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Matheus Campos
Valinhos
Brazil

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How many books have you read this year?

Which of them deserve be in this discussion? Do you recommend it for anyone? Why?

Topics: books ideas worth spreading read

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Sam Monkey
- 0
Jun 28 2012: I can't read.. I'd rather watch Family Guy instead..

Peter Griffin encompasses all the knowledge I need..
Anna Patai 500+
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TED Attendee TED Translator Associate Language Coordinator

Jun 28 2012: Not sure how many I've read - I start many books, certainly more than I finish, too old to bother with something that doesn't hold my interest - but the last one that really stayed with me was The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. It's sf that takes place in a future of genetically engineered crops where the most valuable commodity is the genetic code of plants that are extinct stored in seeds. It got me interested in seed banks and as a result translated Cary Fowler: One seed at a time, protecting the future of food and Jonathan Drori: Why we're storing billions of seeds.
Nicola Menicacci
- 0
Jun 28 2012: 21 so far, gosto muito ler livros!
Yan Li
- 0
Jun 28 2012: like 5 or 6, and i just finished reading a book called "the hunger games", well, it is popular and an easy-to-read type.. i would recommend "to kill a mockingbird" which is a classic but tells a really moving story. and Amy Tan's the kitchen god's wife, cause since i am a Chinese, Amy's book really got me related. :D
k r murali
- 0
Jun 28 2012: No of books read is around 15 and of that 3 to 5 books made impact
Oscar Osorio
- 0
Jun 28 2012: As of now 4 and about to finish my fifth. I need to read more however... haha
indira priya darshini
- 0
Jun 28 2012: a very gud question..it reminded me that im wasting my time... as far as now i have read onle one :(
- Shubham Navale
  - 0
  Jun 28 2012: oohhh tats gud u can nw write a book on ways wasting time...........
  :-)
Gord G 30+
- 0
Jun 28 2012: My father owned the entire collection of Zane Grey and my mother read Danielle Steel books. I imagine the total number of books read by them would add up to a reasonable number. I'm not dismissing the value of an entertaining read, but the quality of a book is more relevant to me than the quantity. I think there is more to gain from a single classic then there is from a years worth of trashy novels. But that's my personal preference. (and to answer the question - about 10)
Sudhakar Shiraganavar
- 0
Jun 28 2012: I think i have read 7 books other than my engineering books, now half way to the book named P S I Love you..
Linfeng Wang
- 0
Jun 24 2012: about 50 books. that is a good quesion, helping me to realize that i need to read more books except novels. Besides, i also recommend 1984 and Sophie' s World.
- Kevin Deng
  - 0
  Jun 28 2012: :) Sohpie's World is good.
Janice Taylor
- 0
Jun 23 2012: I think about four or five, this question has helped me realise that I need to make more time for reading books. I'm aware that I read a lot of articles, blogs, etc but not so many books. Out of the books I've read so far the two most memorable are David Rock's, Your Brain at work and David Brooks, The Social Animal. I also do tend to re-read books.
Elisabeth Buffard 500+
- +1
Host TED Attendee TED Translator Associate Language Coordinator

Jun 21 2012: an appalling total of 2! Superfreakonomics, and "The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared " by Jonas Jonasson. I definitely recommend it, and indeed I've passed my copy around twice already (so easy with paper back, yes paper!) It's about a centenarian who runs away from an old people's home and this old man is no ordinary guy... it's witty, funny, picaresque, and so uplifting, it beats any prozac-like drug.
books... I've sort of lied, because I keep re-reading some classics, and this year, it's been Victor Hugo's poemes "Les contemplations', as to me that's everything poetry should ever be, and Voltaire's "Le Fanatisme" so modern that it's scary.
Mai Carvalho
- 0
Jun 21 2012: So far, 17, right now I am reading the volume 03 of the Mozart Series By Christian Jacq and also I am reading "Night" de Elie Wiesel (yeah, I do read more than one book at a time, but not always. It just happens.) and I have lined up " The Future of Freedom" by Fareed Zakaria.
Nice question, nice topic, nice to see all the answers you got it.
Edwin Nazarian 10+
- 0
Jun 21 2012: hi Matheus and all

I think I have read something like 16 or 18 book so far this year. It came to be a been in two weeks or so, depends on subject and amount. I wish I could spend more time on reading. (working on PhotoReading this will speed up)

To discuss here? my books were about NLP / leadership / negotiation / sales - (no novels yet) I don't think that these subjects are to discuss here but some do talk about business environment and leadership here.

I recomeneded a boot to a friends (but I read it years ago) and I do recommend it here - Henry David Thoreau 's WALDEN - (I believe some of you might know it) - it's a non-business book.

As Thoreau said: "the world is full of fantastic books that no one reads"

Funny eanough, I join to this talk because a few days ago on News Channel they said that in Spain, a person reads a book per year, an avarage number. Which is sad. I have students 14 - 16 years old, hardly few reads.

do you want to know the sadest part? Internet kills Book Reading, (I wish I was wrong)
nowadays some youth spends more time on Facebook than with book.
Matthieu Miossec 100+
- 0
TED Translator Associate

Jun 21 2012: 7 books (and about half way through one now). I set myself a goal of 20 books (originally 24, but who am I kidding, I'm a slow reader) this year but so far I am well behind pace. I've been setting myself reading goals to push me to read more, you can do that on shelfari.com. On the other hand, I'm buying more books than ever so the library keeps filling up beyond capacity.

