I must not buy more books. I must not buy more books.
Well, that’s what I try to tell myself in bookshops, but to little avail. Today, having sat in Heffers for half-an-hour or more reading the first couple of essays in Philosophers Without Gods: Meditations on Atheism and the Secular Life, I just couldn’t resist, and bought a copy. It is so far a wonderful read — twenty essays by philosophers including Simon Blackburn, David Lewis and Stewart Shapiro, writing about their atheism, in some cases with a moving personal slant. Highly recommended!
But I really must not buy so many books. I suppose I ought to institute a friend’s rule “one book in, one book out” which is his way of coping with a similarly tiny Cambridge house. But I really don’t think I can bring myself to do that. There seems to be nothing else for it other than to get yet another wall fitted with bookshelves …