I took advantage of an online sale to shop for some books. I had no specific topic in mind but browsed some shops for something that may get me interested.
TL:DR Just a post about the books I bought and some scribbles of why I bothered with them.
Is it important?
This simple three word question usually blocks 9/10 of the possible options that are going to waste your time. The end goal of reading is to obtain information or be entertained by something that caught your interest. If you live a busy life, having quality time with your book can be a luxury.
Everyone has 24 hours on their day but only few can remain consistently productive with their time. The content should contain something that has practical use or at least something that helps me broaden my perspective in the narrow vision I have about life. No matter how much I tell myself I figured out my life goals, I know this is just one of those instances where I exemplify being at the top of my hubris. I know nothing.
Does it have practical use?
Finance and Investing:
- The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
- The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
- The Business Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained
- Trading Code by Jason Cam
Probably top priority or the main motivator why I browsed for some books in the first place. Now that I got some extra cash to spend for investing, I like to do learn the stuff that would not set me up for a pitfall before I hop in the next craze. I've been trying to expand my what I know about economics and share this to some of my webinars on HivePH discord sometimes.
I used to spend more time reading fantasy novels and stuff that generally doesn't have any practical application to my immediate circumstance. It wasn't that bad if I looked at it as my time spent on entertainment but then future me just does a facepalm and says I could've used the time to learn some marketable skill and generate me more value. For now, I have more favor on books that solve real world solutions.
Is it readable?
Social Studies, Psychology and Management:
- What You Got Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith
- The Psychology Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained
These subjects have a special place considering they talk about areas that are beyond my conscious understanding : people, social structures, and social systems. I had to read a few more books about social communication to have some flashes of hindsight where I fucked up talking to people.
It's kind of dumb to phrase the question like that but this is what comes to mind when scan the contents of a particular book I like. I learned to ask this question when I read a book about neuroplasticity and then further reinforced by a book talking about temporal changes and perception in the workplace.
The gist is, no matter how much I find the topic interesting, if it's told in a matter where there's too many jargons and terms I have to Google up, it just ruins the reading experience.
Can I afford it?
No matter how great the book is, if it's not an absolute important (or I can torrent it somewhere), I'm all for delayed gratification. I would usually ask this question when I lean on the book being a want rather than a need (because I'll work more to get the book if it's a need).
Science, Philosophy and Self Improvement:
- The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect
- 12 Rules for Life, An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan Peterson
- Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson
- Never Split the Difference, Negotiating as if Your life dependend on it by Chris Voss with Tahl Raz
- The Decision Book: 50 Models of Strategies Thinking by Mikael Krogerus & Roman Tschäppeler
Topics that expand my perspective of the world. I have the digital copies of Jordan Peterson's books but the strain from reading in a monitor makes my reading time even more limited. Other topics on the list are expected to help me be better at decision making cause why not?
Art Stuff:
- Japanese Honojiro Towoji Illustration Works Anime Painting Collection Game Characters Drawing Book
- 100 Hand-painted Cards of Costume Design to Practice Human posture Poses for Fashion Illustration
I have other titles on the list but these ones are the strong contenders. I know some of these can be accessible as soft copies from yarrgggg~!
If I want to play thrifty/cheap but it hits different when you got a physical copy and doing some hobby reading outside the screen. I'm already past my book budget of 120$ just from the titles above.
The Art Stuff are just books that could help me improve on my 
Before I buy anything, there's a checklist to distinguish whether I'm satisfying a need vs a want. If you buy a textbook for a class, that's an obvious need but if you're buying for hobby reading, there's more room to negotiate.
Just my opinion, but I think a lot of times people aren't consciously thinking about how much resources they are going to spend just by reading a book. You spend time and effort to understand what you're reading plus other costs like obtaining the book in the first place. All of those versus the resources you could be spending on doing something else equally productive.
I got a budget under the category of investment but it's a loose category since money spent can either go to traditional investment vehicles, crypto or just assets for self improvement. On this case, it wouldn't hurt to acquire more knowledge about stuff I don't know but are interested in.
If you made it this far reading, thank you for your time.