You have not borrowed anything in years

Not the book somebody recommended. Not the one that has been on the pile since spring, radiating mild accusation.

Something you picked up because the cover caught you, with no judgment attached to the choice and no obligation to see it through.

This weekend, go to the library. Give it an hour.

I know you have not been in years, and I know why. Libraries belong to a version of life with children in it, or to students, or to people who have time.

They belong to anyone who walks in. That is more or less the entire idea of them.

Here is why the library specifically, rather than the bookshop. A bookshop asks you to decide, and a decision that costs money always brings a small internal justification along with it.

The library asks nothing. You take the thing home, and if it turns out to be terrible you return it, and nothing has been wasted and nobody is disappointed.

9 cents.

That's roughly what one serving costs at any grocery store in America.

A trial published in the European Heart Journal found it cut fatal heart events by 41 percent.

Forty. One. Percent.

Why hasn't your doctor mentioned it?

Same reason your doctor hasn't mentioned a lot of things…

There's no pharma rep walking into the clinic with samples of a 9-cent grocery store item.

I won't name it here. The name alone is useless. The dose, the timing, and what you pair it with are what makes the difference between 41% and zero.

>> All three are in this free documentary

It's also paired with something even bigger that I'll let you discover yourself. The kind of thing that explains why heart disease is still the #1 killer in this country after sixty years of "progress."

P.S. This 9-cent compound shows up about 14 minutes in.

Don't skip ahead… what comes before it is the reason it works

Quitting is built into the system. There is a due date, which means the whole thing ends on a set day whether or not you have finished, and the ending is not your fault. Which is the amnesty the book you never finished never got.

For a woman who finishes things out of duty, that is an unusually restful arrangement.

So walk in and go to whichever section you would not normally visit. Take three things on impulse.

Something serious, something ridiculous, something you would be faintly embarrassed to be seen buying. Nobody at the desk has any opinion about your selection, and the machine does not comment.

Then take them home and read whichever one turns out to be good. Return the other two unopened, which is not a failure but the correct and intended use of the whole system.

A retired eye surgeon developed this at-home eye test to check for blocked retina vessels that can lead to blurry, foggy and impaired vision.

Try the test below and see the science behind it.

What color are the strawberries?

Orange

Green

Blue

Red

Select the color you see, and see if you’re affected.

Find your nearest branch and check the hours. Go for one hour, alone, and borrow three things you chose on impulse. Return whatever bores you without finishing it.

And tell me what the three were. Hit reply. I read them.

Today you have permission to bring home a book you will never finish, and to return it unread with a clear conscience.

See you Monday.

If someone came to mind while you were reading this, send her these letters. The Permission Slips are yours when she stays.