The Myth Of Life-Changing Books

Tarun Kohli
4 min readJul 14, 2021

You could measure the length of the Great Wall of China if you were to spread out and stitch together the posts about some version of “life-changing books.”

“10 Books That Made Me Into An Outstanding Leader.”, “7 Life-Changing Books That You Can Read In A Weekend”, “You Only Need These 5 Books To Create That Happy WorkPlace.”

You could pick your area of interest, search for a book list, and you will find your index finger itching to click on some post promising a list of books that will change your life. Forever.

How do I know this? Because I am no different. I’m forever searching for books on philosophy, psychology, or leadership to unveil the curtain on my potential. I get seduced to click on such posts hoping the God of Books shines the light of wisdom on my ignorant soul. And, I finally find that one precious book that transmutes me into the person I’m destined to become.

While the promised post is loading, my Indian upbringing makes me visualize the God of Books shooting the white beam of knowledge from the center of their palms. And their other literary God friends showering me with petals of wisdom.

But, the story plays out predictably.

I look at the amazon reviews of the life-changing books mentioned in the post, buy them (duh!), read them voraciously…

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Tarun Kohli

Founder & CEO of quovantis.com, an avid book reader and a student for life.