Just got my 3rd Kindle. Cannot find the other 2 probably lurking on my jumbled shelves still. Although the new one IS a bit small ,can just about go without my Readers on
For a reminder about the importance of reading books, we can refer to Fahrenheit 451. The books at that time were so precious that individuals memorized whole books.
I would second this for physical copies of movies and music as well, though they do come with the slight drawback of needing a bit more hardware to use than books do.
Don't conflate 'e-book' with 'corporate-controlled licensed (e.g. Amazon Kindle) book'
My wife and I love paper books, we have owned many thousands over the decades, and I have spent many many hours in libraries and bookstores of all sizes, so... it is safe to say I know from books.
But... ever since I had two successive retinal detachments in my right eye seven years ago, regular printed books have been difficult to make out, and I have been 100% e-book. I continue to read as much as I ever have.
If you don't want to be beholden to Amazon or Rakuten (Kobo), it is very easy to purchase e-book files directly from publishers (or in some cases from authors) in the EPUB format that everyone uses these days, download them to the storage and backup media of your choice, and load them into a wide variety of e-reader devices and applications for viewing.
And there's lots of public domain ebooks, too, available for free. Standard Ebooks, for example, takes public domain ebooks and programs them well to take advantage of the latest e-reader technologies, and makes them available for all e-reader devices (iBooks, Kindle, Kobo, Nook, etc.). And they have always refused to censor or alter anything (except for modernizing certain spelling and punctuation, which they are always up-front when they do so). They're always my go-to when I'm looking for any ebooks from the public domain, and they are always looking for volunteers to help them produce ebooks: https://standardebooks.org/
I completely agree, e-books are amazing! If you know how to properly use them, they make the entire literary world more accessible, portable, and egalitarian. Having lived in USSR, I know that people had lives ruined over books they owned. An epub file can be safely stored in encrypted storage and infinitely duplicated for friend and allies, sent over borders, or deleted. Printed books are a great backup medium. It's great that you enjoy your bookshelf, and we definitely need libraries as a fail safe repository. But e-books are one of the greatest things that computers have enabled. Don't conflate Amazon bullshit with e-books pls.
I feel constantly pulled between the desire to give away some of my books to be a bit less materialistic and the desire to have every available surface stacked with enough books that I could never finish them all.
Maybe there's a happy medium (constant cycle of collecting and giving away).
I have not yet found such a medium, despite my wife and daughters' near-constant goading to get rid of more and more of my 5,000+ book library. I live firmly in Umberto Eco's camp: the efficacy of a personal library lies not in whether one will read them all, but in the precious blood one will certainly need in the contentious future.
I own many books which I think it is improbable I'll live long enough to read. But having them here, in my apartment, provides a sustenance and a cheer which I can liken only to Holy Communion.
Digital world does not run on fairy dust so thinking that get rid of books and such only outsources the consumption of the material world out of sight. The problem anyway is not that we are too materialistic but rather that we are not really materialistic at all. At least in the sense of actually valuing the things we create and consume.
"The bookleggers smuggled books to the southwest desert and buried them there in kegs. The memorizers committed to rote memory entire volumes of history, sacred writings, literature, and science, in case some unfortunate book smuggler was caught, tortured, and forced to reveal the location of the kegs…
The project, aimed at saving a small remnant of human culture from the remnant of humanity who wanted it destroyed, was then underway."
Ruth thank you for sharing. It will be an interesting read. A few scholars have drawn conclusions about "woke left" and "woke right" and both lead to the same end—word policing. I quickly skimmed the article and am reminded that each time a nation declines, institutions of learning and information goes first. Surprisingly, this time we haven't noticed it.
B/c we're constantly being distracted by the news, plus some people are using distraction as a very deliberate tactic.
Like this: there's been no word on the whereabouts of the homeless people who were removed from DC 2 weeks ago. And I still want to know the fate of the Latina girls who were taken away from their parents and herded onto a bus owned by one of Betsy De Voss's "charities." The story disappeared within days, during regime 1.0.
I've been saying for a little while now that the best search engine out there is your local library. That can be amended with contributions to your own self curated library of course.
Most public libraries are spending more and more resources on non-book items such as computers, videos and e-books. Those things take up space so they cull classics to make room.
