Did you ever see that commercial with the tagline, “What’s in your wallet?” The idea is that if their credit card is in your wallet, you would be better off…..interesting concept. I think that if you ever want to know a little about someone, look at their library, or at least at the pile of books near their bed, it will reveal a little bit of what interests them, and maybe even who they are.
My books are three-fold. Diabetes books. I probably have anything that was written in the last 3 years or so; and I have some that go back 20 years or more. If someone writes about a diabetes……well…..anything…..I want to read it. I also have folders and folders of magazine and research articles. I really cannot get enough of anything about diabetes.
Theatre Books. Plays, about plays, Shakespeare, acting books, scripts, a book-case full of them. It was my life for so long and I love when people ask me, “Do you still act at all?” Fourteen years since I last walked upon a stage and people still ask me. Cure first (as I promised to my daughter), acting later. But I read them when I ever I can find the time.
Books about people. I love to read stories about real people. Autobiographies, biographies, retrospect—I find people fascinating. How did they become who they are; leading the pack is Disney Wars, a must read for any fan of anything Disney—a real eye opener. Relationships between presidents and advisers (JFK, Roosevelt, Reagan, Carter, Nixon) celebrities (James Cagney, Marx Brothers, Alistair Sim), leaders (Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, Newt Gingrich)…….what made them who they are? What drove them to ‘take on the world’?
Everything I read is always with ‘a grain of salt’ as they say. But you can find out a good deal if you open a book with an open mind. Such was the case of my reading True Compass: A Memoir. The insight to who Ted Kennedy was and why he was the “Lion” they said he was when it came to healthcare is explained in this book. It matters not your political views, the man was a Lion indeed. If it is a story of someone in real life, it interests me.
I’m not here today to suggest books to you but I am here to inform you that I have found a huge amount of joy, and more importantly knowledge, in reading about what interests me. There is much written online in columns and on posts, and many in the diabetes online community have also written books too. Their books not only will inform you, but it might give you a little insight to what makes those, you see all the time but may not really know, ‘tick’ as well.
We are an interesting lot, this diabetes family of ours. Find out a little more about them. Share with us. What would we see you reading today? What’s in your wallet…..er….uhm…..on your nightstand?
I am a diabetes dad.
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