My Library vs. The CEOs

The pursuit of knowledge. There's a great read from the NY Times posted over on Cultivate Greatness about the libraries of CEOs...what do the movers and shakers read? Turns out...poetry. And ancient weather logs. And fiction. And non-fiction. Classics. All of it. My first thought was, "You people have TIME to read?" I got into a habit in college of viewing most reading as a chore, with pages of text to be scanned as quickly as possible while leaching just enough information out of them to write a good paper and make a sound argument. Survival mode, I called it. Don't tell my profs. After a semester of 2 or 3 history classes, 2 political science classes, and whatever else I packed into my schedule...the last thing I wanted to do over breaks was read. The good thing about those classes was...I ended up with a pretty nice library for myself...in terms of what I am interested in, anyway. I have a rather large collection of modern American history, with a good emphasis on 1960's social movements and the counterculture. Lots of Vietnam War analysis, too. Fascinating time period for our nation, for sure. I also have quite a bit of poetry, from Rumi to Eliot to Whitman to Parker (I love me some Dorothy). I always found it to be more apropos to my attention span. Resumé Razors pain you; Rivers are damp; Acids stain you; And drugs cause cramp. Guns aren't lawful; Nooses give; Gas smells awful; You might as well live. - Dorothy Parker Mmmm. Right now my reading stack consists of Never Wrestle With a Pig (folk music grad school assignment), Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Mere Christianity, and Lost Highway: The True Story of Country Music. I don't always make time for it, but I do my best. This times article makes me want to devote a bit more attention and purpose to my reading schedule, and what these CEOs read appeals to my history studied brain, too. I am a fan of primary sources...anyone can go and write an analysis that sounds half decent, but if you want to think for yourself, the best bet is to surround yourself with facts that are as pure as possible. I'm sure that's how these CEOs keep their decision-making caps fresh and their mind making those strange connections that hurtle their visions forward. So my question to you is...what do I need to read next? What's in YOUR library? UNM's Zimmerman Library, where I spent most of my college years. Really.