16 Comments

David the same....I get books and may start to read and retain some tidbits of wisdom and place down or see it may not be a good book, that is rare and most of the time get at a fair value and want to have to read at some point. I am not a big spender for spending sake but like books rather than other things, not in my order of importance in life.

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"I am not a big spender for spending sake but like books rather than other things..." That is exactly where I was going with this Joe.

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I think I have a 10th degree black belt in piling it up 🥋 and have room to add your book 📕... there's always room for unread books in my library!

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Once again something we have in common Phil. 😉

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David. I heard that accumulated untouched books were "shelf-help." I listened along to your post. On this early Sunday, It was a wonderful sitting meditation. You sound exactly how I thought you'd sound. I appreciate your message. I enjoyed having coffee to this.

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Thank you for the kind words Norm. Cheers ☕️

I like that term you shared, 'shelf-help.' Sounds like an apt way to describe Tsundoku.

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Glad that science backs this up, my books make me happy.

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It is amazing to me how much we can come to love our books. They are almost like friends. So glad you joined the conversation Deanna.

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Thank you so much for putting a positive spin on owning a lot of books. I have stacks ready to read. :) I will always say yes when my children want books. I'm so happy they love to read.

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Oh my goodness yes! Children's books have taken over my life since having grandchildren. Encouraging a love of reading is one of the greatest gifts we can give to kids.

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((Proudly raising my hand)) I am a bibliophile. When I moved into this home, I donated so many, carefully selected the heirlooms from the flotsam and remodeled half the guest bedroom into my library. I could sit for long periods of time happily staring at the spines of those books. When a member of my family was dating in their younger years, they said they would never trust a person who didn’t own books.

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I love this..."carefully selected the heirlooms from the flotsam." Yes! I agree with your relative by the way.

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This was definitely my favorite weekend wrap up of yours, David. And not just because I feel so privileged to be your Comment t of the Week. There's just so much good stuff in here!

Like that Stillman quote:

"If you know how ignorant you are, you’re way ahead of the vast majority of other people."

I literally laughed out loud!

Growing up, my dad was a huge fan of Carl Sagan. We would watch his show together most Sunday nights. He would always quote him saying something like "The more I peer into the universe to learn the more I realize I don't know."

After he died, that became a fundamental principle of my development.

I laughed out loud again when you pointed out the irony, that previously I had not noticed, in how I always have trouble remembering my favorite memory device!

😂

A similar Mind Palace / Thought Library concept was featured by the neuroscientist in my post yesterday as a way to keep our brain healthy.

One thing I may never have told you is where my dad worked when he was a quality control specialist before IBM - a major Northeast publishing company. So guess what would happen with a lot of those books that came out as rejects instead of going to the shredder?

Yep. We had quite the library!

Not only always reading, but exposed to all sorts of literature even if it was over our heads. An aspirational goal, of sorts.

I continued the tradition with our own kids. At least three rooms on two floors always had stacks and shelves of books, and each of their bedrooms had bookcases full.

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Pondering our infinite ignorance and almost infinite libraries. Never ending fun Scott. Thanks for the the thought spark!

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I'm guilty. I still need to process everything that you've said to see if my guilt goes away. At least it is a start. Happy Sunday. Thanks for the wisdom.

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I hope it does! Feel free.

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