i read 20 books in a month to cure my stupidity

recently came to pretty urgent realization. I'm getting stupid. For the past while, most of my friends have been going to university and they've been studying some pretty serious What with their chemicals and books and Apple pencils and whatever the Meanwhile, all I've done this past year is just pick my nose and play with cameras. I'm dirty little nose picker. I'm nose-picking cinnaphile. It's gross. But have plan to get smarter. See, on my bookshelf, there are 20 books that have not read yet. I've collected these over years of lying to myself in bookstores. If read all 20 of these books before the new year, then can technically tell everyone that read 20 books in 2025 because haven't read book in the past 12 months. this is every book on my bookshelf that said would read that haven't yet. There's good mixture of like memoirs, self-help, philosophy, fiction, the communist manifesto. This is lot of books. I'm booking it. I'm booking it. I'm started off with Doom and Bloom because kind of just really wanted to read this book anyway. Also, it has pictures in it and I'm like genuinely six-year-old. It was written by YouTuber that love called Struthless and the premise of the book is it's supposed to be survival guide to living as creative person in the digital age. Okay. it's 243 right now. Reading an almost 200page book took me like took me like 4ish hours. It's anecdotal, but the anecdotes are some of the most awinspiring things that I've read. If you're creative, might go out of my way to say you should read this book. For Sapiens, decided to listen to some of it as an audio book instead of reading it, mostly because just wanted to exercise. I'm lying down for like most of the day, so should be exercising. And also, I've been trying to take better care of my body lately. Eating good, doing good, you know. And no small part of that is because of the sponsor of today's video, Zukdoc. Practicing health is always part of the equation, but sometimes it's good to get professional opinion from doctor. Only problem is getting doctor can sometimes feel like bad. And this is where Zukdoc comes in. Zdoc is free website where you can search and compare highquality in-et network doctors. Choose the right one for your needs and simply click to instantly book an appointment. You can get primary care, eye care, skincare, dentistry, and nearly everything in between. Zodoc makes it really seamless to find doctor that's relevant to you. And also, there are over 100,000 of them. That's lot. That's lot of doctors to choose from. You can sort by appointment times, by qualifications, by insurance. And one of my favorite parts is that you can even see reviews left by verified patients so that you can have sense of what you're walking into. And this all happens entirely through their website. You don't have to worry about phone calls or sitting on hold for 27 minutes. When you found the doctor you need, you can see their actual appointment openings. Choose time that works for you and instantly book with just few clicks. Also, Zachdoc helps you get these appointments fast, like typically within 24 to 72 hours of booking. And sometimes you can even score same day appointments. For me, it just takes all of the guesswork out of the process. Healthcare can sometimes be really stressful, so it's nice to have website that can take all the leg work out of it for you and just make things seamless. And you know, it's 2026, New Year's resolutions. This is like the year we lock in. We really need to stop putting off our doctor's appointments. And good way of doing that is by heading to zdoc.com/codai, also linked in the description, to find and instantly book top-rated doctor today. Thanks again to Zogdoc for sponsoring today's video. Now, about sapiens. In this book, Harrari attempts to sum up all of human history in 500 pages, which if you ask any anthropologist or historian ever, then they would probably say, "Yeah, that's impossible." just finished chapter 8 of Sapiens. was really enjoying it at first. was like surprised monkey emojiing lot. was like, "Wo, that happened." But especially after reading chapter 8, it occurs to me that maybe this book sucks perhaps just little bit of dick. On day one, ended on page 223 of Sapiens. And the next day, finished the book by listening to it while did laundry. If you read this book, just make sure that you read everything with skeptical eye because lot of critics say that it's sensationalist and using really broad strokes. In other words, in my words, it sucks little bit of dick. that was that was punishing read. It's so long. give this get two stars. Now, let's get on to some real nonfiction. Let me tell you the story of Hoso and Boso. In the middle of November, got package with this book in it. The strange thing about that is never bought this book. It isn't in my email history. There are no sudden charges or anything. And yet my full name and my address were on this package. looked it up and turns out it's probably brushing scam, which is this thing that people do where they send you packages so they can write review on your behalf, which, you know, it's only little concerning that someone has my address in the first place. I'm taking precautions. I'm reporting it. But in the meantime, let's see what this book is all about. As it turns out, it's just children's story book sort of thing. It It's little unnerving. am so confused. think for my fourth