Books Quote by Philip Gourevitch
““My definition of a good book is one that you would read for pleasure despite having no prior interest in the subject. The ostensible subject may be whale hunting, or survival in Auschwitz, or waking up as a cockroach—but you don’t read it because you’re into fisheries or Nazis or entomology: you read it because your life was poorer before you started it, and because now you can’t stop.””
About This Quote
Source Interview: The New Yorker, 2005
A good book captivates you beyond your prior interests, enriching your life and becoming hard to put down.
In simple terms: A book can be enjoyable even if you know nothing about its topic.
Key Takeaway
Read widely to expand perspective.
Themes
reading
growth
curiosity
Mood
engaged
inspired
Type
educational
inspirational
When to use this quote
- Personal development
- education
- leisure reading
- cultural exploration
Key Concepts
Literature
engagement
transformative experience
Questions to Reflect On
- What topics have you ignored that could enrich you?
- How does pleasure reading differ from academic reading?
A Different Perspective
If the subject is too alien, you may disengage.
![“Just as a state's police swear to prevent and punish murder, so the signers of the Genocide Convention [in 1948] swore to police a brave new world order. The rhetoric of moral utopia is a peculiar response to genocide. But those were heady days, just after the trials at Nuremberg, when the full…” quote by Philip Gourevitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/41e/philip-gourevitch-17484_brave-new-world_just-as-a-state-s-police-swear-to-preven_403389.jpg)
