Charlie Munger: What has reading done to my life? | Redlands Forum 2020【C:C.M Ep.177】

 

[Transcript]

JACK DANGERMOND: By the way, don't you read a book a day? Something like that?

 

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, I read and I skim a lot.

 

JACK DANGERMOND: Yeah.

 

CHARLIE MUNGER: I do the accidents of life – you give me books and I haven't torn the books and perfect strangers give me books.

 

JACK DANGERMOND: Yeah.

 

CHARLIE MUNGER: Lots of them. And I almost never buy a book anymore.

When I was younger I used order them from the Book Review columns of the New York Times. And now it's tons of books come in and I just select what I want. And I'm amazed at how well some of these people are reading me.

 

JACK DANGERMOND: And what has that done to your life? I think –

 

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, it's – it was perfect for me.

I don't think you can take every bookish little boy and turn him into a billionaire by patting him on the head and say, read all you want Johnny. But if it were that easy, that would be more billionaires. But it enormously help me.

And I think reading once you've learned it, reading and arithmetic. You can take in so much and you can take it on your own time schedule. If somebody's talking to you, he may be telling you something: You don't want to know, you already know, it's too hard or he's going too fast or too slow.

But when you're reading, you can just take it as you want. So it's just God's gift if you're into self-education. There's nothing like reading. And of course, people who do a lot of it, have an enormous advantage.

(Source: https://youtu.be/Rh1WCzfCP24)

 

[YAPSS Takeaway]

I don't think you can take every bookish little boy and turn him into a billionaire by patting him on the head and say, read all you want Johnny. But if it were that easy, that would be more billionaires. But it enormously help me. ~Charlie Munger