When you meet those interesting, successful people in the startup community—the serial entrepreneur redefining yet another industry or the marketing exec tossing out incisive insights as if she were seeding her lawn—have you noticed how often they reference favorite authors and book concepts?

Take note the next time you have the opportunity. You’ll notice they discuss their own experiences and ideas in language garnered from the books they’ve read.

Books expand awareness of both language and higher-level concepts, literally making readers more intelligent. And, successful people read, at least, an order of magnitude more than the average American.

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