I am confident that today's video will be a turning point in life for some of you. I am filming this video with that conviction. So, I would like to calmly discuss this with you. The title for today is Read 100 Books. From what perspective and what meaning do I recommend that you read 100 books? This is a very important topic, and after hearing the true story I will share with you today, you will think, I should read 100 books too, and realize that you can't just read randomly; you need to read properly. That feeling will surely come to you.

So, I want to talk about this calmly. I truly live my life earnestly. However, the more I work hard, the more I deeply feel that luck is truly...

It's scary, isn't it? Even now, it feels a bit frightening. There’s a strong sense of something because luck is so powerful. Throughout life, there are various types of luck, and one of the best kinds is meeting a good leader. I truly believe this is better than winning the lottery. I can learn so much, even without intending to. Meeting a good leader is truly remarkable. In my life, I have had two bosses before working with representatives. I’ve mentioned them a few times. One is my academic father, a professor, and the other is my team leader, Choi Su-seok, from when I worked at Samsung Display. These individuals are incredible. I’ve been so fortunate; there aren’t many people like me.

It's been over 10 years since I met my boss. I have been influenced by them, and I wonder what has happened to them. I truly thought they were amazing people when I was researching and working with them, but they turned out to be even more extraordinary than I had imagined. Our advisor, whom I will show you later, has become a world-renowned scholar. It's not just a subjective interpretation; it's clear to anyone that he is a global academic leader. In fact, I would say he ranks among the top three in his field worldwide. I will show you later. Our department head has become the vice president of Samsung Display, which is the leading display company in the world. Becoming a vice president at Samsung Display must be more challenging than passing a state examination. Anyway,

I am lucky to have met such individuals. In this world, there are many leaders, many managers, and many professors, but I happened to meet just two people, both of whom were in the global top 1%. They were truly super elites. I am so grateful to have been influenced by such people; I learned about work ethics, proactivity, and a spirit of challenge from them. Now that a lot of time has passed, I can speak about it calmly and positively. You all are probably working with many bosses, right? They are geniuses, complete geniuses. They put in a lot of effort, but they are naturally intelligent as well. Their level of effort is so high that I can't keep up. After starting my doctoral program, I realized this during conversations with my professor. Even now, when I think about it, my eyes widen.

What can I say? It's thrilling, I guess. What is this person? I can't believe I could end up like this. Even if I worked really hard at the academy, I wonder if I would have reached only 1 out of 10. If I reached 10, I would consider that a success. This is a different class because the scale is different, so I acknowledge that with a certain level of coldness. 

So, what happened was that on August 19th, I had a call with my advisor. We talk about once or twice a year. These days, since KakaoTalk has decent quality, we use KakaoTalk voice calls. You all know, right? So, it was 11:54 PM Singapore time. That means, based on our country's time, I was on the call until about dawn, for a total of 1 hour and 12 minutes. You all have your mentors, right?

Or rather, aside from trivial conversations with superiors, is there really an important topic that can be discussed for an hour and twelve minutes? I don't think so. However, one of the important discussions I had with my advisor that day was about the pursuit of truth. I mentioned that when I first started working with my professor, it was honestly very difficult. I wondered if I could really work with this person. I said that openly; I talk about it often. But now that I've read books and studied, I feel like I can explain specifically why it was difficult. My professor had been pursuing the truth from that time. It wasn't about achieving results; it was about wanting to experience the truth and immerse oneself in it, but he couldn't express that at the time. These days, however, he can.

Express yourself. You really need to pursue the truth. Oh, so talk about your future self. The term future self should now come automatically from your mouth. You need to look far ahead; if you only focus on the immediate, you will regret it later. Just think about your future self. Your future self is an amazing person. Recently, I had a one-hour conversation with that person, and we discussed a lot. Our advisor, well, I’m not saying he’s great just because he’s my advisor, but I really hope someone who has graduated from graduate school would write a comment about this. I mean, not just from a specialized graduate school, but someone who has written papers in fields like mechanical engineering or electronics, or professors who can understand how extraordinary our advisor is. Honestly, there’s no comparison in our country. This is our professor’s research lab.

