Books Are Tremendous

By Charlie Jones

One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself or someone else is a good book. Yet it is amazing how many of us have neglected to take advantage of the wealth of knowledge that is so conveniently attained through the simple act of reading a book.The amazing impact that the reading of good books have had on great men and women throughout history is documented in this book. As you read the inspirational words by some of these influential individuals who have been transformed by the power of the written word, they will undoubtedly inspire you to develop a far greater appreciation for reading. Book reading is the easiest, simplist, and cheapest pastime that can bring you a wealth of knowledge, understanding, and inspiration.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Life Management Services, INC.
• Release date: Jun 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463751091

Charlie Jones

For decades, audiences worldwide have enjoyed Charlie Jones via audiocassettes, motivational films, books, and seminars. After a successful insurance career, he formed Life Management Services, Inc., and Executive Books, which distributes thousands of his favorite books. He has authored many books, including Life Is Tremendous -- 7 Laws of Leadership, with more than one million copies in print. A member of the prestigious Speakers Roundtable, Jones has been named one of the top fifty speakers of the twentieth century by the National Speakers Association.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

The Importance of Reading

by J. C. Penney

The reading of good books is one of the most helpful ways in which young people can develop themselves. One of the saddest mistakes I made in years gone by was utter neglect of reading. I realize now what I have missed by not having read and studied more.

I should like to say to the young men in particular that it is a splendid thing to make money, but it is a greater thing to make a good way of life. If they will devote some time each day to reading the best books they can find they will derive a lasting benefit throughout their lives.

To read good books casually will not suffice. One must study every sentence and make sure of its full message. Good writers do not intend that we should get their full meaning without effort. They expect us to dig just as one is compelled to dig for gold. Gold, you know, is not generally found in large openings, but in tiny veins. The ore must be subjected to a white heat in order to get the pure gold. So remember this when you read.

Young men and women who are seeking to learn all they can, have minds capable of receiving and retaining new impressions. There is nothing that will strengthen the mind, broaden the vision, enrich the soul, like the reading of good books. One can find or make no better friend than a good book.

The more we read

the more we believe,

The more we believe

the more we hope,

The more we hope

the more we pray,

The more we pray

the more we love,

The more we love

the more we labor.

— Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

A Reader’s Prayer

Charles Lamb once said he felt more like saying grace before a good book than before meat. H.H. Barstow, receiving his suggestion from Dr. Henry Van Dyke’s Writer’s Prayer, in The Ruling Passion, gives us a suggestive Reader’s Prayer.

Lord, let me never slight the meaning nor the moral of anything I read. Make me respect my mind so much that I dare not read what has no meaning nor moral. Help me choose with equal care my friends and my books, because they are both for life. Show me that as in a river, so in reading, the depths hold more strength and beauty than the shallows. Teach me to value art without being blind to thought. Keep me from caring more for much reading than for careful reading: for books than the Book. Give me an ideal that will let me read only the best, and when that is done, stop me. Repay me with power to teach others, and then help me to say from a disciplined mind a grateful Amen.

Lord, let me never slight the meaning nor the moral of anything I read. Make me respect my mind so much that I dare not read what has no meaning nor moral.

The books which help

you most are those

which make you think

the most. The hardest

way of learning is by

easy reading: but a great

book that comes from

a great thinker—it is a

ship of thought, deep

freighted with truth and

with beauty.

—Theodore Parker

Man’s Best Friend

Some people think that a dog or a horse is man’s best friend, but they are mistaken. I am. And who am I? I am a book. It is true that there are some dogs who love their masters, and who would die for them; but sometimes even loyal dogs have been known to bite the hand that feeds them. Horses are wonderful creatures, too. Many have been known to die in their tracks for their owners: And that’s the trouble with horses—they die. You die too, but I don’t. I can live until the end of time. I am the essence of immortality: I am both the child of today