Bookin It with Matt Bacon of Dropout Media

Matt Bacon

Is there anything better in this world than BACON! If it's a Sunday morning and my family isn't complaining about the bacon smell that's permeated all three floors of our house...well then that's not really Sunday.

Today's post has nothing at all to do with Bacon, unless you're talking about Dropout Media's Matt Bacon!

If you're looking for all sorts of great information, check out the site HERE.

1. I try to read at least two books per month, and mostly fail, what's your goal and reality?

I try to read a book a week, this doesn't always happen and obviously depends on the type and size of the book. I generally get around there, or at least it averages out to that over the year. 

I try to take advantage of plane flights because with no distractions I can usually knock out a book on a cross country flight. I think it's really important to set aside time to read every day and I make it a top priority. 

As Warren Buffett said "The more you learn, the more you earn" this is key for anyone trying to advance, and for whatever reason, books are so much more effective than reading websites for me. 

2. Encyclopedia Brown and Choose Your Own Adventure books were a big part of my childhood. What did you read back in Elementary School?

My number one book that I haven't read in a hot minute has to be The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, just a really cool multilayered story that ended up being extremely funny. 

I was really big on Chirstopher Paolini and the Eragon books which kind of prepped me for The Lord of the Rings which came a little later. I was really into Orson Scott Card too, I had a chess coach who was really into him so he would be getting me into all sorts of weird chunks of that guys work. 

3. It's no secret that I think Harry Potter is an amazing saga, but it wasn't until after the movie for Chamber of Secrets was released that I began reading the books. What was the big thing you were late on?

I don't think that I got into Artemis Fowl until fairly late in the game but then I fell completely in love. One of my favorite series for sure with a nice blend of sci fi, magic and general boy genius type stuff. 

Otherwise I was pretty late on the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo books. I remember finding one of those on the street during a tour and coming home after a month on the road with the intention of falling asleep after reading a few chapters. Suffice to say I was up until three AM finishing the book. 

4. My local library is amazing and I'm there pretty frequently. What do you like about your library?

My library is actually this little street library where people put their old books. I get a ton of great texts from there including hardcover editions of classics. 

I totally pick books that I see other people throwing out on the street, you can get a ton of great stuff that way. I've literally picked up 30-40 books over the last year this way ranging from business books to weirdo collections of texts about witchcraft. 

I even had a decent haul of books about hardcore punk recently! Who needs a library when my wanderings bring me so much great stuff? 

5. Comic Books. Which ones are you reading?

Order of the Stick, it's a Dungeons and Dragons webcomic that's been going for like, fifteen years and I've been reading it for about half my life. 

The story is in a really interesting place right now and it's incredibly rewarding to spend so much time with a webcomic that really has immense depth like Order of the Stick has. So, yes its super dorky, but its been a major part of my life for years. 

The guy who got me into heavy music is actually someone I met through the online community for this comic. 

6. What author can you just read again and again? 

I go through weird phases where I will read everything by an author and then move on. So when I was a kid  I was obsessed with Eoin Colfer, JRR Tolkien and The Boxcar Children, in high school it was Hunter S Thompson, Bukowski, Kerouac and Umberto Eco. 

These days I have been really obsessed with Thoreau, Herman Hesse and Stieg Larsson. But anyone I just listed is someone whose work I will go back to and dig into like visiting with old friends. 

In terms of business books I spend a ton of time with Machiavelli, Dale Carnegie and Russell Brunson. Also, not a joke, Jimmy Buffett has written a handful of books that I really love and like to read when I visit my grandparents in Florida.