This is the research lab for 2024 on the homepage. Here, we have Nature Nanotechnology, and everything listed here are sister journals. Nature is the top-tier journal, and this is the next level down. Honestly, just having one or two of these publications would allow someone to teach in Korea, specifically in Seoul. If someone has only published two, they could still become a professor. I’ve confirmed that all of our advisors are the corresponding authors in 2024, so there are many co-authors as well. Co-authorship means that they didn't lead the research independently but participated in the experiments with some assistance. However, the corresponding author has taken the lead and played a main role. There are two in Nature Communications and one in Nature Electronics, all as corresponding authors. Then, in Science, there are three. I will only mention those in Nature and Science. There are a total of eight publications, honestly.

Even if you write two Nano Letters, it's considered a significant research achievement. This is not counted anymore. Additionally, there's something else I need to mention to the professor; this year, there are nine papers in Nature. So, in similar research areas, those who can submit to Nature or its related journals, even if they dedicate their whole lives to it, 99.9% of them will not be able to write nine papers. In my opinion, currently, the research lab that produces more results than our professor's is the Max Planck Institute in Germany, led by Professor Stuart Parkin. He is actually the advisor of my advisor. What’s really unfortunate is that the Nobel Prize is awarded to three people at a time, and even though he has been nominated, he hasn’t won yet.

I was really saddened by the fact that only two people received the GMR. At that time, I thought it was unfortunate. But even at over 70 years old, he is still pursuing research. A truth seeker, at that level, means that we need a different term than just genius. It's genius plus effort. He is a fully developed genius, and that level of achievement is not something that just anyone can reach. This is truly a national talent, an extraordinary one. 

So, during the hour I spent with my advisor, we talked about AI and also discussed how my advisor often meets with executives from large companies. He receives numerous invitations to meet with these executives and shares those experiences with me. Additionally, many of his friends are also geniuses; for example, he had a top student. He shared stories about conversations he had with his friends when he went on business trips to the U.S., and I shared what I had read as well.

It's quite impressive how things have changed over time. Next, let me show you something. I wasn't doing too badly myself. This is something my advisor wrote, but it's the first time I’m seeing it as a guide. It brings back memories—2010, which was 14 years ago. It's really surprising how long ago that was. Back then, I had a bit of an entrepreneurial mindset. This wasn't really my thesis topic or even my graduation topic, but I had a strong sense of social identity. I thought from the perspective of the organization: our advisor needed to do well, so it seemed strange to me. Plus, I did need to write a paper. However, I wasn't just writing this for myself; I wanted our research lab to succeed. At that time, none of the students had published any papers, so it was based on what the professor had written during his PhD, which was published in Nature.

Material has come up again. But I, as the first author, am from a research lab that focuses on spintronic transport, and I submitted a paper that has nothing to do with that. At that time, I was somewhat of a monster in my own way. So, this paper, published in 2010 in APL, which is not a bad journal, I submitted two papers. I wrote two or three first-author papers during my PhD. In fact, I wasn't in a combined master's and PhD program; in South Korea, there's a system where you can start your PhD directly if you pass the qualification exam. I started my PhD and almost died from the stress. To survive, I wrote papers. I tried to pass the qualification exam more easily and appeal to the committee, so I also wrote three papers. I spent about five years on my PhD.

To be precise, I was able to use the thesis after two and a half years and also graduated. After that, I wrote five papers, but I stayed in the lab to research new areas like topological insulators. Our advisor, as you can see in the lab, has a lot of Nature publications, and he always appreciates that. I think I've always tried to live together with others, and I've been lucky. A year or two ago, I sent him a book, thanking him for the wonderful book he sent me. I stayed up several nights excitedly reading it. I sent him some science books that overlap with my current research topics. The insights shown in those science books gave me deep inspiration and confidence. I felt joy after a long time and was happy.

A few days ago, I was talking with my professor, and it's been ten years since I graduated. My professor is a genius. After reading some books, I thought, If my professor were to read them, it would be game over. I keep thinking that, but my professor really only works. I realize that I don't have the expertise yet, so after reading over a hundred books, I thought I should recommend a book to my professor. This is a book that I mentioned in one of my videos. It's a bit of a science book, so it's difficult. It's not exactly a must-read for everyone; it's quite challenging, and I know that if I recommend it, most of you will probably give up. So, I tailored this recommendation specifically for my professor. That's how I felt about my professor.

This is a must-read book for the public that I highly recommend to you. I am recommending it in a personalized way. So, when I say it's a must-read for everyone, I truly mean you should read it without fail. Furthermore, I hope that people like this will take a look at it. It’s tailored just like how a professor would read it. 

