How big is your library of books?
Most literary types are hard pressed to give up even a single book from their collection. I often think that books are to bookworms that trophies are to jocks. Books are like trophies; they represent a sort of literary conquest where you can say "Yes, I read that."
But what do you do with all those books? I wouldn’t recommend getting rid of them. I had a literature professor in college who told us that you will never need a specific book until you give it away (or sell it). He then went on to tell us of his own house which had stacks and stacks of books covering the floor in every room. I believed him.
Thus when I came across this article in the New York Times Books Section, I had to share it with you. The author speaks of the house he currently resides in and says:
I chose the place because next to the 15th-century house itself was a barn, partly torn down centuries ago, large enough to accommodate my library of some 30,000 books, assembled over six itinerant decades. I knew that once the books found their place, I would find mine.
30,000 books! And you thought you had book storage problems. My collection of titles doesn’t approach anywhere near that number, which probably makes sense given that I’m half the author’s age. Of course, the real trick is to find the time to read all the books you have, so nothing goes to waste. I have already lamented about that topic in this earlier post.
How does this relate to ebooks
Ebooks don’t solve the problem of having time to read everything in your collection (unless you’re talking about the convenience factor), but they do solve one big problem: Space. You can have an entire collection as large as 30,000 books on a single computer. No shelves overflowing in every room with books stacked on the floor (as in my literature professor’s house).
Will print books ever go out of style and become artifacts only found in a museum? I don’t know, we seem to be on the cusp of ebooks exploding in popularity. But it can still go either way, so I hate to make wild predictions.
How many books are in your collection? Where do you keep them? Have you ever gotten rid of a book, and did you regret it? Don’t be shy and leave us a comment for all to read.
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