Sometimes, a good book could bring you a really nice and enjoyable time on the tube. I am not talking about reading it (of course, reading is enjoyable), I am talking about the conversation that you might have with strangers just because you and them share the same thought about the book. That’s what happened to me a few days ago.
I just got back from my friend’s house after a really nice dinner with her family, and when I got into a tube, I pulled out the book that I just had finished the first chapter that morning and it was so good that I felt goose-bumps. After I changed to another line to go home, I sat down and continued reading it. But just after one page I was nudged on the arm by someone sitting beside me. I looked up to see a couple smiling at me peacefully. The man said “Do you know that you are reading one of the best books of all times?” – “Really? I don’t doubt that. This book actually gave me goose-bumps just after the first chapter. I like it,” I answered.
Then the conversation went on and I had a really nice time on the long way home.
The book that we felt passionate about was entitled “How to win friends and influence people” by Dale Carnegie. It was first published in 1937 (if I remember correctly), but the lessons in it, I believe, will still ring true later (maybe forever). Carnegie wrote many examples about real events, real people he knew, told stories about how those people have dealt with their situations and still kept a good relationship with their friends, or staff. Then he gave a conclusion on how to make people around us “fall in love” with us (maybe not at first sight), and keep walking with us in our lives.
This is actually a really good book, which I think should be read by all people, not just by someone who cares about relationships. It may sound unpractical when in real life not everyone will fall in love with you, but somehow it will help us not only find good friends, receive their support, but also be a better person.
At the next station, the couple (then their friends, who also was another couple) left to change for the train, but the time I had with them still made me smile along the way, until I am sitting here, writing this post for the book I’ve been reading and which has brought me one of the nicest times on the London tube.
“How to win friends and influence people” by Dale Carnegie actually did bring me four funny friends…How great was that! But the best part was… First, I had missed two tubes before I actually sat down and opened that book, and met them. And second, I had swapped for this book that morning after feeling tired of all the academic ones. Coincidence, huh?
Read this post and other stories on Tung’s personal blog
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