Random Textbooks
Aspiring Generalist is an Understandary project.
Random Textbooks
I'm a big fan of randomization and incorporating it into my life so I'll be less likely to build substantial and impermeable filters, preferences, and understandings, and consequently miss out on stuff beyond my accidentally delineated comfort zone.
This means finding curators who have tastes that differ from my own, it means taking advantage of online and offline tools that provide me with suggestions and recommendations for exploratory paths I would have been unlikely to come across otherwise, and it means developing routines that habituate the process of exposing myself to, and exploring, things that aren't in my (current) wheelhouse—or about which I know very little.
One recent semi-habit (it's not yet fully baked into my routine, but I'm considering incorporating it further) is buying introductory textbooks on random subjects; especially on unfamiliar subjects, or on subjects about which I only know a superficial amount.
I recently acquired a copy of Introduction to Logic, and last month I read I book on fictional story and structure (I've written and have read mountains of fictional work, but have never taken the time to read an actual educational tome on the subject, and as expected there's a lot more to it than I realized).
As I mentioned, this is still a developing maybe-habit for me, so I haven't locked in the rules yet: I generally find having guidelines of some kind help me stick with new habits, as otherwise it's easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer number of available options, and to lose interest due to that decision-strain/analysis-paralysis.
But both books cost less than $5 to buy, used, and I like the idea of putting a cap on the price tag so this remains a financially simple and casual decision to make each month. It also maybe pushes me toward certain types of book—older versions, less popular versions, or in some cases maybe widely used and printed versions that are thus easily acquired on the cheap because of their ubiquity.
Another option (and one I would prefer in some ways, and will likely try as soon as the Omicron pandemic-wave has passed) is stopping by a local used bookstore, heading to a shelf of textbooks (or a random shelf containing books of an unfamiliar cengre) and grabbing something chunky and worn from the shelf.
If it fits within your pre-set price range, buy it and read it and illuminate an aspect of life and society and knowledge that you previously could not see clearly.
(In the pandemic-ridden meantime, I've been using Thriftbooks to get my used textbooks and have found their setup and selection to be better (and cheaper) than most of the online alternatives...AbeBooks isn't bad, but it's owned by Amazon, with all the pros and cons associated with that ownership structure.)