Since starting a business, I’ve been wanting to read <a href=”http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8581″ target=”_blank”>this work</a> by <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._T._Barnum” target=”_blank”>P.T. Barnum</a>. I located it on the new pad, found it was free (part of <a href=”http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page” target=”_blank”>Project Gutenberg</a>), downloaded it, and started reading it yesterday. Last night, I put it down at page 78 of 98, thinking I still had about 15 minutes to go, but when I picked it up today, I found the final 18 pages were merely disclaimer/licensing stuffs.<br/><br/>So… the book. I’d recommend it to anyone and everyone. It’s not a simple read due to the aged language used, but it was certainly quick; probably took a little over an hour, and I read slowly. The contents is sort of organized like a blog; each “chapter” is an idea, and the text expounds upon it. Some are incredibly short, while others span many pages. The way it’s written, I think today it actually would be a blog…<br/><br/>The pad has a pretty nifty bookmarking/highlighting feature, which I began using about halfway through to annotate key bits. I also went back to note the things I had missed before discovering the feature… My major takeaways follow:<br/><ul><li>”Idleness breeds bad habits.”</li><li>”Let money work for you, and you have the most devoted servant in the world.”</li><li>”There are some persons who are “born tired.” – I hope Caitlin shares this one at work.</li><li>”Getting in debt for what you eat and drink and wear is to be avoided.”</li><li>”The foundation of success in life is good health.”</li><li>”There is one thing that nothing living except a vile worm ever naturally loved, and that is tobacco.” – Funny.<br/></li><li>”A handful of people, calling themselves the aristocracy, run up a false standard of perfection, and in endeavoring to rise to that standard, we constantly keep ourselves poor.”</li><li>”Until you can get so that you can rely upon yourself, you need not expect to succeed.”<br/></li><li>”An animal with a split hoof must live upon grass and grain.” – Interesting science/survival bit.</li><li>”You must exercise your caution in laying your plans, but be bold in carrying them out.”</li><li>”There is no tool you should be so particular about as living tools.”</li><li>”No man ought ever to indorse a note or become security, for any man, be it his father or brother, to a greater extent than he can afford to lose and care nothing about, without taking good security.”</li><li>”Politeness and civility are the best capital ever invested in business.”</li><li>”To get rich, is not always equivalent to being successful.”</li></ul>Bonus: Thanks to the book, I looked up, and learned about the <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croton_Aqueduct” target=”_blank”>Croton Aqueduct</a>.