According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), an estimated 2.2 million new books are published worldwide each year. That comes to 6,027 books per day, or one new book every 15 seconds.
President John Adams was right: “The more one reads, the more one sees he has to read.”
There is always another book to read, another podcast to listen to, another conference to attend. Perhaps this is what Paul had in mind when he spoke of “always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7).
Don’t misunderstand. Reading books is always a good idea – especially if you are reading my books. But there are other ways to learn, as well. In recovery, you can learn a lot by simple doing the following.
- Read just one or two pages of recovery material each day.
- Listen more than you talk in your next group meeting.
- Have lunch with someone new to recovery this week.
I have been to about 650 12-Step meetings. That is 650 houof sitting in meetings. And in every one of those 650 hours, one thing has held true. I always learned more by listening than by talking.
Recovery Step: Read all you can and learn all you can. But remember that the next person you meet in recovery may turn out to be the best book you’ll ever read. Other than mine, of course.
