Happy Anniversary to me—BITNF turns five-years old today!
Lately I’ve been thinking about changing my mind.
Sure, I have always felt a need to read and watch media to learn new things, but this is not about learning new things. It’s thinking about something differently. Changing my opinion on something I thought I knew about.
I often read the news while it stays in the headlines but eventually the stories drop off and you usually have to actively go looking for any follow ups. Is there additional info? Was data corrected? Was there an outcome, a resolution, a verdict?
How about a requirement to automatically download future updates for everything we read or see?
When the recent G20 summit was in the news I thought: I remember living in Halifax in 1995 when the G7 summit was held there. G7 to G20, that’s a whole lot of global change right there.
I read a lot of non-fiction but generally all in the same categories: Buddhism, health, philosophy, psychology, self-help. I decided to read a book from a shelf I never touch: History and Politics. The book made me consider how many of my beliefs about the world need to be updated. It’s not like they’re a snapshot of my 1980’s high school social studies classes but still. My knowledgebase is out-of-date.
Then, after hearing on a podcast some glowing recommendations for a few sci-fi books, I questioned why I don’t read the genre. Last year, I found a used copy of a sci-fi book I enjoyed reading in school. Written in 1955 by John Wyndham, I found it fresh and relevant today and recommended it to others. So why did I still have a storyline that sci-fi wasn’t for me? I decided it was time to see if I wanted to change my mind about it. I went to another section in the bookstore I’ve never gone to before and am currently attached to one of those recommended books—it took me a few chapters to warm up but now I’m feeling like I’ve been missing out on something good.
Both of these new-to-me book experiences made me see how easy it is at 54 years old to be stuck in opinions and beliefs that really needed a Best Before date stamped on them.
How would you discover that you love broiled Brussels sprouts if the only data you had on Brussels sprouts was the over-boiled mush you gagged on as a child?
What do you want to change your mind about? An update is available. Download now?
J says
Science fiction? That’s indeed a change 😊. Let me recommend an old classic: Foundation, by Azimov.
I’ve changed genres a few times: cheap best sellers, classics, sci-fi, US history, ancient history, and now: techy stuff again. The only problem with changing genres is that the list of books to read grows by bounds and leaps with each change! I love that problem.
J
back is the new forward says
It IS a change, right? I’ll be checking out that space elevator next : – ). Your recommendations are welcome. I’ve also discovered there are subgenres I’ve never heard of. I started with Neal Stephenson – I’m liking the techy stuff in his fiction. I’m also finding that I’m looking up the meaning of words I don’t know. I haven’t done that with the fiction I read in a long time.
With my overdue read in history/politics/social studies, I chose Bill Gates’ new favorite book: Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker. No, I didn’t choose it because I thought it was a book on Buddhism : – )