For the past six months (give or take) I’ve been reading books determined by the guests on my show. Many of the people I speak with are authors with tons of experience and knowledge in certain areas. I like to be able to have an intelligent conversation with them, so I pick one of their books and give it a read.
There is a benefit to this, but it also has its drawbacks.
Let’s talk about the positive first. I get to read and learn things that I might not normally have been exposed to. One of my recent guests (Laura Perry), for instance, is a specialist on the Ancient Minoans… so I read one of her books and learned a lot. Prior to that, I honestly didn’t even know that I didn’t know much about the Minoans… it just wasn’t within my purview. But now I know at least enough to hold a conversation!
But the drawbacks? I’m always reading on a schedule. I do roughly one interview per month, so that means there’s a book I have to read and understand every few weeks. Between writing a book myself, producing videos, and conducting these interviews, I don’t have a lot of time for reading, so it just eliminates any option for “leisure.” Even though I really enjoy all of these books, it can often feel like I have to do it rather than feeling like I get to do it.
I’m totally just whining though. It’s pretty awesome that what I do involves having to read books and educate myself on new topics.
Anyway, now to answer the question. I finished my last episode of this season and won’t be starting up new interviews for a few months, so I’m back to reading purely for pleasure. Right now, I picked up Son of Chicken Qabalah by Lon Milo DuQuette. I interviewed him recently, too — you can’t watch it yet (unless you’re a Patreon supporter), but I’ll have it out publicly in a few weeks. During our conversation, I asked him a few questions… and he eventually told me most of the answers I was looking for was in this book.
I’m happy to read it!
Aerik Arkadian 
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