Yay, I did it!
I will remember 2020 - amongst other things - as the year when I finished "Sapiens". Its not just that it was a mammoth book, equivalent to a Empire State building combined with Central Station (I read other, longer books in my life) but it was so much packed with informations that I found that it was impossible to read it without taking occasional break. Loved the author's style and found his way of thinking absolutely fascinating + it was not really too complicated, but the sheer scope of the subject - a history of humankind - was so huge that I just had to put it aside for awhile and than come back to it.
Initially, I absolutely loved it. I loved the clear but enthusiastic way Harari weaves his story and how he connects the dots so cleverly, to the point that I absolutely accepted everything he said and even convinced myself "yes, exactly, I think the same". And this was not some mouldy university professor talking from a high throne but someone who (gasp) seems to be actually younger than me, kind of younger version of my beloved Carl Sagan - a passionate, erudite and enthusiastic intellectual. But after a while I needed a break from history of humankind. Than I would return to the book a month later and got lost in it again, thinking whats wrong with me, this is such an interesting book. And so on for months. It went on from February to September. I ploughed trough damn books slowly and patiently for eight months. And I refused to skip the chapters or even pages because it was really inspired and it would be pity not to soak in all this brilliance. But I was aware that because of this book I am missing countless others.
To be honest, since I relocated to Amsterdam, something happened and I lost my lifelong passion for reading. Not sure exactly why is it so and I can blame both the stress of hand-to-mouth survival or the lure of Internet where browsing is so much easier than focusing on one particular book. I don't know why did it happen but it did and I am aware of it. I even became a member of the biggest public library in town but found myself getting more pleasure from browsing than actually reading. Reading became a task. I am reading not because I love it and its a wonderful escape from reality but because I want to force myself back into old skin and I am constantly aware "I am reading just to finish this".
"Sapiens" is by far without any competition the best book I read this year and perhaps the only one I read with excitement - at this point I really don't care so much for fiction and this suited me perfectly, as I love to discover things and to find out about thought provoking ideas.
But I became painfully aware that this is going very slowly and it blocks me from reading more books. Or who knows, maybe this was a incredibly slow but the only possible way for me to go back to reading? The more I think of it, more I believe this was the case - because it demanded my attention and persistence, it wasn't reading for the sake of reading but actual pleasure of finding interesting ideas and talking to my friends about them. Right now I feel as I just finished a monumental sculpture that eclipses Louvre museum and its a great feeling of achievement - Harari has more books but I can't go there just yet - for the sake of balance my next reading must be something entirely different and I have already started Edgar Rice Burroughs last night, which goes super smoothly because its a light adventure story and pure escapism.
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