India, Dec. 14 -- Dear Reader,

Today I want to brag about reading 150 books a year.

In the age of book lists, where everyone from Bill Gates to Barack Obama is publishing their reading, it seems like this is one brag that will be accepted. Reading books makes you a better leader, a better communicator, a better strategist and, in short, a better human being. Or so the research tells me. I wouldn't know - I mostly read to avoid doing actual work.

For most of my life, reading was a guilty pleasure I had to defend, ration, hide, or apologize for.

'Enough reading now.' 'Put away your book.' These were the calls I dreaded. I was forbidden because I had to study, I would spoil my eyes, and, worst of all, 'because I say so.'

Then there was ...