Hi there Gretchen. I've worked at a public library for the past 25 years, so I know what you are talking about. I've seen the trends, and was here for some of the transitions you mentioned. That said, I am lucky to work in one of the systems that is consistently ranked within the top 10 library systems in the country. We still buy a lot of books. Though I am not a huge fan of ebooks for the reasons our kind host has mentioned, people do use our e-resources and at least they reading. At our main branch there are three public floors across two buildings, and four floors of stacks. While we do weed out old books like e.c. mentioned below, we are committed to retaining quite a bit of other books. Going through the stacks to find those old tomes is one of my favorite things, and I've gotten a real education working here.
I am happy the library does get videos though because I've seen a lot of crazy world cinema movies I probably wouldn't have known about if I'd had to rely on video stores (back in the day) or the streaming services now, which don't make them as easily browsable as a shelf in the library.
Likewise I am really happy for all the music CDs the library has bought and its great collection of classical, jazz and popular styles. It allows me to continue to DJ on the radio, and given me a chance to listen to pretty much all kinds of stuff I might not have purchased for myself.
For public libraries I think there does need to be mostly books, then music on CD, and some DVDs. A lot of people who can't afford streaming services come in and borrow our DVDs allowing their family some entertainment. Or is used by those who don't want to give there money to Bezos & co...
Finally the same is true of our computers. I wish they still had a few typewriters like when I started, but even though huge portions of the internet aren't worth looking at, so many essential services are done through the internet, that homeless people and others in need do have a place to come where they can check their email, fill out applications, etc. So I think it is good to have some computers for people to use.
Pulblic libraries have always culled books. There's only so much room on the shelves, and if nobody's checked out a title for 2+ years (longer in some systems), it ends up as a discard and goes into the library's book sale. This can be frustrating, and I've seen snall gems get cut. But the library I used that pulled the most titles for discards was able to purchase a lot of excellent books, new and reissued. Their semi-annual book sales were a thing of wonder. The selection was unlike anything I've come across elsewhere. And they raised a fair amount of money that way.
Yes but in fairly recent histories, all too many libraries culled books that were absolute classics, with no regard for value of content or why they should keep them available to the public. They gave up and devoted their shelves to what they felt people wanted: romance, detective, and science fiction/fantasy. There are retail bookstores in small towns that do that much. So what is the point of public taxpayers only paying for common trash?
I had a long discussion on this with a used bookstore owner, downthread. I cannot understand the growth of this trend, except for multiple copies of the same title that nobody will buy at library sales. And it might well be part of what is going on. I really don't know. But I doubt any library system can sell 15 discards of the exact same Stephen King title, for example - not least because a lot of "big" books take a beating from patrons who don't know how to take care of actual books.
Yo, e.c. ... I love the Friends of the Library (the org that usually puts on those book sales). Yeah, we have to discard some stuff. I've built up my own book collection very well from hitting up those used sales, or where I am, going to their shop/warehouse to find books. All the money gets fed back into library programs so its a win-win.
Discarding after X number of years - especially if a book hasn't been checked out - has been going on for many years now.
Libraries only have so much shelf space, especially small branch libraries. So in essence, there has to be some kind of discard system in order to create space for newer books. It can be ruthless, but since most systems have multiple copies of popular new(ish) titles, it doesn't hurt to get rid of the excess. (Stephen King novels are a good example of extra copies = can cull most of the extras.)
The same kind of thing happens in bookstores. X titles that don't sell get sent back to the publisher and/or distributor. It is heavy physical work - getting returns ready, getting new titles shelved, etc. (Speaking as a longtime bookstore clerk, although it's been a while since i last did that.)
This is why I think it’s so important for us to have our private libraries. I don’t have hope of reading half of what I own, but I like to know they are still here and in print form, even some new books that libraries aren’t interested in.
I hope that my books don't get tossed in the trash, you know? Which is what happens too often, or else the books are shoved into boxes and go for next to nothing at estate sales.
While I love my books, I *know* that I can't take them with me, and that I need to sell a bunch while I'm still able to do that. There's a point at which we have to start letting go of material possessions. While I'm in no hurry to leave the planet, a lot of my books need to be sent out into the wider world again. My entire grad school library, for example. They're not texts, but people might have need of them, as i did.
I am not sure that "classics" are being "culled" to make room for other media. I mean, when I was a kid until the advent of the CD, libraries had LPs, which are big, take up a lot of room, and are pretty heavy, both for storage + moving them around.
I doubt many places have gotten rid of books to make room for new collections, aside from multiple copies of the same title(s).
