I think I have a serious problem...and it's getting worse.I can't stop the build-up of my collection of books. I easily justify the expense, seeing that the most expensive book i have purchased lately was $4.99 (most of my books purchases are .50 - .75 cents), but that makes it more easy to rationalize in my head. The books seem to help fill those empty spaces, somehow...both on my bookshelf and in my life. Every time I walk past a second-hand book store...or any place that has books for sale at bargain prices...I cannot resist the magnetic pull of the words within those wonderous pages, and their promise of information and new worlds to explore.
When I finished my website in August of 2005, I had a total of 219 books in my permanent collection and 43 unread books. As of today, the current count is 253 books in my permanent collection,(including 24 "Top Shelf books"...ones that have been most influential) and 131 unread or unfinished books. The total amount of books being housed in my bedroom is 384.Statistics About My Books:
Of the 253 books in what I call my 'permanent collection' (books I've read and also have no plans to re-sell anytime soon):
- 24 are solely on Buddhism
- 19 were written before 1940 (including one as far back as 375 B.C.)
- 18 fall under the category of philosophy (doesn't include Buddhist philosophy)
- 16 are about politics
- 12 have to do with psychology or mental health
- 10 are texts i studied in university
- 10 are about poetry
- 9 have to do with food
- 7 are specifically on astrology
- 7 are about death and dying
- 6 were written by Canadian author Pauline Gedge
- 6 are some sort of dictionary or thesaurus
- 5 are parenting related
- 4 are on astronomy and space
- 3 of them are loaned out
- 3 are about numerology
- 3 of them are Christian bibles, 1 is "The Satanic Bible", and 1 is called "The Buddhist Bible"
- 2 are written by Stephen Hawking, and one was written by Albert Einstein
- 2 are about Star Trek
- 2 were written by Edgar Cayce
- 2 are about cats
- 2 are about quitting smoking
- 2 are about Egypt
- 1 was written by Adolph Hitler (Mein Kampf)
- I also own copies of the Bhagavad Gita and The Tibetan Book of The Dead
- and 1 was written by my cousin, Jamie-Lynn
Thats a little sampling of what I have in my collection, which appears to be slowly approaching the proportions of what it was before I moved to London in 2000. (I had well over 400 books at that time). BUT I JUST CAN'T STOP BUYING THEM! I'm hopelessly addicted.The day I am forced to move my book collection to the living room, is the day I will have to start looking for a bigger apartment, becuase when the size of my collection reaches that level, it is only a matter of time before I will have to start removing furniture. LOL
I love books and I love writing, so needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed writing this post about my books.
Anyone wanna comment on the sizes of their book collection??? Please do...
PS. These are not pictures of my books...these are the collections of others.
12 comments:
.."So many books, but so less time"...!
Very few, get to the crust of this aphorism.We live so many lives, without knowing.When you look back at the collection of your books,you would find the emerging layers of your persona.They become your sojourners, who kept you company through all the phases of your life.
good or bad, you always had a recourse of books, that took you away from the troubling conscience. making you a part of the "Now".
No, wonder you cherish them,
all i can ask now.. is to write a book of your own and immortalize the path that you've paved in this journery..!!
PS: there you go M.. like i said that's my foreword for your post
cheers...!!!
P....
:-D You wrote a foreword for this post after all...yay!
"They become your sojourners". This they do indeed...they're friends without judgement; trustworthy and loyal companions that never betray, expect or deceive. They are the infinte givers of worlds that don't exist until the reality of book and the reality of reader combine. It's beautiful, really.
I have always found that the right book always falls into my lap at the right time (like The Power Of Now...wink), giving me answers to recently pondered questions amidst labyrinthine sentences and often overlooked paragraphs.
I have always had this passion for books. Did I tell you that one of my first words was 'read'? lol
Thank you for the excellent foreword, P! Perhaps I will have you write one when I publish my first book.
Your turn for a new post, BTW. lol
Peace.
"... written before 1940 (including one as far back as 375 B.C.)"
Which book is this???
Plato's Republic...not the original, of course :-)
he hehe, ok. I wish you had the original "Republic", that would be cool!.
I guess my oldest book is "Socrates' Defence".
I don't have many books as you have, around 350 I guess. Mostly philosophical, psychological and social sciences books, less novels and fiction though. But I collect graphic novels and comic books (oh, with them I could add 40 more :). And I collect hundreds of magazines (from music, sound technology, art, comics etc. around 400).. And coming more and more..
But luckily I have a big house :)
Geez, do I ever feel this post in my own life. I'm always trying to make the books exit my life though. My problem is with online buying though. I always find myself perusing books historical and recent in the topic of Buddhism. Especially Tibetan ;) My present book-exit strategy is the "donation box" in the garage or Yeshe's shelf. I find myself a little attached to several titles though. A couple of those are:
The Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva
The Words of my Perfect Teacher by Patrul Rinpoche
The Tibetan Jewel Tree of Enlightenment by Thurman
Dhammapada by The Buddha
I have other info addictions, but these are the stickiest. The other heavy one is cosmology and the implications of physics.
Hi Kalsang!
Yeah, I'm quite attached to my Buddhist titles as well...perhaps I will post the titles of all my dharma or dharma-related books...and if you wish to borrow one sometime, maybe we could work out an exchange. Just a thought. :-)
I have a copy of the Dhammapada as well as a copy of The Words of My Perfect Teacher...would be definitley interested in borrowing your copy of The Way Of The Boddhisattva if we did decide to exchange someday.
That said, while my dharma collection is probably the largest part of my book collection, the rest of it is so varied that you could almost say I have a little of everything. Info addiction...nice term...suits me lol.
Hey I'm down with that! Actually I got a magazine that I've been intending for you. It's on the physics side of how time is basically delusion. A lot of the cosmological theories don't even posit a variable for time. Very interesting.
The Way of the Bodhisattva is yours. I can drop it by Yeshe's and let him know. The one title you had listed that sounded interesting is:
The Garland of Mahamudra Practice - Khenpo Gyaltsen and Katherine Rogers
Thanks,
Kalsang
It wouldn't happen to be the same magazine...the Scientific American's special edition on time, would it?? If so, I got it and promised myself I would read the entire magazine before I write my post on time. Yes...I'm still working on that one...especially just trying to fit it all together in my mind.
The Way of The Bodhisattva is mine? How very kind!! :-D
I will drop off The Garland of Mahamudra Practice for you at Yeshe's as well. Should be there tomorrow or the next day. Let me know if you develop an interest in any of the others.
Cheers.
Hey Nothing...you should count ur entire CD collection lol.
Books in Singapore are sold at outrageously expensive prices. Most of the books cost around 20 Singapore dollars (around 14 Canada dollars). A good amount of the books here can cost much more. One of Nietzsche's books cost me S$32. Imagine that.
(I'm so damned envious of you.)
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