Now, I have a significant gap in knowledge compared to my advisor, but after graduating, I read about 20 to 30 books a year consistently, which totals around 300 books since graduation. During that time, I accumulated immense knowledge. Moreover, by meeting representatives whom I truly admire and love, I learned what a good book is. We review many rights to recommend good books to you.

I read a lot of different books, so honestly, we often allocate our time proportionally. This is because we don't know if a book is good or bad until we read it, but we need to recommend books to you. At least from this perspective, we should be able to say that a book is good. My professor is truly at a crazy level; I’ve caught up in different directions through reading to the point where I can share some insights. When I started my doctoral program, I felt completely lost. Every time I talked about ideas, it was pure stress. I genuinely believe that you can also raise your own level like I did, and I am confident that your life can change. Just like my advisor, there is a certain joy and pleasure in doing what you love.

I am confident that you can feel a certain joy in connecting. Therefore, you can't just read any book haphazardly; you need to read good books. After that, you have to produce an output. You must write a book review. It could be a note or a presentation, but you absolutely need to have some form of output. The minimum output should at least involve reading the book, underlining important parts, folding pages, and then rereading it. After that, discussing the highlights would be wonderful. Discussions are, how should I put it, the ultimate pinnacle. This is because when you participate in a reading group, you truly engage with the material. This can even help prevent dementia. Games, on the other hand, may not be very effective; social bonds are what delay the onset of dementia. Ah, books.

If we hold a reading discussion, the dementia rate in that country would really drop. But before I introduce the incubation, let me show you this first. I should introduce Qube first. This time, it's the 17th class of Qube. Our staff, along with the CEO and directors, did a lot of research. When we first did the reading with five books, everyone was very enthusiastic at the beginning, like a fire igniting. However, at the start, half of the participants couldn't even finish. Completing something consistently is truly challenging. It's meant for your benefit, but we can't force it on you continuously. So, we need to improve the system. That's why we created a beginner's class. The beginner's class is very easy. There’s nothing much to say about it; it focuses on self-development and human relationships, which is essential.

Actually, there are books that you should read again at least once a year. In the beginner class, you only read two books. I hope you can try both of them. Now, let me tell you, Future Self is available in many libraries and bookstores. The same goes for interpersonal relationships; you can find them in libraries as well. You don’t have to buy them; you can read them in bookstores. There are many copies available in libraries and bookstores since this is all part of a series. You really don’t have to purchase them. We are truly leading the reading culture, so if you do buy them, we are very grateful. The important thing is to create a reading culture and expand the file. If 20 million people haven’t read even one book, how can there be a reading business? The publishing business in the intermediate class is really great. This is the Power series: the power of humility, the power of surprise, the power of flexibility, and the power of resilience. The power of resilience is really amazing.

It's about books. Flexibility and strength are very important. There are also aspects of surprise and humility, all of which are part of the special lecture. Finally, we have the advanced class, which focuses on newly published books—books that no one has read yet. When I mention that there are about 100 good books, I mean that while all of them are great, there are representative titles like these. Identity and social identity are crucial; as we live our lives, we need to understand identity and what it means. If we delve deeper into identity, we must also grasp the concept of social identity. It's essential to know this. If you don't understand it, you can't move forward. As I mentioned, connections and relationships—these are all part of social identity. In every country, the political divide is unprecedented, and that all relates to social identity. Understanding the paradox and contradictions of social identity is absolutely necessary. How do we navigate these contradictions?

Integrating contradictions is a true quality of a leader. So, I think this is very good. Writing in the margins is also quite interesting. It's very easy to read and has a bit of a literary story feel to it. Now, regarding the courses, we have a tiered system: the beginner class only has a PDF, there are no physical materials, and a certificate is issued upon completion. The intermediate class provides just the certificate, while the advanced class includes both the certificate and a medal. Creating these medals costs a lot of money—seriously, it’s not a joke. Including shipping fees makes it even more expensive. Honestly, for those who participate in our reading group, we can’t really think about this in terms of money. However, in the end, we hope you recognize our sincerity and that we are a trustworthy supplier of quality books. You can see how great a hundred books can be. I mention this all the time.

Where did I quote this from? The Department of Convergence Talent at KAIST, led by Professor Jeong Jae-seung, has produced its first graduates in 2024. I often mention that such a department exists in our country, and there is a liberal arts department. Now, for the first time, they have graduated students. Congratulations! Graduating with a hundred books recognized by KAIST is truly remarkable. Mr. Ko Kyung-bin, I congratulate you. We also have something like this at KAIST. Additionally, there is the renowned St. John's College in our country, where they conduct discussions with fewer than 20 participants. It's not just about reading books; they engage in intense debates. It’s a free environment, which is characteristic of a liberal arts department. I would like to add something else here.

