The Power of the Written Word

When I lived in Pennsylvania one of my favorite things to do was to visit the numerous bookstores in the area and read/explore books for hours on end. Naturally when I moved to Montana I tried to restore this hobby of mine. However what I found was that Montana did not really have any national bookstores, oh sure there were plenty of small bookstores in Bozeman and in Montana and aside from Hastings my options, in book titles and genres, were extremely limited. I was rather depressed and as an escape I would drive to Spokane Washington and spend the weekend there so that I could visit the bookstores that I grew up around and frequented often.

However, that all changed when Bozeman opened up a Barnes and Noble and shortly after that a Borders Books store. No longer would I have to make a four plus hour drive to Spokane in order to browse books now I could do it at my whim. This freed up a lot of my time and I took full advantage of it. Before I used to purposely spend all day in the bookstores of Spokane, and in PA, because well that was what I was there for. To waste time doing other things was not an option - for me it was books, books, and more books. After I bought the books that I wanted then and only then I would leave the bookstores, sometimes I would sit in the coffee shops and read them, and find a scenic spot to read. But now, in Bozeman, I could just go to a decent bookstore select a title, or more than one, buy it and go home and read it. I would plan to go to the bookstore and spend no more than an hour or two there looking for anything of interest.

But I remember one instance above all others. I planned to spend only an hour at Borders Books one day and I found the book "The 48 Laws of Power" by Robert Greene. I don't know why this book possessed me so much but I went to the bookstore when it opened and I ended up spending over 6 + hours there reading (I believe I read the whole book and I read some sections twice). The book has over 400 pages and well 48 chapters, one for each law. The book has examples of each law being observed, along with the rewards of those who followed the law, and counter-examples of each law being transgressed, and the punishments that were sure to be followed. The book also had the occasional interesting examples of "reversals" of the laws in which in some instances there are occasions when one should purposely violate a law because following the law will spell disaster. An example of this came in the form of a man who was a con man who presented himself as an honest low level government official trying to sell the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The man played the part perfectly but when the person attempting to buy the Eiffel Tower became suspicious the con man started to complain that he was underpaid and under appreciated - he was in effect asking for a bribe - and that sealed the deal. By acting like a corrupt government official, after all aren't all government employees corrupt, the con man was able to pull off one off the greatest cons in history.

And just when you thought that a book couldn't find a way to pack anymore information into it the author/publishers put even more examples/counterexamples in the margins of the book and in eye catching red letters. This book is just packed with historical information about how to rise above ones birth or to prosper in situations that may be inherently against you due to your station in life. Also, the book allows one to notice when someone may be trying to get the best of you and then gives you the keys of power in order to defeat your foes. This book is usually found in the psychology section of a bookstore and I highly recommend it.

On a side note, a sequel to this book "The 33 Rules of War" had the same effect on me as this book. I was in Borders Books in Bozeman and I was browsing the psychology section again when I came across Robert Greene's sequel. I had no idea that he had written a follow up to "The 48 Laws of Power" and I ended up spending most of the day reading it in the bookstore before I too bought the book. And for those who are interested in trying to win the heart of one's affection Robert Green also wrote a book titled "The Art of Seduction" while it, in my opinion, is not as good as "48" and "33" it is still a very good read and one that is written in the same format as "48" and "33". And to this day, probably due to my experiences with "48", Robert Greene is still one of my, if not my, favorite author.