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1 book for nation

"You know nothing, Jon Snow. Especially about Africa and Asia"

Have you ever asked yourself what do you know about the world around you?
Recently I began a long but pleasant journey: I decided to travel till death overwhelm me. Well, I have not enough money to just hit the road and don't look back. So, I thought I should travel the most I could. That's the plan: a lot of travel and no property or money. I'm sure I gonna die rich (inside).

Every time I decided where to go, I dove deep in the cultural ocean of the chosen places. Tv shows, movies, music and mostly literature: I'd dig everything! It wasn't a problem while I was traveling to Germany, Colombia, France, Italy or even Czech Republic (Kafka rules!).

Then this year I decided to go to Thailand. I've fought muay thai for the last thirteen years and this is pretty much all my knowledge about the country. I must confess: I don't know even a single Thai writer. Shame on me!

Coincidentally It struck me whilst I was reading Musashi, by Eiji Yoshikawa. I had postponed this book for almost fifteen years, both due to money issues and to a kind of twisted priority system. Suddenly I realize how ignorant I am. Musashi was the first Japanese book I've ever read and I was thirty two when I did it. I had never read a book written by an African writer too. How tragic was that? Except for Russian books and Sun Tzu's The Art of War, my knowledge about the world literature were for a long time restricted to western.

This is one of the most efficient ways to become a closed-minded person, which is probably the biggest problem of our society nowadays.

Therefore I decided to challenge myself. From now on I will read at least one book for nation. Since I have a job and a lot of things to do everyday, I can't set a deadline. But it doesn't matter. The most important is that I decided to evolve. and I challenge you to do the same.

Two other friends accepted it. Join the challenge and open your mind!

Use the hashtag #1bookfornation if you want to become part of it or to recommend us books from your nation.

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