BOOKS:

Readers are leaders. U.S. President Bill Clinton read more than 300 books during his short time at Oxford University. Some top performers read a book a day. Seek out knowledge and information. We have truly entered the age of massive information and those who are proactive can use this to their advantage. The more you know, the less you fear.

Knowledge is power. People who have achieved great success are not necessarily more skillful or intelligent than others. What separates them is their burning desire and thirst for knowledge. The more one knows, the more one achieves.

All the answers to any questions are in print. How to improve as a public speaker, how to improve your relations with others, how to become fitter or develop a better memory - all aspects of personal development are dealt with in books. Therefore, in order to achieve your maximum potential, you must read daily. But, in this age of information, you must be ruthless in what you consume. Focus on your goals and read only those materials that will be an asset to you. Do not attempt to read everything for you are busy and have other tasks at hand. Choose what is important and filter out what is of no value. Begin with a solid newspaper every morning for an excellent summary of the key events of the day. Also ensure that your readings are broadly based. For example, perhaps you may wish to read history, business, Eastern philosophy, health books etc. Then go to the library and develop the habit of making regular visits. Read the classics from Hemingway to Bram Stoker. Read history, with all its lessons on life and read biology for a new perspective. Look under the heading of "success" at the library and you will be amazed at the literature you will find: inspirational stories of people who developed greatness in the face of adversity, strategies for improving yourself physically, mentally and spiritually and texts to tap the unlimited power for success that certainly exists within us. Drink deeply from such books. Surround yourself with them and read them constantly whether on the bus each day or before you go to bed. Let them inspire and motivate you.

GEMS

• Books are catalysts that light up your life.

• Books are undemanding companions. They do not desert in distress or duress.

• Books inform reform and transform.

• If writing becomes a penance, book is begotten as a boon.

• By reading masterpieces we find music in their words, poetry in their prose, and tranquility in their presence.

• Reading is to mind, what exercise is to the body.

• Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.

• A house without books is like a room without windows.

• Properly, we should read for power. Man reading should be man intensely alive. The book should be a ball of light in one's hand.

• Read in order to live.

• Reading can be a powerful catalyst for thinking; it has the potential for stimulating wisdom.

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