Here is my quandary that seeks community: whatever developmental dysfunction that caused me to find pleasure in the quest and acquisition of useless information (i.e.: why did the Byzantines lose the battle of Manzikert?) crowded out the places in my brain that should have gone to how to earn big bucks. As a result, I have a library for which my love is tempered by the knowledge that my own aging back must lift whenever I must move.
My question: what books should comprise such a library? Besides those with links to my family history, like Oscar Wilde’s “Happy Prince” give to my dad when he was a studio-system orphan in 1940’s Hollywood by one that era’s lamentably lost breed of gay-with- a-heart-of-gold. Or my 1902 edition of Charles Kinsglsey’s “Water Babies,” a book, while only 6" x 4" x ½," was able to convince people to stop sending children up into their filthy chimneys with wire brushes. Books like these are my welcome burden. What I ask you guys is what kind of reference books should be kept as the minimum arsenal against the forces of darkness that invade through conversation and television transmissions? Extra points for examples obtained from garage sales or the Goodwill.
I have now a sturdy Post-USSR atlas (anything with blue ink for Lake Chad or the Aral Sea is out of date), Webster’s dictionary, a 1994 World Almanac (until I see a more recent one at Goodwill), Oxford’s Companion to both the English Language and Modern English Usage (the most companionship a poor hillbilly like me can expect from Oxford),
An anatomy and medical manual, cross-dictionaries for French, Spanish & Latin (German will have to wait for Goodwill - insert Jewish joke here), and a cast-off high-school grammar to keep me from making such common obtusities as “George and myself enjoyed your seminar on expanded dot-com opportunities,” penned by people who earn more that me and whose libraries consist of Fortune and Travel.
What other standards do you hold dear and can recommend?
I can sympathize. Every two years I pack up the bookcases for a move and I estimate they consist of 20% of the total volume/weight. It is a pain to pack them up, hell to move them and a pain to unpack and resort them. But then you are back in business. A small price to pay relative the frustration of knowing what you want is in a book you got rid of two years/weeks/days ago.
Some people (myself included) will immediately go to their host’s bookcase to see what is there. Your books speak volumes about you and your interests.
I have been to homes where they have bookshelves full of videos. That speaks volumes also.
the internet will probably replace most of th ebooks you use solely for reference, so think about the way information is presented in some of your books that is less useful on a computer screen:
Books you’ll read outside:
a plant identification guide
inspiring biogrpahies
poetry
Books you keep notes in:
recipe books
adress books
plain notebooks
Reference Books that are a particular pleasure to peruse in bound form:
-a gigantic dictionary
-illustrated specialty dictionaries
-a new atlas and an old atlas and a historical atlas
I would add David Macaulay’s The Way Things Work. Funny, beautiful, informative, and remarkably clear in its explanations, it can sit proudly on any reference shelf.
Can’t believe it took me so long to remember this one… The Boy Scout Handbook. In one small volume, it contains everything a person ever really needs to know in a lifetime.
If I were given the choice, tho, I’d just accumulate all the books I could, and then either not move, or save up to hire someoneto help me move them. Good books are worth it.
“There are only two things that are infinite: The Universe, and human stupidity-- and I’m not sure about the Universe”
–A. Einstein
Not to digress, but Heinlein penned this discussion in the mid-50’s. In his novel Farnahm’s Freehold, Heinlein has his protagonist consider what books should stock his bomb-shelter. Then, at the novel’s end, we see that the sign outside his post-apocalypse general store says “Will Trade Food for Books”!
This is a wonderful question… and a great thread. I would echo the Pro-Shakespeare sentiment and send a “shame-shame” to Dystopos. People who collect books do so for more than what lies between thier covers!
BTW, no one has mentioned a Bible!
“I was not making fun of you personally; I was heaping scorn on an inexcusably silly idea – a practice I shall always follow.”
