Comments on: The book problem

By: abo

abo — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:16:22 +0000

Well, not to get into your charitable plans, but any first editions of well known works?

(If that PM you picked up in the back is the first impression of the second edition – not to speak if it's a first! – it's worth more to charity if you sell it and then donate the money.)

By: Shai Deshe

Shai Deshe — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:04:17 +0000

If there was any notion I could emphasize with.

I've been accumulating books since I started making money. At my humble age of 23 I have about 300 of them, and the numbers are ever growing.
Fortunately, I have a tendency to give them away to people and forgetting to ask them back, which acts as an efficient counter force to my exuberant book consumption habits.

I grew up in a house whose walls were laced with books, and I guess having them surround me makes me comfortable.

I think it's only a matter of time before my walls are also laced with books.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:00:57 +0000

"And what will happen in the morning when the world it gets
so crowded that you can't look out the window in the morning.

"And what will happen in the evening in the forest with the weasel with the teeth that bite so sharp when you're not looking in the evening.

"And all the friends that you once knew are left behind they kept you safe and so secure amongst the books and all the records of your lifetime..."

Hazey Jane II, Nick Drake

By: N. Wildman

N. Wildman — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:03:01 +0000

I'm glad to see that more people in the faculty are starting to accept my taste for desert landscapes when it comes to personal possessions (even books).

By: Kevin Schutte

Kevin Schutte — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:14:34 +0000

a.c.,
I imagine the professor is probably donating them to a library of some kind.

By: a.c.

a.c. — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:21:56 +0000

Re "charitable plans" -- I also have too many books and would like to get rid of some, but where?

I could try to sell them on Amazon or ebay, but ... too much trouble,

Most second-hand shops aren't interested in a pile of academic philosophy or maths books.

Oxfam? Oxfam would take them, but how likely is it that they would find their way via Oxfam shops to people who would want them?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 13:21:19 +0000

I suppose your pruning principles depend in part on what your books are for. There seems to be a continuum: on one end there are those books which are just sources of information; on the other are the sentimental ones. You can make a case for cutting books near the first end. But some are nice to have around just because they once played an important part in one's intellectual life. I used to be quite interested in philosophy of psychology. Many of the books on my shelf in that area aren't of much use to me any more and some are certainly out of date. But I like having them around. They're like intellectual photos of my past. There's nothing neurotic about an attachment to external symbols of the intellectual life when that's what you've devoted a major chunk of your time to. Of course, I might change my mind when I get to 1500 …