4 ms·

I buy way more books than I ever read. In a moment of insight one day it occurred to me that when I was contemplating buying a book, it wasn't the book I was af

by weavie 10y ago

I buy way more books than I ever read. In a moment of insight one day it occurred to me that when I was contemplating buying a book, it wasn't the book I was after it was the knowledge contained within, and actually just buying the book wasn't enough to give me what I needed. I then realised that I would actually have to read it. So I wasn't just paying for it with money, I was paying with time. Quite often time that I couldn't afford. I still have too many unread books on my bookshelf, but this has helped me temper my obsession a bit. Now if only I could buy some more time..

aswanson 10y ago
I have far too many as well. An interesting motivating math experiment is to do the math on how much free time you have and how long it takes you to read an average book to compute how many you can read before you die. It's a frighteningly small number, at least for me.
- ladytron 10y ago
  I recently tried the Abaris life expectancy app and was pleasantly surprised when they estimated I will live to be 96 years old. Even if they are off by 10 years, it's still pretty good. Assuming the last 5 years are a wash due to dementia, I still have many years left to get to all my books. I would try the app if I were you. I always thought it was more like the late 70s. Maybe we will all have more time than we think! Makes burning a few years on a startup now also seem like an ok idea. Life is long, for many of us - according to the actuaries.
jlg23 10y ago
I friend of mine, alternative spectrum publisher for 40 years, found a pretty good solution: For every book he buys, he has to get rid off another one. Literally: One book into his library, one book out. His motivation was that he simply did not have any more space for books in his house and his SO made up this rule. When I was about 20 (already owning more than 5000 books that I had paid for with my own money) I tried to apply it. A miracle happened: After a few weeks I realized that it was not just about some arbitrary "equilibrium of books" in my bookshelf. What I did realize instead: I could not decide which book to get rid off because I could not even remember most of them! A few years later I moved out of my apartment/the country/the continent and just gave away all books I did not instantaneously decide to keep. Ever since I stopped the compulsory book buying thing and only buy those I desperately want to read now. If I don't have time right now, it goes on a list of book to buy (compared to the list of books bought to read). Result: I read 100% of the books I buy. EDIT: And of those I read, most go to public libraries when I am done, the few books I really, really want to keep (well, in storage in my home country/continent) fill 2 boxes. The rest of them, I can buy again when I really need them.

by weavie 10y ago

aswanson 10y ago

I have far too many as well. An interesting motivating math experiment is to do the math on how much free time you have and how long it takes you to read an average book to compute how many you can read before you die. It's a frighteningly small number, at least for me.

ladytron 10y ago
I recently tried the Abaris life expectancy app and was pleasantly surprised when they estimated I will live to be 96 years old. Even if they are off by 10 years, it's still pretty good. Assuming the last 5 years are a wash due to dementia, I still have many years left to get to all my books. I would try the app if I were you. I always thought it was more like the late 70s. Maybe we will all have more time than we think! Makes burning a few years on a startup now also seem like an ok idea. Life is long, for many of us - according to the actuaries.

jlg23 10y ago

I friend of mine, alternative spectrum publisher for 40 years, found a pretty good solution: For every book he buys, he has to get rid off another one. Literally: One book into his library, one book out. His motivation was that he simply did not have any more space for books in his house and his SO made up this rule. When I was about 20 (already owning more than 5000 books that I had paid for with my own money) I tried to apply it. A miracle happened: After a few weeks I realized that it was not just about some arbitrary "equilibrium of books" in my bookshelf. What I did realize instead: I could not decide which book to get rid off because I could not even remember most of them! A few years later I moved out of my apartment/the country/the continent and just gave away all books I did not instantaneously decide to keep. Ever since I stopped the compulsory book buying thing and only buy those I desperately want to read now. If I don't have time right now, it goes on a list of book to buy (compared to the list of books bought to read). Result: I read 100% of the books I buy. EDIT: And of those I read, most go to public libraries when I am done, the few books I really, really want to keep (well, in storage in my home country/continent) fill 2 boxes. The rest of them, I can buy again when I really need them.