Biography

Can You Read 4300 Books In 40 Years As You Work 24/7?

You will stop making excuses to read books after this story.

The value of reading is apparent, especially in modern times, when information is more reachable than ever through human history. Reading is like opening a worm-hole that leads you to an author’s unique universe, helping you learn things faster than you can learn alone. Plus, it helps you think differently and stretch your cup of consciousness, making it a special activity for learning and growing.

Let me ask you a few questions first to help you contemplate a little bit.

Do you like reading? As reading may not mean reading books, let me restate the question — do you like reading books?

What type of books do you read? Do you read from a large variety or a limited genre of books?

How many books do you read each week?

How often do you fall behind your reading plans, and why?

Why do you read? What is the purpose? Are you reading to avoid boredom, or you reading to learn and develop yourself?

How many books can you read in a lifetime?

Here is a simple calculation. If you read one book each week, that means 52 books in a year. From the age of 20 to 80 you can read 3000 books. That is a lot. If you read one book a month, that means 750 books. That is even good enough.

However, life is not easy and comes with a lot of challenges. Long projects devastating your work and life balance, having and growing children that require many sleepless nights, personal, social and business matters creating stress and reducing your willpower, health issues distracting you from your targets, and many other issues could be only some of the many reasons to find excuses for not being able to read.

You can also argue that there is no time for any personal stuff in this wild jungle of life.

Here is the thing.

If you want something too much, you will surely find time for it because you will, otherwise, regret not realizing your dream.

If you still have excuses, I will share the real-life story of an extraordinary and remarkable man from world history. Not only did he save his country from enemy invasion as a soldier, established a brand-new modern country from the ashes of an old empire, and made reforms in 15 years to modernize the country, but he also took the time to read 4300 books as he achieved all these. Reconsider the world impossible one more time.

Read the short bio below to understand the idea behind it.

Which one of us has bigger challenges than standing against the invasion of the world’s biggest allied forces and leaving the family behind to organize a war of freedom?

Imagine that you live in a country that has been one of the most fertile lands in the world. Several technological-powerful countries of that period, with a desire to control this geopolitically-important land, come together and invade your country to take ownership of the natural resources and wealth.

They not only invade your country but do all the bad stuff to silence the voices of innocent people and the people fighting against the illegal invasion.

Just take a moment to think about how such a tragedy would make you would feel through such a devastating shock of life today.

The history once again shows its magic. This remarkable man stands up to resist the invasion with a small group of people who are ready to fight for freedom. He convinces people of a traumatized nation to come together and establishes a Parliament from the first day of resistance as a great sign of adherence to democracy. Later, despite all preventions, he forms an army with very limited resources and wins a series of wars.

Remember to put yourself in the shoes of that man. You establish a brand-new country from the ashes of one of the longest-reigning empires of the world. You start making reforms to modernize the country to catch up for the lost 400 years after the Renaissance.

You create a Republic and a role model democracy. Simultaneously, many citizens of the new country cannot catch up with your extraordinary vision. And you spend 15 years to implement all the reforms made in Europe since the 15th-century Renaissance and even more. You compress 400 years of progress in 15 years and make people believe in it in such a way that every high-ranked foreign officer visiting the country becomes amazed to see the massive transformation made in a short time.

Accordingly, the history and even your enemies will rank you as the most significant leader of the 21st-century and the top leader in the Political Greatness Index. You will be revered by other great leaders such as Churchill,

Imagine the magnitude of obstacles, preventions, interventions, challenges you will face either from your enemy, and the fearful local people resisting the change. Try to understand the inner strength you would need to achieve all this success. Think about how much time you would spend to plan, execute, monitor, adapt, persuade, and campaign besides healing the wounds a nation that lost millions of people in the war for freedom against the invaders.

This remarkable man was Mustafa Kemal Ataturk — a Turkish field Marshall, revolutionary statesman, author, and the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, and the first President of the new country from 1923 until he died in 1938. He was an inspiration to Mahatma Gandhi in India and all fights for freedom worldwide since 1923.

HERE IS A LIST OF THE NUMBER OF BOOKS ORGANIZED BY SUBJECT ATATÜRK READ IN HIS LIFE, WHICH LASTED ONLY 57 YEARS.

- ON TURKISH HISTORY … … 399

- ON EUROPEAN HISTORY …….. 266

- ON MILITARY SERVICE …… 261

- ON POLITICAL SCIENCES … 204

- ON THE LAW ……… 150

- ABOUT TURKISH POETRY ………. 127

- ON TURKISH LANGUAGE …….. 119

- ON ISLAMIC RELIGION ……… 111

- ON EDUCATION … …… 101

- ON MEDICAL SCIENCES …….. 99

- ON TRADITIONS …….. 27

- ON LANGUAGE SCIENCE ………… 425

- ON TURKISH LITERATURE ……….. 377

- ON TURKISH AND ISLAMIC HISTORY ……… 367

- ON CULTURES AND CULTURAL NORMS …………. 307

- ON GEOGRAPHY ………… 302

- ON HISTORY OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES … 301

- ON PUBLIC AND THE LANGUAGES ……… 276

- ON FOREIGN LITERATURE ………. 202

- ON ARCHEOLOGY ……… 133

- ON POLITICAL HISTORY ………. 113

- ON MILITARY, SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY …… 98

- ON LAW ………… 33

It makes 4558 books with all books full of his written comments and ideas on them. He read them all and contemplated deeply generating new ideas for the future of the country. As some books were recorded in several categories, the total number of books he read is 4289. He read them all in less than 40 years despite the little time he had.

Look at the variety of books he read in his short life. Historians recorded that he used to sleep little and spend time reading to learn and develop himself even at the peak of battles. Many years later, he would say that these books ignited the ideas for the significant reforms that transformed the Republic of Turkey into a modern and secular country. That is why Turkey has been the only example of a secular Islamic country among Muslim countries.

In conclusion, the next time you come with excuses not to read and learn, please remember Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and how he read 4300 books besides the huge task of saving a devastated country and a depressed nation, and rebuilding it to become a role model democracy of its time despite all the barriers he met.

Everything is possible as long as you believe in it. Miracles are only for believers.

Cheers,

Kenan