So in my last post I wrote that I had two resolutions for the new year. The first was to write everyday. As for the second – well, naturally, the second resolution is all about reading. Or, to be more specific, to commit to reading a science book a month for 2016!

So why science?

Two reasons for this: The first being that I love reading. I absolutely love reading. Reading is my chill-out zone. My place of escape. My absolute favourite thing to do while I’m relaxing. If I didn’t have books, I don’t know what I’ll do.

And my favourite books? Generally, lots of fantasy, with a generous dollop of scifi, heavy seasoning of paranormal, huge shakes of adventure and a spicy side of romance! That’s my kinda books! Reading, for me, is a fun, leisure-time activity and I never stray too much towards the heavy stuff. But for this year, I thought I wanted to do something a little more with my reading. Sure, I still wanna read all the fun books. I mean, they’re fun! Who wouldn’t want to? But I also wanted to read something a little more serious, something that would get me thinking (not that a lot of my fun books don’t have this as well – in my opinion, a really good book is one that has you thinking and pondering about its subjects for days and going “oh, wow, I never thought about that in that way before”). Something that would take me out of my comfort zone, where I could push myself and learn something completely new that I would otherwise have never known.

So I decided for 2016, I was going to read books about science.

Why science?

Well, growing up, I was never a huge fan of science. I was always the arts and humanities student and I avoided science subjects like the plague. And science textbooks were always so dry and difficult to comprehend. It wasn’t until much later that I realised science could be super interesting and super fun too. And I’ve always wanted to learn more about science. I mean, come on, I read scifi books too! And I have a bunch of popular science books that I’ve bought over the years and read the first few chapters but never quite finished them.

So for 2016, I have decided to commit to reading a science book (okay, a popular science book – we’re not talking textbooks here, people!) a month. 12 science books in 12 months. That’s pretty doable!

And my science book pick for January? Let’s start with the basics. Let’s start with the beginning. Let’s start with A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. 

I’ll be posting bits and pieces of my progress on Twitter and Instagram, as well as a review of the book at the end of the month. And if you want to join me on this reading challenge, you’re most certainly welcome to! To update me on your progress, tag me with the hashtag #2016sciencereads.

Let’s read and learn together!