TED Talk Under Ten | Lisa Bu on How Books Can Open Your Mind

Last updated on 27 December 2024

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Welcome to the TED Talks Under Ten series.

The year was 2018, or as we like to call it around here, ‘the year Anjali got addicted to TED Talks under ten minutes’. As the tagline for TED reads, these are ‘ideas worth sharing’, so what kind of person would I be if I didn’t share with you guys some of the fascinating, inspiring, beautiful, and insightful clips I’ve been devouring? No kind of person at all.

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Title: How Books Can Open Your Mind

Speaker: Lisa Bu

Length: 6:13

Date: February 2013

Synopsis: What happens when a dream you’ve held since childhood … doesn’t come true? As Lisa Bu adjusted to a new life in the United States, she turned to books to expand her mind and create a new path for herself. She shares her unique approach to reading in this lovely, personal talk about the magic of books.

My Thoughts on How Books Can Open Your Mind

While I 100% believed this notion before I watched this TED Talk by Lisa Bu, and live the majority of my life by this thought already, it was still a refreshing look at the ways books can impact our life.

In her talk, Bu shares a little about her story. As a young girl living in China, all she wanted to do was become an Opera singer, but her parents were adamant that she needed a ‘safe and well-paid job’, whether she liked it or not. She grew up with no adult support for her dreams, and soon it was too late for her to begin training.

“…that’s so unfair. So I was determined to find another calling. Nobody around to teach me? Fine. I turned to books.”

To give her ideas for a new dream, Bu turned to books. She read Fou Lei, Jane Eyre, Cheaper by the Dozen, Lessons from History, Confucius, and the Bible. Each book gave her new information and insight, and a love of reading.

What I found really interesting about her story was that she started comparative reading, that is comparing and contrasting books. Lisa Bu began reading books in pairs; books written by friends who shared experiences (all I could think was J.R.R. Tolkien hanging out with C.S. Lewis in The Eagle and Child pub in Oxford), books on the same event but by different authors, books that share of similar ideas but from different religious perspectives. She even read the same book in English and in her native language.

This is so interesting and I have never really thought of doing that before, outside of University. It would be so beneficial, education, fascinating and eye-opening, I suspect, to read the same book in two different languages, for example. Or find stories that tell of similar events from different perspectives.

While that doesn’t really happen in fiction books – and herein lies my problem – the non-fiction genre or biographies and autobiographies would be the perfect place for this. I don’t read non-fiction that often. Occasionally I’ll pick up something like my copy of The Philosophy Book, by Will Buckingham, but that’s as far as I get. Reading two versions of stories such as Greek myths or fables would work, and that would be a great challenge.

“Books have given me a magic portal to connect with people of the past and the present. I know I shall never feel lonely or powerless again.”

What do you think about this TED Talk Under Ten? Has it helped you see how books can open your mind?

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Disclaimer: TED did not ask me to write this; I’m simply sharing a clip that I think is great.