-Robert A. Heinlein
[ul][li]All five of the Straight Dope books. (Including two copies of the original volume, because my first copy wore out. I personally think no one should be allowed to post to the General Questions message board until they can prove that they own a copy of each of the books in the Straight Dope series)[/li][li]Know It All by Ed Zotti.[/li][li]A photocopy of “What Makes Cecil Adams the world’s greatest reference librarian?” by Paul S. Piper, from the February, 1995 issue of American Libraries.[/li][li]A copy of the September, 1995 issue of Parenting, which includes the article “Book 'em!”, by Ed Zotti.[/li][li]All three of the Why Things Are? books by Joel Achenbach.[/li][li]All three of the Big Secrets books by William Poundstone.[/li][li]The 1955-1996 edition of Joel Whitburn’s Top Pop Singles–it’s important to get this latest edition, because it’s the only one to include all the B sides–and also his Bubbling Under The Hot 100 1959-1985.[/li]Wayne Jancik’s One Hit Wonders[/ul]
Are you talking about selecting books? As in, not keeping some of them?
<blink>
<boggle>
Do people do that?
Redtail, whose library is currently boxed in the garage. <sniff> <moan> <wail> That would be approximately 1/3 of the 2-car garage. Almost to the ceiling. (There is enough clearance for the garage door to open.)
“The History of Byzantium”, sorry, can’t remember the name of the author. When I was breaking in at the Golden Gate, the pit manager, Richard, who was one of those devastating intellects that make standing around on a dead game so much less boring, lent me a copy of the abridged version, “A Short History of Byzantium”. He said it was dry history. I found it fascinating, now I desparately want to get the full-length three book set…
Seven out, line away, pay the don’ts and last come.
Well agia, that must explain you username. Actually, I did have Gibbon’s Rome for a while. I like history, but am saddened by the low esteem in which it’s held by our society. Maybe because I once worked as a gravedigger and can appreciate the obligation one might feel to people who can no longer set the record straight themselves, knowing we’ll all be at the same disadvantage ourselves soon. Case in point: Voltaire never did say “I disagree with what you say but would defend to the death your right to say it,” though he did say “History is a bag of tricks we play on the dead.”
Got some great suggestions in there, folks. My suggestion would be something that sums up fairly quickly the jist of great literary works. I remember perusing a book in a bookstore (go figure) called (I believe) “The Bathroom Book”. There were about 3 installments of it, and it was a large, thick book that had one-page summaries of important works. For some of the longer and bigger works it had 2 or three pages. It also had things like basic rules of sports and things, but that didn’t take up too many pages.
I would also suggest looking for CD-ROM anthologies such as encyclopedias covering a variety of topics.
Sorry I couldn’t be more specific.
Sala, can’t you count?!? I said NO camels! That’s FIVE camels!
I would have copies of most of the classics of world literature and philosophy. Avoid however the Britanica’s Great Books series, since the translations are terrible and Mortimer Adler is a jerk. Whichever you choose you should include:
Plato and Aristotle
The Bible
The Complete Works of Shakespeare
Also some general texts explaining modern scientific theories.
A few books on logic and philosophy of science.
The Oxford English Dictionary, the best reference ever, in either book or CD-ROM form.
Some art books, but these way a ton and cost a fortune.
Some good histories. I like the Durants, although I know that they are disdained as popularizers. (like that’s a bad thing?)
Some books on special interests known only to you. Perhaps Byzantine history, judging from the OP.
Some fun books. Humor, genre fiction, any sort of guilty pleasure.
Last but not least: the entire straight dope series.
Also I agree with Dystopos that I’d rather use the internet or CD-Roms for general reference when it is more convenient. I don’t see why that’s a slag on books in general.
One other thing while I’m here. Find an author you really like and really get into them. Purchase every thing you can by them, including a first edition or two if you can afford it.
Note to grammarians: I am pushing for “they” and “them” to be accepted as gender neutral third person singlular pronouns, so hold your fire.
A shame-shame? Hey, I was playing along with the OP’s intent to divest himself/herself of his/her collection. My post was a recommendation for a reference library only, not a book-lover’s library.