No, they did exactly that in our small Oregon town of 30k population. You would think they would try and care for their sacred repository status. But no. First big FOL sale I scored an original 5 book set of Winston Churchill’s History of the English-Speaking Peoples. With dust jackets. Plus many other astounding classics. They did not replace them with modern editions of same title. Only the Fantasy/SciFi, Detective, and Romance titles were expanded and featured.
Wait - that Churchill set was a library discard? Or was it a donation to the sale? I'm confused, as sale donations are sold, not added to library collections.
Much as I understand why it's probably not a good idea to discard their only set, Churchill wasn't really a historian per se, and that set is very out of date. It's long since been superseded, and I'm hoping your library has made purchases accordingly. If anything, I'd be more inclined (if i were a librarian) to hang onto his WWII memoirs.
But since i am not in your area and don't see how this is being handled, i can't say much. Did they have multiple sets? I'm betting that they did
. Common tactic with branch library holdings, b/c they generally don't have all that much shelf space.
I have far more books than I will ever be able to read - I am 70 - and I revel in that fact and love that I have choice and agency that no one can take away from me. I will continue to acquire books, the knowledge they bring and the joy they bring as long as I live.
I bought an old collection of Dahl's books just in case I have grandchildren. im collecting physical books for all the reasons you laid out. Im focussing on "classics".
Edward Stratemeyer was a kind and farsighted man who, a hundred years ago, grasped that many children weren't falling in love with reading who might do so if books were available to them which they would want to read. And thus were born The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Tom Swift, and several more.
There is a Facebook group populated almost entirely by Boomers who have a grudge and are on a perpetual search for Hardy Boys books. Ah, but they're available, you say? Well, yes, they are, but anticipating the high tide of political correctness, the Stratemeyer syndicate, or whatever it's called, long ago purified them of any inelegance which, though acceptable in 1930, might tend to irritate certain contemporary readers. I don't know what changes were made, but the lesson is that if they'll eff with The Hardy Boys, no original writing is safe.
For some temperamental reason, I prefer paperbacks to hardbacks, and I certainly prefer the generally much cheaper prices, but any hardback you can get probably has a better chance of not having been tampered with by a publisher, and certainly has a much better chance of lasting longer physically, because unless things have changed, the paper used in printing them is of much better quality.
Compare the paper of a hardback you've owned for twenty years with the paper of a paperback you've owned approximately as long. And really, you can forget about the twenty years. There can be a great disparity in the comparative time you've owned each: recently, I was looking over a hardback of Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour trilogy. I bought it in 2005. The paper is clean and white. But a paperback copy of Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes which I bought at most seven years ago and which I looked at equally recently had paper so yellowed and generally dilapidated that I threw it out and will be ordering another copy. I trust it won't have been "updated."
There is a newly published edition of Orwell's 1984. I don't know whether the text has been messed with. I do know that it has an introduction in which the writer apologizes for some of Winston's less than currently acceptable reactions.
Well, mass market paperbacks have never been printed on anything but the cheapest paper available. It's not as fragile as newsprint, but it's pretty close. I have some trade paperbacks that were nice, but the pages now have acid burn as bad as anything you'll see in a lot of mass-market pbs.
Check on the reverse of the title page in trade paperbacks to see if the publisher used acid-free paper. (Though some publishing houses list that at the back of the book.)
Wonderful piece! So jealous that you have Questioning Minds! I am a generation younger than you and for years, I’ve been collecting books (thousands!) in this paranoid fear we ate going to need to preserve something. I don’t feel so paranoid anymore.
I’m doing the same with jazz CD’s. I pick up one or two each month, often used copies of classic releases in fear of a coming apocalypse of physical media.
But people are actually buying physical media these days, from new LPs to cassettes (i don't get that, per format), as well as CDs. Unless you're getting obscure titles on indie labels or limited pressings on disc, there's (probably) little to worry about.
As with MP3 blogs (the illegal ones) about 15-20 years ago, there are a *lot* of younger people with an interest in older music (prog rock, for example) and physical media.
Your instincts have been sound, and many have shared them, and collected as you have done. I wish there were a way we could be at least prospectively in contact with everyone who has these instincts, and has been collecting, also. But how could we subvert surveillance? Carrier pigeon?
Of course, books come about because of writers and publishers. If you aren’t supporter them, then you’ll have no new books. The old ones are great, of course, but we need to support those who create new books, as well.
