Curated Books - An Idea of Mine

For quite a while, I've been thinking about what I'd most like to be doing. This hasn't been easy, but it generally comes down to talking about good ideas and sharing them with people. Books are an ideal way to capture thoughts and spread them, whether the books are physical or electronic.

What should I focus on?

I've been a bookseller in the past, but more as something I did for extra cash. I am now looking for something that has more purpose.

I'd like to share with people books that I think are important. Of course, it's my opinion. It's the titles, ideas and stories that I think have value.

Think of it like a bookstore, but a bookstore that only has books that the proprietor has read himself and recommends. It may be impossible to read all the books that I'd like to sell. It's certainly possible to take the recommendation of someone you trust... but I really like the idea of a curated bookstore.

Doesn't have to be a physical bookstore

With a physical location, you can only reach people in the local area. If the ideas in books are worth promoting, then they are worth promoting to many people and not just those in a particular geographic location.

I will start my little experiment by posting about books here on Steemit that I have read and recommend. A lot of them will be "classics", popular titles that are widely read. That's still worth doing because even if a lot of people have already read it, there are plenty of people who haven't yet discovered it.

For example, I have recently finished reading to my children The Hobbit and now am reading The Lord of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. These are very popular books, but are still worth recommending.

Another one that came to my mind was Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne. I haven't read that for a long time, but it was very memorable to me and the sense of wonder and mystery that was revealed through that old story is worth sharing and experiencing again.

Other books will be non-fiction that have influenced my thought and become a part of who I am. I recently read Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich. I had read it quite a few years ago and it was good to come back to some of those ideas, examine them again, talk about them with other people... and recommend the book.

Over time, I hope to build a list of several hundred books that I am very comfortable recommending to other people. I've always loved bookstores and so I would like to develop a business in which I sell just the books I recommend (as one of the ways to bring in revenue, among others).

So there's my thoughts for the night. A virtual curated bookstore.

Let me know what you think. Are there books that you strongly recommend?

Until next time,

-- @matthewdavid