book, I'm going to diagnose myself with something shorter so that can get through it and be motivated. I'm I'm pretty I'm actually pretty excited about excited about this. My brain is mush, dude. can't got to read fiction novel after this. feel like after this one, I'm going to get tired of reading things that happened. was really scared of wasting time at this point, so instead of cooking, ate whatever this is. Anyways, widow Boscot is the story of Suzanne Malik and her life in New York in the 80s with the renowned artist Jean Michichelle Boscot. It didn't take very long to read. did some pacing to get some steps in. This is an anecdotal book that think is incredibly curated. The setting and the characters, which are real people, they they're very interesting. There there's tragedy. There's wit. It's political. The pros that she writes it in is also really cool. Good book. Good book. Good. Shiharuki on my cfka till mur in my pants for sure. Shiharuki on my cfka till come. Hold up. She haruki on my cfka till mur in my pants for sure. decided to listen to this one as well. While was listening, played some guitar. made some dinner and was able to finish the book the next morning. And about CFKA on the Shore, it is somehow the best and worst book I've ever read at the same time. Turns out the author kind of has this dual reputation. His books are like really good in one way and really horrible in other ways. Like it's it's weird. What the did just read, dude? What? What? I'm at loss for words. don't What the just happened? Why did Why did he have to do that? Why did he have to write it this way? This is pretty graphic, so I'm probably going to have to censor this, but why do like What? Also, haven't talked for like two days straight. This feels really weird. And just like move on to the next book. Okay. Yeah. On to the next book. I'm going to be reading about Jeanjac Rouso. This one's pretty short. shouldn't have problem. What time is it? Yeah, can finish this today probably. From what know, this guy's bit of freak. Yeah, he's freak. Russo's second discourse is essentially him just guessing for 200 pages straight. Then again, it was written like 300 years ago in France. Things that are obvious to us here and now might not have been the case back then. What's next? Let's do some business. I'm I'm I'm feeling like businessman. I'm business money. unleashing the idea virus. Stop marketing at people. Turn your ideas into epidemics by helping your customers do the marketing for you. Now, if you know anything about me, am all about that capital. I'm all about that sickly green. I'm all mean, it was fine. know I'm not really numbers guy. Released in 2000, think it it's little outdated, but overall business stuff just kind of makes me like fiction, more stories. Stories counting by sevens. think this is like young adult novel. could That's really big text. The words are really big and it's thick one. thought by now it'd kick in like don't want to read any more books, but kind of kind of do want to read more books. Counting My Sevens is story about 12-year-old genius who loves medical stuff, among bunch of other quirky things. It's directed at younger audiences, so this one was lot easier to process in comparison to whatever the was reading. It's clear to me that this book is for young adults. I'd say mainly perhaps for middle schoolers, but think any age of person can enjoy this. It was really refreshing for me to read. Honestly, I've been reading lot of like worldly kind of books, if that makes sense. lot of like this is the state of humankind sort of things. So, it's really refreshing to pick up book that you can just like not overthink it and you can be like or you know, that kind of thing. No one in this book says That's made Yeah. next Bloomsbury Pocket Guide to Mushrooms. think just from these pages you can get sense of what I'm going to be reading. There's not much to say about this book other than the fact that have couple favorite mushrooms now. It was hard to stay focused for lot of this book because it's just mushrooms upon mushrooms. But whenever saw that mushroom was edible, my hungry ass paid attention. Side effect of reading this book seems you like start craving mushrooms maybe. Or maybe that's just me. don't know. don't know if you like ever expect these books to mean anything to you, but the truth of the matter is after reading this, I'm never looking at mushrooms the same way again. They're just so weird and cool and strange and delicious. really would start the next book. Trust me, want to, but I'm foaming at the mouth. crave the fungi and don't mean this fungi. mean, shoot me in the head. Whatever. I'm going to get some mushrooms and then I'm going to start the next book. have mushroom. Up next, we have On Earth Were Briefly Gorgeous. I've been purposely avoiding this book because have feeling that I'm going to cry. It feels like every content creator on the planet has talked about this book. The Creative Act by Rick Rubin. This feels more like homework than anything else. It feels like have to read it. I'm going to do something really ironic and listen to the book on an audiobook while it sits on my head. Some people say that audiobooks don't count as reading. find that it's like pretty conditional. find some books lose their potency when it's read aloud, but then other books can sometimes come alive with the right performance. Ultimately, to each their own, but for this book, really wanted to listen