Amen Brother. If you are ever in Oxford, Mississippi stop by Square Books. It's not a big bookstore but everything on its shelves is significant, not a single dud that I could tell. The Faulkner section takes up about 50 linear feet. And check out Waterstones in Cambridge England. Waterstones will make you realize how puerile most American chain bookstores are. They have a collection of tracts and pamphlets that they publish themselves based on ideas and writers from the 18th and 19th centuries--the full versions of things you only get in anthology excerpts today.
I did a book tour that brought me to Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi, and I had a grand time. We recorded a Thacker Mountain Radio broadcast there, and I also played piano. (I wish I had a recording of that broadcast.) The people were friendly and I autographed lots of books. I have very happy memories of that visit.
As both a print and an Ebook enthusiast, I agree wholeheartedly with what you say about the advantages of print books. And while print books might be the ultimate "killer app", they have a massive Achilles' Heel: the cost of transportation.
Here in New Zealand, what used to cost three or four dollars to ship a book from America now costs $25-35 for a paperback. Even more for a hardbound copy. I often have Amazon drop-ship copies of my own books to people in the US. The shipping usually costs me more than twice what the book cost. And shipping costs are only going to RISE, as energy costs escalate. The obvious answer is to print them locally, though that's problematic.
So while I'd LOVE to keep buying print copies of books, I've gone almost entirely to Kindle and Ebooks. I read with a simple Paperwhite Kindle, so I'm not constantly diverted with internet links, videos, etc. It's as close to print as I've gotten with computers, but it's still not as good as holding a book in my hands. And incidentally, I still read a REAL newspaper every day.
But your points about Amazon's (and others') alteration of books--especially classics--is spot on. It's a dangerous, slippery slope, and one we should all be aware of. Thanks for another fine article.
It's true. Many Americans are unaware of how expensive it is to print and ship books. Sticker prices have stayed much the same (with notable exceptions), so smaller presses have to print shorter runs and otherwise eat the cost on distribution expenses. It's not easy to make it all pencil out.
Books used to be so much cheaper to ship. I used to order books from the UK all the time, because shipping was nominal. France, too.
Now, it’s exorbitant.
Last year, I was lucky enough to visit Portugal. I brought an extra bag and flew home a whole suitcase of books in Portuguese, as they’re almost impossible to get here.
Agree with my whole heart! My books are friends of highest order. They only argue on a clear and logical basis; they make their points clearly and with constructive ideas and thinking processes. They are always welcome in my home at any time. They give me hope for the future and hold out against assaults upon the human mind and body. Books contain life's mysteries and solutions. Get books. They are good for you.
It's not an unrelated thing that a rich first cousin of mine who is a psychopath despises public libraries, because his county takes an unnoticeable amount of his money each year to help fund its library.
Most people cannot afford to buy lots of hardbacks at list price.
You know, if you posted about public libraries (the ultimate "data centers") instead of constantly fulminating about AI, it would be great. Not least because rural public libraries have been in big trouble for decades - and due to massive funding cuts, it's getting steadily worse.
The ability to slam virtually every kind of digital whatever is an elitist thing. So is attacking a restaurant chain that a lot of ordinary people enjoy because it reminds them of where they grew up.
I have no time and less patience for the constant anti-AI posts. Ted, you are such a good writer when it comes to music. Maybe if you play to your strengths, I'd feel differently.
There's just no pleasing some people.
And FWIW, Anna Akhmatova was fortunate to survive long enough for Stalin to die and for Khrushchev to become Party boss. She *survived* WWII and the Stalinist mass murders, famine (Ukraine), and the many purges. And gulags. She was never sent to one, and she was damn lucky. Her son... not so much.
Did she "triumph"? No, I don't believe that she did. She was able to live better under Khrushchev, and her writing career wasn't *as strictly curtailed* as it was under Stalin, but she was still poor, like most Russians. She was as subject to chronic food (etc.) shortages as other Russians - the Party bosses excepted. She wasn't in good health and, like other Russians, really couldn't get the medical care she needed.
Like many in Russia who had undergone hunger and privation, she didn't get to live nearly as long as she might have in, say, the US or Canada.
And... I know. You'll probably ban me again. I honestly don't care, though I'll miss the good discussions I've had here.
I hope the AI bubble bursts. For many reasons. But I'd be lying if I claimed not to want to see you proven wrong about it all.
Anyway, we are descending into authoritarianism and you're boasting about your personal library.