The most notable books I've read so far this year are The Blank Slate (watch the TEDtalk, that's what got me interested in the first place), The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat and (in the much ignored in recent years category of fiction) Day of the Triffids.

I recommend The Blank Slate to everyone, it is the best book I've read in the last 3 years.
- Fritzie Reisner 100+
  - +1
  Host
  
  Jun 21 2012: Steven Pinker and Oliver Sachs are indeed wonderful reads, almost regardless of which choices you make from their writings.
- Jinlei Li
  - 0
  Jun 28 2012: hi Matthieu，i totally agree with your method to settding a goal for yourself ,cause it can serve as a reminder to help us squeeze time do something meaningful such as reading. i will have a try in the coming days.
Cheyenne Lin
- 0
Jun 21 2012: i wish i could have read more but i only red 5 books so far :(
Chloe Chee
- 0
Jun 21 2012: i was stumped at this question. I have never counted how many books i have read before let alone how many i read in a year. But i guess i have read an average of 30 books a year. More if i have time.
but i love re-reading. i think when i read i fall in love with characters so i read the book again just to have my fave characters alive in my mind again.
dean crawford
- 0
Jun 21 2012: Well a good year 2 so far beats my yearly average by 2. Maybe age maybe a need that been repressed for some time. Oh well just roll with it I guess.
Branislav Ivkovic 20+
- 0
TED Translator

Jun 18 2012: Nine so far, most of them I had to read for school (and loved them!) They were all postmodern novels. I'd recommend 'The New York trilogy' by Paul Auster or the 'White Noise' by Don DeLillo. ICurrently reading the 'Platform' by Michel Houellebecq..
+ I translate books so I have to read them - I completed the 'The Second Duchess' by Elizabeth Loupas and am currently working on 'Yoga Bitch' by Suzanne Morrison (who has nothing to do with the amazing Toni Morrison that wrote "Beloved" that I also read last month - and is a book I'd also recommend!) :)
Fritzie Reisner 100+
- 0
Host

Jun 18 2012: I have not read all the replies in this thread, so forgive me if I am redundant here, but Joseph Stiglitz's new book The Price of Inequality is a valuable read for someone who wants to understand economics well enough to decide for himself which arguments that claim to economic validity are actually valid and which are only self serving to those who make the argument.
Sina Elli 10+
- 0
TED Translator

Jun 18 2012: It's a long time that I have not read any paper printed book and all my reading is done via my rss reader. I read for 3/4 hours daily and I usually do it either on my laptop or my mobile phone via rss reader. I spend the rest of my free time watching documentaries. this is by no means suggesting that books are in their way out but I think we should find ways to bring them back. a recent research showed that reading and the conversion of words to meanings and images in brain is absolutely essential for creativity and thus can never be replaced by multimedia.
Linfeng Wang
- +2
Jun 18 2012: I am a 14-year-old student in china and I am required to read so many books which are connected to Maths, Physics and Chemistry. We don't have time to read books such as Lords of Rings
- Jinlei Li
  - 0
  Jun 28 2012: hi Linfeng, i do understand what you meant, cause many students in China includig me face such kind of problems. we are under pretty pressure from school and must spend most of our time on homework or something like that. but i still believe there will be some little spare time you could find in your daily life anyway. if you can take well advantage of them , you will definitely make a big difference about reading. According to my experience, most of books which i have read were just finished during the scattered time in my life. i even treat it as a way to relax and flee from the boring schoolwork for the moment. if you really want to do something you can always find methods and save the time to do it, right？good luck
- Yan Li
  - 0
  Jun 28 2012: gosh, i am so surprised to see members as young as you on this forum, cool! Listen, never sacrifice your love for reading just for those required school works, but i bet you will do great since you realize the problem at such an early stage. :D
  - zhang yu
    
    0
    Jun 28 2012: hi
Damian Przybyła
- 0
Jun 17 2012: about 30, but at least half of them I was "reading" just as newspapers - looking for specific informations, not from cover to cover
Vladimir Vojtisek
- +2
TED Translator

Jun 16 2012: I have read 20-30 books but mostly aloud to my little girls :).
Chris Brown
- 0
Jun 16 2012: I read online all the time. So thousands upon thousands of articles news, science etc...

I've physically held & read 2 books a year. Bad thing to admit to, unlike Jamie I dont read Oliver.

Truman Capote & Gary Indiana
Feyisayo Anjorin 50+
- +1
Jun 14 2012: I read two books every week. Have read so much this year. I recommend 'Disgrace' by J M Coetzee; 'It's Time For Your Comeback' by Tim Storey; and 'Mere Christianity', 'Miracles' and 'The Problem of Pain', all by C. S. Lewis.

I read 'The Testament' by John Grisham for the 2nd time this year, and it is still my best book by the author. I read 'The Last Juror' by the same author and love it.
Aja Bogdanoff 20+
- 0
TED Staff Host TED Attendee

Jun 14 2012: There are some serious readers here on TED.com. 82 books in six months, that's very impressive. I wonder how the average amount of reading in the TED.com community compares to that in the general population?
Kevin Jacobson
- 0
Jun 14 2012: Most of what I read is online articles on various topics. I couldn't tell you how many of those I have read.

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