I’ve Had a Love of Reading My Entire Life

Post written by Kat McDaniel, Chief Innovator at MEDiAHEAD | Marketing Portal Guru | Variable Data Promoter | Analytics Advocate | Explorer

I never came home from school and didn’t see my mother with a book in her hand.

My parents always read in the evenings and on vacations in front of me and my three sisters. They instilled a love of reading in me at a very young age.

My father would take me to the bookstore on Saturday mornings. Each time, I was allowed to pick out one book to add to our library at home. It was never anything I considered fun – he started me on the classics, which were pretty painful to read at that age.

I also worked in the school library and was a pretty shy, nerdy kid – always with a book in my hand. People who know me now can’t imagine that I was painfully shy until after college.

Most of my peers read tons of business books. I just can’t do it. Why? Because I read to escape, to distract, to travel, and to visualize imaginary worlds.

Most people will tell you that PRINT is dead, but we still consume books—we just do it differently now.

According to a new survey from Pew Research, about three-quarters of us (74 percent) have read at least one book in any format in the past 12 months.

That figure has remained relatively unchanged since 2012. Most (67 percent) have read a print book. Fewer have read an e-book (26 percent) or listened to an audiobook (18 percent).

I’m currently reading 10 books that Afar recommended about adventurous hikes that people have done all over the world.

My favorite so far is Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart: An Adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail by Carrot Quinn. Thru-hiking is hiking a long-distance within one hiking season.

As most of you know, I have a son that has been a thru-hiker since he was 18. He’s hiked in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, India, the Himalayas, the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, the Moab and the Grand Canyon.

He also biked through Australia for two years, lived in New Zealand and crewed on a boat in the Pacific.

I wish I’d been brave enough at his age to see all the incredible things he has. For now, I’ll have to be content to hear his stories and read about the incredible hikes other people have done all over this beautiful planet.

What about you? What books are you reading right now? What are your favorites?