to Rick Rubin's supple, grally, fatherly voice. actually like this lot more than thought was going to. It kind of felt like looking up hope on TikTok and then just like scrolling through bunch of Tumblr poetry. Even if it's stuff you kind of already know, like you you feel it like it's warm and bubbly and it makes you confident. It's cool. really like it. We press onward. I'm going to read this one to get out of the way because really don't like looking at it. The third door, the the mindset of success. It occurs to me now that don't think like business books. Regardless, these 300 But who knows? Maybe this reframes business for me. Maybe maybe nah, it's not for me. just don't think it's good book. Was it interesting? Yes. think it raises lot of questions. also don't like it. really shouldn't. It's late. I'm going to juggle these books and then whichever one I'm holding on to last is the next one I'm going to read. I'll try that again. I'm going to read The Monarchy of Fear. So far, I'm on day 11 and I've read 13 books. This is slower than would have liked, but look at this mountain of books I've read. Isn't that cool? Aren't Aren't you so proud of me? Anyways, The Monarchy of Fear is book written by Martha Nusbomb, who is arguably the most renowned female philosopher alive today. She dives into some talks about disgust, about envy, and she closes the book by saying how we should all adopt crucial optimistic hope for humanity. Overall, like this like this book quite bit. She talks about Trump. She talks about Hamilton the musical. This is philosopher looks at our political crisis, but it's it feels like it's more about the philosopher part of it and less about the political crisis part of it. Then again, this was written in 2018. Times have changed. don't know. was literally 12 years old in 2018. next up, I'm going to read Minor Feelings by Kathy Park Hong. Minor Feelings is collection of essays talking about the very broad concept of the Asian-American experience. While was reading it, found myself taking lot of pictures of passages and quotes that rung very deeply in very Chinese part of my skeleton. Overall, it's pretty surgical book. If you're part of the Asian diaspora, then would recommend reading it. really with this book. think it might be easy to read it and see it as coming off like pedantic or like overly scrutinizing or something, but for me whenever like reading this book felt like getting like really big hug from an older sister. It was really nice. Definitely one of the the favorite books that I've read so far. and now we have African Silences. This is book that got from free book bin while ago. made very spur-ofthe- moment decision in taking it home, and overall, regret it. To say that read this book would be to overstate the matter drastically. It's about an old white dude. He's traveling across Africa, and that's about as much as got from it. read this book entirely in days. didn't really process it. And also, it's from 1991. He's pretty racist. In my feverish state, it seemed to me that hit upon an explanation for the development of the African posterior, where the infant rides as an appendage of the mother. In early days, when katongas were unavailable and child was affixed precariously with frond, this sturdy shelf on which it rode while its mother walked or worked her field would surely have been an evolutionary advantage. What? It isn't even that long. It's It's 200 pages, but processed about like 10% of it total, and it took forever to read. For this next book, as far as I'm aware, have the only copy in existence. found it on the concrete in the streets of Vancouver while it was raining. picked it up and took it home cuz interesting. Why not? Uncle Seiwok Conscious cookery good food cookbook with smile. It is 45 pages in total. So, I'll be right back. So, this might be my favorite book that I've read so far, but not for the reasons that you might think. When you look it up on Google, nothing comes up. The only proof to me that this book exists is the fact that have copy. But the content of this book is really lovely and it's wholesome. It's just about this somewhat enigmatic uncle telling us that we should be conscious of what we put on our bodies and we should be conscious of what it does to the world around us. There are grammatical errors. There's messy printing. And for cookbook, find it funny that sometimes it doesn't even give you measurements for the recipes. Sorry, no measurements. Uncle Cybok says, used my brain. Use yours." Okay, so couple things. First of all, it's pronounced Cybok, not Sewok. Second of all, Uncle Cybok did not write this book. The author is not mentioned once. The last thing want to mention is that it looks like there were 2,000 copies of this book made in August of 1975 right here in Vancouver. And now 50 years later, I'm holding copy of it and I'm talking about it in YouTube video. It's just cool and wholesome and beautiful and I'm going to keep this book forever. next up we have memoir, Men We Read. For the first half of this book, listened to it on an audiobook for no other reason than that wanted to give my eyes rest. This book, loosely summed up with lot of abridgement, is about the author's experience losing five men to the bad luck that often follows people, particularly black men in poverty. It's really dense with emotion, and it's shame that can't talk about it more, but will say this is book that recommend reading. It's 3:30 a.m. and have one