27. Chapter 1: Introducing 42: The Curious Reader's Companion
plus how it works and how to sign up!
Dear Reader,
Welcome to another edition of our newsletter.
Last week, Project Bibliotherapy completed 51 months of its existence.
We started as a lockdown sanity project on March 22, 2020. Today, Project Bibliotherapy is a 100% reader-funded dream endeavour.
If you’re a paying member of the Readers of 42, thanks for your early support and continuous encouragement1. You enable us to continue our company’s mission to enhance the world’s reading culture by empowering you to #ReadMoreReadBetter.
If you haven’t yet joined us, we hope that this letter nudges you to do so :)
We strive to be your trusted partner that enables you to follow your curiosity and discover reads that will educate, inspire and transform your mind on your reading journey.
In this letter, we’ll tell you more about the 4 volumes of ‘42: The Curious Reader's Companion’, curated exclusively for our ‘Readers of 42’ (our paying members).
The need for ‘The Curious Reader’s Companions’
We met and interacted with thousands of readers across cities in these past 4 years, understanding their habits, their lifestyles and their schedules. These include book club members, avid readers in corporate professions, Literary Festival-goers, those in the publishing industry, writers and creative professionals.
This gave us the insights on which to base our curation:
People want to read but don’t know where to begin, while dealing with the busy pace of modern life.
People who read for work (publishers, researchers etc.) often don’t find the time to read for pleasure.
The time and effort it requires to read an entire book after a long time is hard to put in at first, and book clubs tend to focus on one book which may or may not interest them.
People end up sticking to specific genres as they may not know where to explore anything else.
The sheer volume of books and content to read makes it exhausting to find great things to read.
How The Curious Reader’s Companions address these issues:
After spending months reading books by diverse authors from across the world, and other forms of writing on the internet, we handpicked articles, essays, short stories, poems, webcomics, interviews, and other rabbit-holes across time, genres and geographies. They span diverse topics, from books to buttered toast, nature to nostalgia and a lot more.
Our Reader Companions come in physical and digital formats, for easy access anytime, anywhere.
Open any page of the physical A5-size booklet.
Scan the relevant QR code with your phone camera to access the corresponding link.
If you prefer PDFs, open the digital clickable PDF with Acrobat Reader.
Swipe and tap to navigate to any link.
What’s Inside the Curious Reader’s Companion
The cover of each Reader Companion lists who you would find within its 42 pages in alphabetical order.
Here’s a look at Volume 3 and 4 as well:
They are designed to empower you to:
discover your next favourite author, podcast, blog, YouTube channel, etc.
broaden the scope of your reading by exploring new genres.
seek inspiration for your creative projects.
build your own library of books and online subscriptions.
How it works
Here is page 42 of Volume 1, featuring our unseen guardian angel :)
Follow the number key below:
READ: “How to stop worrying and learn to love the internet” - a timeless essay that first appeared under News Reviews in The Sunday Times on August 29th 1999.
EXPLORE: the Douglas Adams page on h2g2.com : The Earth Edition of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, set up in 1999 by DNA & friends.
LISTEN TO: this special episode of the BBC Book Club, recorded in 2000 - the year before his unexpected passing.
WATCH: One of his last public appearances - at UC Santa Barbara in 2001, talking about Last Chance to See, his favourite book written himself.
READ MORE: from the Douglas Adams corner of the Readers of 42 Library on Substack - to be updated often for your benefit.
Be a Reader of 42 and support us
Thanks for your time and attention. Now that you’ve reached this part of our letter, you qualify as a fellow curious reader in our book :)
Join our global reading program at an introductory annual membership fee of ₹2000/$25 and unlock these benefits:
Access to all 4 volumes of The Curious Reader’s Companion
Access to members-only content on this Substack
Be part of our online and offline Reader Experiences like our Guided Reading Meditations
More details in the sign up links below:
Look forward to Part 2 where we’ll talk about the Readers of 42 Virtual Library.
Happy reading!
Nandini & Nitin
PS. Help us spread the word by sharing this post with fellow readers within your friends, family and other networks.
A note for Readers of 42: We will send you a separate individual email about the perks and benefits of your one-year membership this week.