We hardly notice the influence of informative and cultural content we consume.

De-facto, it considerably matters.

Books and comics we read, movies we watch, and any other media content we swallow up – they all influence our personal enhancements. While a family stops being the orienting point of socialization, culture appears to replace it.

When kids, we imitated book characters by talking to them or playing with them. Today, we carry on playing this 'game' by taking some knowledge, wisdom, or phrases from fiction we read. One doesn’t become a brave cowboy once he reads Zane Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage; and still, after 5-10 years he'll begin to understand there were some ideas he gained in the book.

Our minds are nothing but a collection of tiny crumbs allowing to solve identical problems in different ways.

For good or ill, we are not too different from animals. We are like monkeys copying everything we see in movies or read in books. But unlike monkeys, we can use it for personal growth and development.

No one was born an alpha male, and taking protagonists as behavior patterns can do nothing but a power of good for us. When examining the bookshelves of famous people, don't you think the books they read influenced their characters and ideologies somehow? Obama, Thatcher, Einstein, Manson – the world is full of surprises!

"Having small touches of color makes it more colorful than having the whole thing in color." - Dieter Rams

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Mass culture is a heart of life, providing solutions to many problems: scientists, writers, directors – they all do their jobs and let us use the fruits of their labours, developing mindfulness and morality.

What is negative about superheroes linking up the weakest and saving the world? Why can't the morality from cultural products be wholesome?

We don't need rules to live worthy.

It's enough to read, watch, and be enthusiastic about something. Who will tell us about romance better than George Gordon Byron? Who will whet our appetite to knowledge better than Stephen Hawking? The process of socialisation reminds modelling a sculpture, which will become either beautiful or free-stone.

It requires gentle hands.

That's why we shouldn't read all and sundry. Moreover, we should stop considering books something that doesn't bring value in real life. Thus, after reading Post Office by Charles Bukowski, I eventually decided to take my life in hand: it was damned deplorable to read about a fortune that could be in store for me if I continued my hover.

The book had given rise to my better life in some ways. Or, it could be a particular phrase from this book what influenced me.

Words are powerful, you know.

Whatever the case, we should love what we read; otherwise, we just swallow up information but don’t collect and develop any individual attributes.

Do you remember how difficult it was to read at school?

All those poems and novels seemed nothing but a collection of boring nonsense. But when external pressure weakened, they appeared amazingly readable and worthy!

The books we keep on bookshelves don't have a sudden bearing. And only over time we begin to understand what makes us the personalities we are.

Personality mindfulness is a long process going down the road we choose in childhood. We slip to slip into different authors with no idea there could be a biogeographic connection between them. Or, we find out that our favorite writer inspired directors whose movies we watch. The music we love appears a piece of this big puzzle, too.

In the end, our consciousness becomes the collection of many people's experiences and deeds. Their thoughts fill our selves.

So, be picky about what you read.

Your bookshelf tells others of who you are.

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Mike Hanski is a writer, musician and traveler. Check out his writings and follow him on Google +.