day left to finish the rest of the books, which because I've been slacking off is three of them. So, think I'll get the longest read out of the way first. Senica, Letters from Stoic. Everything Hangs on this last day. need to finish these three books. I'm going to I'm going to see you tomorrow. To finish these books in decent time, really can't take my eyes off them at all. And also, I'm going to have to pull an all nighter. Reading Senica took about seven hours and don't really resonate with it, but it did give me really good idea of what people mean when they refer to stoicism from this guy's perspective. The Communist Manifesto was similar in way. It just gave me lot more context on what people mean when they refer to Marxism. will say though, don't know if I'm stupid or if the text is dense. More likely the sleep deprivation was catching up to me, but really wasn't processing some of this book. Can no longer be trans into bourgeoa property into cap for the moment when in in when I'm going to shower and then I'm going to come back. just can't can't process thing right now. Showering really seemed to help. went back couple pages and reread it and it became lot more digestible. And overall, the book was really short so got it done in good time. And finally, now I'm on the last book. At this point, have 6 hours left to finish. So, let's move on to Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother. This book feels somewhat hyperspecific to me because it's describing time and place where my mom would have grown up when she was my age. But overall, don't think that. And now, after two very long weeks, take deep breath. This is live footage of me reading the last line of the book. Okay. So, what now? So, this is the only part of the video that actually matters. Okay. Pay attention to this. It it won't take long. promise. After making this video, my main takeaway is this. you should take some time out of your day to read book. Even if it's just like 30 minutes in the morning while you eat breakfast, promise it'll make difference because so far that's what it's done for me. And like kind of lied at the beginning of this video. Like yes, my friends are smart, but that's not why started to pick up reading. started reading because as YouTuber, when say things, thousands of people hear it. And it's probably good if those things that say are not stupid. It felt like had an epistemic responsibility to know things so that wouldn't say stupid to sometimes impressionable audiences. But the thing that realized most potently while was making this video, it sounds like so simple, but reading is something that you can do for fun. It's not always about getting smarter or about reading as much or as quickly as possible. The best reading that did was done slowly. I'm kind of standing on high horse here, like I'm in very fortunate position, but even so, it feels like we're all under the impression nowadays that busyness and efficiency is what's going to give our lives meaning. But when you're reading book and you're forced to take second and examine your internal world, find that's where you make the changes that really matter. That's where you find joy that actually lasts. And every book that read in this video had to be summed up in like hundred words because wanted to keep the pace of the video going, right? gave the books rating. gave some opinions, but they're all abridged. They mean nothing. Some of these books were like 200,000 words. cannot possibly express what that meant to me or what it felt like in 30 seconds. mean, ultimately, I'm not your dad. Like, of course, take what you want from this video and leave the rest. But if after watching this video, you find book that's about something that you care about and you read it and you think about it, then this video will have done its job and this whole reading spree will not have been for nothing. Selfishly, that is what want you to do. So, Cody, I'm sure this video is great, but I'm sure whatever it told you, you can probably get better out of reading book. you know, personally like, which is fine because you're probably not going to read book after this video. that's the way that that's the way the bacon eggs. What books? Wait, you got to yeah. have books want to talk about. The reason why read honestly most of the time is because people give me books. This one's from my brother, Three Body Problem. This one my grandma gets me. My dad got me this. think he's just like into like history in general. And then Co got me this one. It's the one that he talked about earlier probably. can you pass me that Makami? Side effect of making this video. I'm person who likes reading now. The one I'm working through right now is another Murakami. read KFC on the shore and was like, this guy's freak. and was like, I'll give him another shot. Turns out nothing changes. He's still freak. Do you think reading is good? there are people out there who read 800 pages of smut day. You know, know them going with this. know them. So, reading serves lot of purposes. And you know what? Some of them it doesn't have to be good. remember sitting beside lady on the on the plane who was reading book that was just called like the secret religious message of Nicola Tesla and there was bunch of like new age spiritualism at the front. Why is Nicola Tesla the spearhead of new age spiritualism? haven't read the book. guess we have to find out now. This is what this is what you got books can do for you.