour it, just because it was in print.
Today, this approach has become a mathematical impossibility!
So selecting our books with purpose becomes doubly important. There’s no one right way to decide what purpose you want your books to fulfil. Learning more about a relevant topic, finding answers to newly-discovered questions, building stronger standards through both fact and fiction, even just giving your mind a break so you come back to your algebra lesson with fresh focus—all of these, and many more, help you choose books that will have a positive and upbuilding impact on your life.
Dear Reader: How Do YOU Choose?
Those are my top three suggestions for choosing one box of crackers out of the million on the store shelves.
They aren’t the only three—nor are they an infallible three. (Except maybe the first one, applied with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.)
I’d love to hear how you, personally, go about choosing your books. Don’t hesitate to share in the comments section below!
For more from the Dear Reader series, see our previous post:
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