WEBVTT - Read through a book flight 

0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:06.720
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:14.240
<v Speaker 1>Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:19.520
<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to read through a book flight. Reading

0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:21.600
<v Speaker 1>a handful of books on a topic in a row

0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:24.880
<v Speaker 1>can be a fun way to explore different perspectives and

0:00:24.960 --> 0:00:29.320
<v Speaker 1>keep life interesting. If you've ever done a wine tasting,

0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:32.600
<v Speaker 1>you might have tried what's called a tasting flight, a

0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:36.640
<v Speaker 1>handful of different wines presented together for tasting and comparison.

0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:40.200
<v Speaker 1>By trying something like three to eight types of wine

0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:43.520
<v Speaker 1>in a row, you can appreciate the differences and similarities

0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:46.160
<v Speaker 1>in a way that you might not if the experience

0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:50.240
<v Speaker 1>were more spread out. In general, the wines are related

0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:53.599
<v Speaker 1>in some way, like a handful of Chiante's, for instance,

0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:57.040
<v Speaker 1>or wines from South Australia, so you are in the

0:00:57.080 --> 0:01:02.000
<v Speaker 1>mindset of appreciating these particular aspects of the wine. It

0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:06.000
<v Speaker 1>turns out you can do something similar with books. As

0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:09.360
<v Speaker 1>you're thinking about what to read next, try to consciously

0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:13.959
<v Speaker 1>read through a selection of related titles. The most obvious

0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:15.920
<v Speaker 1>way to do this is to read books by the

0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:19.800
<v Speaker 1>same author. Let's say you read one book by Wendell

0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:24.520
<v Speaker 1>Berry and enjoy it great. He's written others. Go buy

0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:27.200
<v Speaker 1>a handful or check them out from the library and

0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:30.520
<v Speaker 1>read those right after the first rather than some other title.

0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:34.640
<v Speaker 1>You'll start to see how he tells stories and uses description,

0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:37.080
<v Speaker 1>and of course you'll have a really good sense of

0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:40.720
<v Speaker 1>the geography of Port William. To take the book flight

0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:44.240
<v Speaker 1>up a notch, you might read commentaries or biography of

0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:47.279
<v Speaker 1>the author, or maybe a nonfiction book about a place

0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:50.440
<v Speaker 1>that your fictional characters live or where the author grew up.

0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:54.840
<v Speaker 1>You can do this for nonfiction subjects to A few

0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:57.080
<v Speaker 1>years ago, I went through a Civil War kick and

0:01:57.280 --> 0:01:59.680
<v Speaker 1>guess what, It turns out there are a lot of

0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:02.600
<v Speaker 1>books about the Civil War, so I tried to look

0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:06.000
<v Speaker 1>at various angles. I read Battle Cry of Freedom, and

0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:08.880
<v Speaker 1>I read Team of Rivals. But then I also read

0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:12.280
<v Speaker 1>the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant and Frederick law Olmstad's

0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:15.720
<v Speaker 1>Cotton Kingdom Work to understand what the Antebellum South was like.

0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:19.440
<v Speaker 1>You could mix fiction and nonfiction and read something like

0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:22.480
<v Speaker 1>Cold Mountain or fiction books that shape that time, like

0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:26.399
<v Speaker 1>Uncle Tom's Cabin. It's intriguing to see the different takes

0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:29.800
<v Speaker 1>on different events. The first book or two reminded me

0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:33.720
<v Speaker 1>of the chronology. After that I could focus on different aspects.

0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:36.800
<v Speaker 1>I've been doing the same thing lately with books on

0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:41.240
<v Speaker 1>early human evolution. I've long been fascinated by the idea

0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:44.520
<v Speaker 1>that other humanlike species lived on Earth at points in

0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:47.680
<v Speaker 1>the past, so over the past month, I've read several

0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:52.480
<v Speaker 1>titles on Neanderthals and early humans in general, including Kindred

0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:59.040
<v Speaker 1>Lone Survivors, The Neanderthals Rediscovered, Catching Fire, and Before the Dawn.

0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:02.480
<v Speaker 1>I can't say that any of the fiction titles featuring

0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:04.840
<v Speaker 1>Neanderthals of interest in me that much, but I know

0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:07.880
<v Speaker 1>that clan of the Cave Bear has its fans. I

0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:10.400
<v Speaker 1>feel like I've learned a lot, and hey, knowing that

0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:12.400
<v Speaker 1>I've got a list of titles on a topic to

0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:15.560
<v Speaker 1>read helps keep me off social media, which is never

0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:19.640
<v Speaker 1>a bad thing. You can approach a flight consciously or

0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:23.360
<v Speaker 1>a bit more spontaneously. Some people might like to plan

0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:27.120
<v Speaker 1>it out. That might be good for a more obscure topic,

0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:29.760
<v Speaker 1>figure out which books are good to read, and then

0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:32.440
<v Speaker 1>make a list and start working on it. But you

0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:34.880
<v Speaker 1>can also read one book and then see what your

0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:38.720
<v Speaker 1>bookstores algorithm recommends next, or just read any of the

0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:42.720
<v Speaker 1>books mentioned in the first book's bibliography, or any authors

0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:47.040
<v Speaker 1>cited in the book. I'm tackling Charles Darwin's Descent of

0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:49.640
<v Speaker 1>Man just because all the modern authors of the work

0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:54.119
<v Speaker 1>on human evolution keep mentioning it. Wish me luck. Nineteenth

0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:59.360
<v Speaker 1>century prose can be challenging, but rewarding too. In any case,

0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:02.800
<v Speaker 1>it's fun to follow your fancy. In school, you might

0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:05.800
<v Speaker 1>have taken a whole course on a topic, but adult

0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:11.520
<v Speaker 1>life doesn't always feature such immersion. So created and you

0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:14.880
<v Speaker 1>don't have to write a term paper, so it's all good.

0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:20.360
<v Speaker 1>In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and

0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:29.560
<v Speaker 1>here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:31.919
<v Speaker 1>I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:35.600
<v Speaker 1>your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:40.000
<v Speaker 1>me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.

0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:45.039
<v Speaker 1>That's b the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:48.720
<v Speaker 1>You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:52.400
<v Speaker 1>podcast at iHeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast is

0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:55.159
<v Speaker 1>spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I

0:04:55.200 --> 0:05:03.280
<v Speaker 1>look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:06.560
<v Speaker 1>production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I

0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:10.480
<v Speaker 1>Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcasts,

0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:12.599
<v Speaker 1>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.