Catching Up on Power

REQUIRED READING

Up until recently, I'd failed to pick up any of the books written by one of the greatest minds of our generation. I'd heard the name, know he was a free thinker and even seen him interviewed by Ali G (AKA Sasha Baron Cohen) and yet I've never read any of his books. I've always believed I was fairly well read and especially knowledgable about the more left-field authors like Noam.

I've been through a bit of a catch up these last couple of days - listening to, watching and reading some of Noam's books. These books are required readings for everyone if they are to truly understand how and why we as human beings have arrived at a situation that has to change for the better if we are to survive as a species. Understanding Power is is an easy to digest book - covering a very complicated, yet very revealing topic on how supreme power in the USA has culminated in us arriving at the current status Quo.

Some will say he's a bit of a conspiracy theorist and discredit his writings - but it always pays to keep an open mind. Be prepared to feel a bit uncomfortable when the pennies start to drop. It completely makes sense that powerful families, corporations, governments and ruling classes would want to keep their power. They'll stop at nothing to stay at the top. Knowing a bit more about how the world goes round, will open our eyes to some of the dealings that are going on amongst these power-hungry elite. I suggest we all have a catch up with Noam Chomsky to get a better understanding about what the powerful are doing right now and see how we can all collectively make a change for the better.

Knowledge Is Power

THE POWER IS IN OUR HANDS

The power to gain knowledge is within reach for us all. Great scholars and free thinkers have dedicated their lives to gathering information and writing it down for all to read. If we want to get our hands on these great writings, it's all out there - thousands upon thousands of words waiting for us to look at in books and on the Internet. If we want that knowledge & power, it just means reading and digesting a lot of information. 

There's so much great stuff out there to learn and I could quite happily do nothing but soak up knowledge every day, except there's so much else that also needs to be done and it's about finding the quality time to go it. 

20 Pages Per Day

So, the smartest way to get through so many of these books, is to allocate time around the other important tasks and chores. I've been making a pact with myself to read at least 20 pages of a book a day, which can be tough at the crack of dawn and equally at the end of the day when the eyes are tired but if we stick to certain times - it makes it easier to stay on track with a daly routine.

Training The Eyes

One trick I've learned, is to train my weaker eye. My left eye does most of the work and my right - which is perfect but lazy, cannot see the words as easily or as clearly so it doesn't get much use. To get it fired up in the morning, I bought a beautiful aged leather eye patch off Etsy and wear it in the mornings when reading my 20 pages. I now have a much stronger right eye and don't have to squint my left eye shut - avoiding headache-inducing tension from holding one eye closed.  

Robot Reader

Another technique I'm using is to turn on the built-in iPhone dictation tool. There's a better quality version that you can download called Alex, which adds the breath and pauses, making it seem more natural. It's not perfect, but considering the audiobooks are usually over £10+ you can get the iBook, ebook, kindle or web pages read out while cycling, on the tube, in the car or lying down resting your eyes - that way the daily total pages go up considerably and the quest for genius becomes ever more closer!