This book is good to read to handle your procrastination in reading books!!

It left me motivated to become a reader, so it accomplished its purpose. This is a great book to give as a gift that can change a person's life.

Life-changing. Not in a, "I know myself so much better now" way. More like, "Wow. Ok. Challenge issued, received, and accepted!"

I really enjoyed reading this book. Pat Williams offered great information and tips on reading. One of the things that I liked most about this book was the quotes that were included. I feel like this is a great add to my library because it if full of resources on reading. He also adds practical tips for maintaining a life of reading. More than he encourages us to read, he motivates us to become a life long learner if we are not already one.

Overall, I think that everyone should sit down to read this book. There is a challenge to read one hour a day, everyday for the rest of our lives. If we do this the opportunities for growth and learning are endless. One hour day, one book a week, and at least 50 books per year. That's really exciting. I've never thought of it that way.

Great book!

I got this book at Borders with my husband, mainly because he proposed, "I'll let you get your book if I can get mine..." It wasn't the best written book (the author was very redundant), but it was encouraging. Pat Williams challenges people whenever he speaks (he's well-known in the sports arena) to commit to a goal of reading from a book at least one hour ever day for the rest of their lives. He said even if your read an average 250 word-per-minute, you'd complete a 200 page book each week. He himself has employed speed-reading techniques, reads 3 to 5 hours a day, has about a dozen books going at any given time, and has a goal of completing a book every single day! The things I took away the most from the book were that a little bit every day really adds up and that through books I can access the minds of the greatest thinkers on each subject. Also, I appreciated the point that we never have to feel alone in this world because, no matter what we may be going through, someone, somewhere, has gone through the same thing and has written a book about it!

The title is a bit boring and wouldn't have attracted me but I received an autographed copy in the mail. Besides, a book for adults who don't like to read, isn't a book adults would naturally pick up and read. However, inside is a delightful collection of quotes, inspirational stories, sound advice, and practical ideas.
I shouldn't have judged this book by its cover (my bad) because it's truly a treasure and one I'll refer to again and again.

If you need to get your batteries recharged when it comes to your reading life...this is a good book. The author's enthusiasm is infectious. You find yourself saying, "if this guy can read this many books, I can do the same or better."

Motivational speaker and NBA sports executive Pat Williams focuses on the many great reasons to incorporate reading into your life.

I'm gonna stoop to snobbery in this review - be warned. I think this book could have been half as long and much better-written. It's basically a collection of quotations strung together by a web of exhortations. Williams often quotes literacy research from hard-hitting sources such as PARADE Magazine and Oprah Winfrey.

This book was definitely cobbled together by an energetic lifestyle guru, with many self-mentions and more than a few name-checks of famous people. But hey, if he convinces anyone to read more, we all win, right? If you're a sucker for John Maxwell books you'll see a pattern here: both writers love to hammer home points that really can't be argued against, all the while quoting smarter and more original people. (Which, okay, so do I.)

I fully agree with the premise that education and literacy are essential to living the good life (I work in a prison library, and see first-hand the link between a lack of education and incarceration), but I am skeptical at those who regard mere reading as an innately virtuous activity. After all, people read dreck like n  Fifty Shades of Greyn and n  The Illuminati Formula Used to Create an Undetectable Mind Controlled Slaven as well as n  Great Expectationsn and n  Moby-Dickn. James Patterson (whose copious output a coworker of mine believes is assembled by a thousand monkeys in a warehouse, pounding away at typewriters) is immensely popular in prison. I doubt, however, that even his most attentive reader will come away much improved, aside from being diverted for a few hours.

Literary snobbery aside, reading is great. Read more. Read always. Read everything! (Even read - no, I can never in good conscience recommend James Patterson. Read the cereal box instead.)

Between quotations, Williams offers a few practical suggestions: advising everyone to carry a book wherever you go is smart. Sadly, the eleven ways get buried beneath the repetition. I'll skip a rigorous literary analysis in favor of stealing a few good words from the text.

So Quotable:

"What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books." - Thomas Carlyle

"Language is the soul of intellect, and reading is the essential process by which that intellect is cultivated beyond the commonplace experiences of everyday life...Reading is a means of thinking with another person's mind; it forces you to stretch your own." - Charles Scribner, Jr.

"People don't realize how a man's whole life can be changed by one book." - Malcolm X

"It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish." - S. I. Hayakawa

"In my contact with people I find that, as a rule, it is only the little narrow people who live for themselves, who never read good books, who do not travel, who never open up their souls in a way to permit them to come into contact with other souls - with the great outside world." - Booker T. Washington

I had been meaning to read this book ever since I first heard about it back in high school when I was involved with Student Leadership University (Williams mentions this organization in the book). I'd consider myself somewhat of a bibliophile, so you should know that from the get go I was really looking forward to reading this book.

First off, let me point out what worked well for this book. Never before have I read a book that has encouraged me and motivated me to have a genuine desire to make reading a bigger part of my life. His strongest arguments are when he points out how we waste our minds and potential when we devote more time to watching reality TV shows, movies, and endless Internet browsing than we do to reading great books. For the most part, I agree with his principle that you should only choose a book that you think you will enjoy reading. I would add that you should only read a book if it will also benefit you. Readers should never feel obligated to read a book simply because it has won awards or someone in their life has recommended it. It must be relevant to their lives in a significant way. I found the advise on speed-reading helpful, but I haven't spent enough time yet testing it out to see if it is really effective in the long run. There are a myriad of inspirational quotes spread throughout this 300 page book.

This leads to my criticism. A 300 page book is by no means exceptionally lengthy, but it certainly felt like a tedious endeavor as I trudged through page after page of the same old concept. To put it lightly, the author was beating a dead horse when he decided to make this book longer than 150 pages. I'm also not a big fan of his writing style (it reads as if a motivational speaker's words were put to paper). At times he came across as slightly pompous and proud. Never before have I been so ferociously compelled to read, read, read, and read. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. I will say that I did like the challenge he gave readers- to put aside one hour every day, for the rest of their life, and devote that hour to reading.

While this book often came across as being a self-help book (I loathe that genre so greatly), it surprisingly challenged and motivated me. While I found it extremely repetitive and drawn out, I did come away with a greater appreciation for books, a stronger desire for reading, and several great concepts to chew on for the future. I'd recommend this for educators, business workers, leaders, high school students, college students, and just about anyone who has a desire to learn and influence others with books and learning.

Was Nothing New

Not quite sure about the audience this book was intended for. The same thing could have been written in a 10 page pamphlet not a long and boring book. The same material was covered over and over and over again. Had the read of cross between " The four arguments for the abolishment of TV" and "How to read a book." If you are a reader you already know the information in this book. If you aren't you wouldn't pick it up anyway. I'd borrow it from someone or find it at a library and not waist money on it if you feel you need to read it.