What I'm saying is that while there are many good books in the classics, being fixated on classics alone is not right. I can say this with certainty. If you look at Europeans, you can see the emergence of classics. This happened as public education was established and schools began to emerge in the past. Schools couldn't just be empty, right? So, there was a great need for printed books with type. They brought these sets of books to schools because they needed to develop literacy. What do we call that set? We call it the classics. What is that? It is simply a collection of any books that were available at that time. Objectively speaking, since these were the books taught in schools, they gained a certain authority. Among them, there would be some good books.

There are definitely 100% bad books. They exist because they were created based on the standards of that time. For example, look at how much we have advanced in medicine. However, we really need to conquer dementia; humanity must overcome it. At one point, we spent enormous amounts of money researching beta-amyloid, thinking that if we could eliminate it, we would solve the problem. People were fiercely fighting for this, getting incredibly frustrated. But in the end, it didn't work out that way. Despite all the funding and effort put into eliminating it, it turned out that the relationship we had understood was incorrect. We need to keep progressing, and classical knowledge has also evolved in the meantime. The wise individuals of that era likely had an intuitive understanding of psychology, which has now been extensively validated through experiments.

That's right. So everyone, I've mentioned this a few times, but do you know how much you need to spend to read 100 books at St. John's College? You need to spend 200 million won. The tuition for one semester exceeds 50 million won. You need to spend 200 million won to read 100 books and graduate. In the end, isn't ability more important than this diploma? Then we can do the same thing. We may not be able to push ourselves as hard as that, but we need to write book reviews as well. You can also participate in discussions. Surprisingly, there aren't many volunteers for discussions; everyone is afraid. I hope you all muster up some courage and apply for the discussion sessions. There aren't many places that run free reading groups like this in our country. I haven't checked everywhere, but we are quite unique in this regard.

Right? It's true that there's a lack of such dedication. I really appreciate this level of commitment. Next, many of you have read Future Self and found it quite impactful, right? I think I can throw out some ideas for you. It would be wonderful if the stories of how you live as your future selves could be published as essays. Wouldn't that be great? So, regarding this, I applied the concept of Future Self as a nurse. I applied it as an accountant. I applied it while running a gamjatang (potato soup) restaurant. That’s really nice. Furthermore, this shouldn’t just be something you read; it needs to become part of your life. The theory of human relationships, as Dale Carnegie mentioned, isn't just about relationships. It’s also about Shin Young-jun, and well, Kim Gang-sook’s approach to human relationships, and Ko Young-sung's theory of human relationships.

Human relationship theory should come out almost like a book. It can be published as a book or organized in a blog, which would be great. So, at the end, I've realized that you haven't filmed videos for several months, right? I couldn't film because I was busy with work. I'm updating the life study examples and the independent English vocabulary. I'm planning to publish the life study examples later with the representative. There, I've included life philosophies that I truly believe you must know. The independent English vocabulary has many great quotes. Let me read just two for you. One is a famous quote by Isaac Newton: If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. What is the way to stand on the shoulders of giants? It is through the method of reading.

My advisor is a genius, and I am an ordinary person. How could I recommend a book to my advisor and move him? How could I dare to give advice? It’s like standing on the shoulders of giants. But how did my advisor become such a global scholar? It’s because he has seen the work of others. To become a giant, you must read. I find it heartbreaking when I think about the saying that you don’t need to burn books to destroy a culture. If you destroy that culture, the identity disappears. The essence of identity emerges through words. If you destroy culture, the identity collapses, and the cohesion breaks down. If people stop reading books, that culture is destroyed, and so is the identity. This is because when people read, they start to think.

When you start thinking critically, you realize that those who want to maintain a certain system, those who do not want change, will likely discourage reading books. If we truly care about the future of our country, whether it's the government, institutions, or businesses, everyone should read books. However, the competitors to books are not just other books, but a plethora of content and also laziness, which are incredibly strong competitors that make reading books quite difficult. But we are striving to overcome this challenge by running these reading groups with great effort. So, the application is open until September 26, and for those who see this after that date, the link refers to the recruitment for the next session, as this video will remain on YouTube.

That's right, you can apply. Then, you'll receive a notification like ding-dong. That concludes today's discussion. I promise to meet you again with good content next time, and for now, I will take my leave. See you again!

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