To mangle metaphors, Ted frequently writes with a broad brush. He gets finds a concept he likes, like comparing book collections to data centers, and misses the key points that public libraries are the true data centers under threat, or that you can buy e-books from publishers, not just slimy Amazon.
I find his writing to be frequently lazy, and often annoying, but I haven’t quite guven up on him yet. I see nothing yet that would tempt me to spend $6 a month on him.
Nonetheless, I really liked your post; Ted could take some lessons from you and be better for it. If he were smart, he’d ask you to be his editor! Cheers and be well!
Barry - Many thanks! I've been feeling out of place here, and this particular post hit nerves.
I was going to quit the blog altogether, but maybe I'll stick around...
Edited to add: I ponied up for a Kobo about 6 months ago. *Never* going back to a Kindle, even though I have one (well, two - one with page-turn buttons). I haven't bought anything from the Rakuten Kobo store, but it looks like it's far better than Amazon's setup.
Barry, e-ink screens are the closest thing to actual paper that we can get. There's minimal or zero backlighting.
I can't read books on backlit computer or tablet screens. But e-ink - no,problem!
Mobileread is a good site for recs and reviews and much more. Joining the forums, or even just reading them, can be extraordinarily helpful. I bought a Kindle II years ago (mid-00s) and got a lot of problems with that model straightened out via the forums.
You might be surprised! (I now have an ancient Kindle, a 3 y.o. Kindle that Amazon put on clearance - but i prefer the basic Kobo I bought last year, for many reasons.)
The book is a huge advance technologically over a laptop:
* Has virtually infinite battery life
* Is extremely shock resistant - can withstand a drop of at least 10 feet onto a concrete floor
* Although not extremely water resistant, even after complete immersion the data can eventually be retrieved
* Fully Random-Access,with the ability to add notes
* High contrast display
* Inexpensive compared to a laptop
The only problem I have is that the type seems to be getting smaller. At least on Kindle you can change the type face and size.
Just got my 3rd Kindle. Cannot find the other 2 probably lurking on my jumbled shelves still. Although the new one IS a bit small ,can just about go without my Readers on
For a reminder about the importance of reading books, we can refer to Fahrenheit 451. The books at that time were so precious that individuals memorized whole books.
I immediately thought of that classic.
I kept wondering whether Bezos is so soulless he'd capitulate to book-burners.
I would second this for physical copies of movies and music as well, though they do come with the slight drawback of needing a bit more hardware to use than books do.
Don't conflate 'e-book' with 'corporate-controlled licensed (e.g. Amazon Kindle) book'
My wife and I love paper books, we have owned many thousands over the decades, and I have spent many many hours in libraries and bookstores of all sizes, so... it is safe to say I know from books.
But... ever since I had two successive retinal detachments in my right eye seven years ago, regular printed books have been difficult to make out, and I have been 100% e-book. I continue to read as much as I ever have.
If you don't want to be beholden to Amazon or Rakuten (Kobo), it is very easy to purchase e-book files directly from publishers (or in some cases from authors) in the EPUB format that everyone uses these days, download them to the storage and backup media of your choice, and load them into a wide variety of e-reader devices and applications for viewing.
And there's lots of public domain ebooks, too, available for free. Standard Ebooks, for example, takes public domain ebooks and programs them well to take advantage of the latest e-reader technologies, and makes them available for all e-reader devices (iBooks, Kindle, Kobo, Nook, etc.). And they have always refused to censor or alter anything (except for modernizing certain spelling and punctuation, which they are always up-front when they do so). They're always my go-to when I'm looking for any ebooks from the public domain, and they are always looking for volunteers to help them produce ebooks: https://standardebooks.org/
Devin - Standard Ebooks does a marvelous job at properly formatting a lot of great "lost" (and not-so-lost) material. I really appreciate their work.
And I imagine your local library may have e-books to check out- try the main central library, but my library offers e-books ❤️📚
Pam - THIS
I completely agree, e-books are amazing! If you know how to properly use them, they make the entire literary world more accessible, portable, and egalitarian. Having lived in USSR, I know that people had lives ruined over books they owned. An epub file can be safely stored in encrypted storage and infinitely duplicated for friend and allies, sent over borders, or deleted. Printed books are a great backup medium. It's great that you enjoy your bookshelf, and we definitely need libraries as a fail safe repository. But e-books are one of the greatest things that computers have enabled. Don't conflate Amazon bullshit with e-books pls.
