IN DEFENSE OF COLLECTING BOOKS

“When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes.” – 16^thcentury Dutch theologian, Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus

The best decoration of all is a roomful of books. According to some book collecting is not just a hobby, but an obsession or “an occupation, a disease, an addiction, a fascination, an absurdity, a fate. It is not a hobby. Those who do it must do it.” This quotation is attributed to Jeanette Winterson. According to Yale studies, this isn’t such a bad thing because studies have recently revealed that people who read books for at least half an hour a day tend to live longer. Coincidence? We think not. In a world of short-form content and TikTok videos, let’s all try to increase our attention spans by reading books. While we should all utilize our public lending libraries, don’t feel guilty about buying books—even if you don’t read them immediately, for some aren’t meant to be read right away. It’s also a good idea to buy used books from small shops and independent sellers.

“Tsundoku” is a Japanese term that combines the words “tsunde-oku” (which means to let things pile up) and “dukosho” (which means to read books). This is a practice indicative of one’s work never being finished, ideas never being completely set, and that there’s always more to discover. Most of us have a pile of unfinished books by the bed or a to-read stack on our desks. Just because we haven’t gotten around to them doesn’t mean we won’t because the right book usually comes into our lives at the appropriate time, just when we need it most. “Have you never experienced that moment of wonder and magic when a book hypnotises you from the other end of the store? Has a book never caught your eye in the hands of a seller at the traffic signal or in a pile at the Scholastic Book Fair? Maybe we need to start looking at books as art, to be hung up on walls like paintings or splendidly displayed like sculptures.”

“To build up a library is to create a life. It’s never just a random collection of books.” – Carlos Maria Dominguez

If you’re going to collect something, it might as well be books. At least inside books, there are entire universes just waiting for us to explore. Acquiring knowledge is always a worthwhile endeavor, and there’s no greater way to learn than through reading a book. This is an activity that engages the mind and teaches us about people we may never meet and places we’ll never be able to visit (some of which don’t even exist). When societies stop reading, they stop questioning. Reading is far from just entertainment. “Books provide a wealth of information, ideas, and perspectives that expand our understanding of the world. Engaging with diverse literary works exposes us to different cultures, historical periods, and social issues, enabling us to develop a well-rounded perspective and a thirst for lifelong learning.” There’s no greater escape than into that of a juicy novel. Snuggling up with a good book helps to eliminate stress from our daily lives, improves our vocabulary and language skills, and lets us dream for a bit. It also helps us find answers and is key to understanding our own emotions; when we read about someone who may be experiencing a similar situation as ourselves, we get to see how they handle it. This is always helpful in that it proves we’re not alone.

Some of the world’s greatest book collections are open to the public. For instance, Thomas Jefferson once had the largest assortment of books in the United States and, “by 1814 when the British burned the nation’s Capitol and the Library of Congress, Jefferson offered to sell his library to Congress as a replacement for the collection destroyed by the British during the War of 1812.” He even agreed to organize the books he acquired by arranging and numbering them! In his own private collection, he chose to arrange his books not by subject or author but by size.

For more on the Library of Congress and other Spartan and the Green Egg explorer pins (and books), check out the website and link below:

For more on what’s written above, check out the following articles:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tsundoku-unread-books-japanese_l_68fea6ace4b0ebfddfba3012

https://www.vogue.in/content/in-defence-of-buying-books-you-may-never-read

https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jefflib.html