Resolution, Reading, and Resolve

So I received an interesting email from a friend of mine that mentioned that Pres. G.W. B. was an avid reader. Further thought about this lead me to read the article that my friend forwarded to me regarding Pres. G. W. B. habits as a reader. I thought it was an interesting article and I want to post it here for posterity.

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Bush Is a Book Lover
OPINION DECEMBER 26, 2008
A glimpse of what the president has been reading.
By KARL ROVE
With only five days left, my lead is insurmountable. The competition can't catch up. And for the third year in a row, I'll triumph. In second place will be the president of the United States. Our contest is not about sports or politics. It's about books.
It all started on New Year's Eve in 2005. President Bush asked what my New
Year's resolutions were. I told him that as a regular reader who'd gotten out of the habit, my goal was to read a book a week in 2006. Three days later, we were in the Oval Office when he fixed me in his sights and said, "I'm on my second. Where are you?" Mr. Bush had turned my resolution into a contest. By coincidence, we were both reading Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team of Rivals." The president jumped to a slim early lead and remained ahead until March, when I moved decisively in front. The competition soon spun out of control. We kept track not just of books read, but also the number of pages and later the combined size of each book's pages -- its "Total Lateral Area." We recommended volumes to each other (for example, he encouraged me to read a Mao biography; I suggested a book on Reconstruction's unhappy end). We discussed the books and wrote thank-you notes to some authors. At year's end, I defeated the president, 110 books to 95. My trophy looks suspiciously like those given out at junior bowling finals. The president lamely insisted he'd lost because he'd been busy as Leader of the Free World. Mr. Bush's 2006 reading list shows his literary tastes. The nonfiction ran from biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Carnegie, Mark Twain, Babe Ruth, King Leopold, William Jennings Bryan, Huey Long, LBJ and Genghis Khan to Andrew Roberts's "A History of the English Speaking Peoples Since 1900," James L. Swanson's "Manhunt," and Nathaniel Philbrick's "Mayflower." Besides eight Travis McGee novels by John D. MacDonald, Mr. Bush tackled Michael Crichton's "Next," Vince Flynn's "Executive Power," Stephen Hunter's "Point of Impact," and Albert Camus's "The Stranger," among others. Fifty-eight of the books he read that year were nonfiction. Nearly half of his 2006 reading was history and biography with another eight volumes on current events (mostly the Mideast) and six on sports. To my surprise, the president demanded a rematch in 2007. Though the overall pace slowed, he once more came in second in our two-man race, reading 51 books to my 76. His list was particularly wide-ranging that year, from history ("The Great Upheaval" and "Khrushchev's Cold War"), biographical (Dean Acheson and Andrew Mellon), and current affairs (including "Rogue Regime" and "The Shia Revival"). He read one book meant for young adults, his daughter Jenna's excellent "Ana's Story."
A glutton for punishment, Mr. Bush insisted on another rematch in 2008. But it will be a three-peat for me: as of today, his total is 40 volumes to my 64. His reading this year included a heavy dose of history -- including David Halberstam's "The Coldest Winter," Rick Atkinson's "Day of Battle," Hugh Thomas's "Spanish Civil War," Stephen W. Sears's "Gettysburg" and David King's "Vienna 1814." There's also plenty of biography -- including U.S. Grant's "Personal Memoirs"; Jon Meacham's "American Lion"; James M. McPherson's "Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief" and Jacobo Timerman's "Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number."
Each year, the president also read the Bible from cover to cover, along with a daily devotional. The reading competition reveals Mr. Bush's focus on goals. It's not about winning. A good-natured competition helps keep him centered and makes possible a clear mind and a high level of energy. He reads instead of watching TV. He reads on Air Force One and to relax and because he's curious. He reads about the tasks at hand, often picking volumes because of the relevance to his challenges. And he's right: I've won because he has a real job with enormous responsibilities.
In the 35 years I've known George W. Bush, he's always had a book nearby. He plays up being a good ol' boy from Midland, Texas, but he was a history major at Yale and graduated from Harvard Business School. You don't make it through either unless you are a reader. There is a myth perpetuated by Bush critics that he would rather burn a book than read one. Like so many caricatures of the past eight years, this one is not only wrong, but also the opposite of the truth and evidence that bitterness can devour a small-minded critic. Mr. Bush loves books, learns from them, and is intellectually engaged by them. For two terms in the White House, Mr. Bush has been in the arena, keeping America safe and facing down enormous challenges, all the while acting with dignity. And when on Jan. 20 he flies from Washington to Texas one last time, he will do so as he arrived -- with friends and a book nearby.
Mr. Rove is the former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to
President George W. Bush.
Karl Rove Says George W. Bush Is a Book Lover - WSJ.com Page 2 of 3
http://sec.online.wsj.com/article/SB123025595706634689.html 12/27/2008
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Karl Rove Says George W. Bush Is a Book Lover - WSJ.com Page 3 of 3
http://sec.online.wsj.com/article/SB123025595706634689.html 12/27/2008

More importantly however I am struck by the need to emulate men who are thinkers and people who are well thought and learned about various topics. True that many of you know that I am in school seeking to complete my degree, but I am also aware that the cultivation of knowledge is something that should be a life long process.

There is something so simple and relaxing as well about taking a book and grasping the concepts of a world that is all black and white even though the images in my mind that are conjuring up a visual plethora of what an author is conveying are in vivid color. My estimation and understanding and what I relate to in this black and white world is up to the exercise and growth of what I choose to put into it. So I submit that my new resolution is to develop a keen sense of the world through reading different and stimulating works that I would hope would assist me in my quest to be a helper for those who desire to walk through life in a more resolute and mentally healthy way. Note that I did not resolve to make this a new years resolution because I am preserving that for other statements that have no intention of being followed through on within 2009.

So I am finishing up a book as we speak and will trying to keep track and post my reading on a regular basis.

So with this... I press on