The Office Worker Who Learned to Read Again

There was a period when South Korean bookstores seemed full of books about Assistant Manager Hong becoming an expert in something. This one, by Lee Ji-seong and Jeong Hoe-il, appeared after Lee had drawn readers to a book about reading the classics.

Here the office worker Hong barely reads at the beginning. The story follows him as he finds out what he can do with a habit he has never cultivated.

A novel about acquiring a habit

The authors tell it as a novel about learning to read. Work gives their protagonist a reason to begin, and books gradually change what he thinks he can do there.

Hong’s job is in trouble. A friend has been telling him to read for years. When he runs out of ways to put off dealing with the situation, he finally asks what that friend had in mind.

The friend introduces him to a reading mentor. Hong gets assignments and tries to finish them one by one.

Begin with two books you want to read

The first assignment is manageable. Pick two books you actually want to read and finish them.

Thirty-three books in a hundred days

The next is to read 33 books in 100 days. The authors want Hong to make reading a familiar thing to do on a day when he already has plenty else to do.

I thought of starting to exercise or returning to a subject I had stopped studying. The first problem is often making room to do it again tomorrow.

The book suggests keeping a reading journal so you can see what you have done.

A note can say what you read, how far you got and one thing that stayed with you. When the habit stalls, the authors suggest three ways to begin again.

Getting back to the habit

1. Meet with your reading mentor.
2. Find someone else who is reading regularly.
3. Go to the library.

A hundred books in your field over a year

After Hong has established the habit, he is asked to read 100 books in his professional field over the course of a year.

The authors imagine building one area of depth at a time. One gives you the vertical line of a T, two make something like an H, and several lines of knowledge let you make more connections.

An assignment away from the bookshelf

After these assignments, Hong meets his mentor’s mentor and gets a different kind of challenge.

• Interview ten chief executives in 100 days.

Preparing for an interview gives the reading a purpose. Each conversation asks you to learn enough about a person and their work to ask a question worth answering.

What is a book a day for?

The most demanding target is 365 books or more in a year. The authors present it as a way to change how you think.

The structure reminded me of a popular Korean language-learning book from around the turn of the century. It also followed one character through a series of assignments so the reader could see what each stage asked of them.

I can imagine what a person might learn from carefully reading 100 books in one field. That is enough reading to begin making connections across books and to find out where experts disagree.

A book a day is a harder number for me to take seriously as a target. Reading widely has value, and so does staying with a difficult book long enough to understand what it is trying to do.

The part I wanted to use was the attention Hong gives to a field he needs to know. A book can answer a question you bring from work and send you back with a better one.

Book details

Assistant Manager Hong Becomes a Reading Prodigy

Authors

Lee Ji-seong and Jeong Hoe-il

Published

August 29, 2011

ISBN-13

9788963706320

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