The books they read

You can always make too great a deal about the impact of a particular book but I don't think you can underestimate the cummulative impact of an enthusiastic reader's reading. Tevi Troy writes an article on presidential reading in the White House, For Obama and Past Presidents, the Books They Read Shape Policies and Perceptions, Washington Post, April 18, 2010.

Consider Harry Truman. He was the last American president not to have completed college, but he was a voracious reader and particularly interested in history and biography, once musing that "the only thing new in this world is the history that you don't know."