Anton - yes!!!
Thank you for saying that!
I feel constantly pulled between the desire to give away some of my books to be a bit less materialistic and the desire to have every available surface stacked with enough books that I could never finish them all.
Maybe there's a happy medium (constant cycle of collecting and giving away).
I have not yet found such a medium, despite my wife and daughters' near-constant goading to get rid of more and more of my 5,000+ book library. I live firmly in Umberto Eco's camp: the efficacy of a personal library lies not in whether one will read them all, but in the precious blood one will certainly need in the contentious future.
I own many books which I think it is improbable I'll live long enough to read. But having them here, in my apartment, provides a sustenance and a cheer which I can liken only to Holy Communion.
Digital world does not run on fairy dust so thinking that get rid of books and such only outsources the consumption of the material world out of sight. The problem anyway is not that we are too materialistic but rather that we are not really materialistic at all. At least in the sense of actually valuing the things we create and consume.
This isn’t about getting rid of books in general. It’s asking myself how I can take a smaller share for me and give to others.
Can't take 'em with ya!
Never try to argue with a man whose TV is larger than his bookshelf. - Anon
Apologies for stealing that immediately.
I think Paul Chek said this, but not sure.
So many books, so little time. 🤘😎🤘
Reading as resistance.
Agreed! Booklegging is resistance and provides a solid data center that will last far beyond the digital. See "A Guide to Booklegging: How (and why) to collect, preserve, and read the printed word" https://schooloftheunconformed.substack.com/p/a-guide-to-booklegging-how-and-why
"The bookleggers smuggled books to the southwest desert and buried them there in kegs. The memorizers committed to rote memory entire volumes of history, sacred writings, literature, and science, in case some unfortunate book smuggler was caught, tortured, and forced to reveal the location of the kegs…
The project, aimed at saving a small remnant of human culture from the remnant of humanity who wanted it destroyed, was then underway."
from A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller
I love Canticle. More people need to read it.
Ruth thank you for sharing. It will be an interesting read. A few scholars have drawn conclusions about "woke left" and "woke right" and both lead to the same end—word policing. I quickly skimmed the article and am reminded that each time a nation declines, institutions of learning and information goes first. Surprisingly, this time we haven't noticed it.
B/c we're constantly being distracted by the news, plus some people are using distraction as a very deliberate tactic.
Like this: there's been no word on the whereabouts of the homeless people who were removed from DC 2 weeks ago. And I still want to know the fate of the Latina girls who were taken away from their parents and herded onto a bus owned by one of Betsy De Voss's "charities." The story disappeared within days, during regime 1.0.
Am I distracted? Sure. I think most folks are.
VERY Cool!
I've been saying for a little while now that the best search engine out there is your local library. That can be amended with contributions to your own self curated library of course.
Most public libraries are spending more and more resources on non-book items such as computers, videos and e-books. Those things take up space so they cull classics to make room.
Hi there Gretchen. I've worked at a public library for the past 25 years, so I know what you are talking about. I've seen the trends, and was here for some of the transitions you mentioned. That said, I am lucky to work in one of the systems that is consistently ranked within the top 10 library systems in the country. We still buy a lot of books. Though I am not a huge fan of ebooks for the reasons our kind host has mentioned, people do use our e-resources and at least they reading. At our main branch there are three public floors across two buildings, and four floors of stacks. While we do weed out old books like e.c. mentioned below, we are committed to retaining quite a bit of other books. Going through the stacks to find those old tomes is one of my favorite things, and I've gotten a real education working here.
I am happy the library does get videos though because I've seen a lot of crazy world cinema movies I probably wouldn't have known about if I'd had to rely on video stores (back in the day) or the streaming services now, which don't make them as easily browsable as a shelf in the library.
Likewise I am really happy for all the music CDs the library has bought and its great collection of classical, jazz and popular styles. It allows me to continue to DJ on the radio, and given me a chance to listen to pretty much all kinds of stuff I might not have purchased for myself.
For public libraries I think there does need to be mostly books, then music on CD, and some DVDs. A lot of people who can't afford streaming services come in and borrow our DVDs allowing their family some entertainment. Or is used by those who don't want to give there money to Bezos & co...
Finally the same is true of our computers. I wish they still had a few typewriters like when I started, but even though huge portions of the internet aren't worth looking at, so many essential services are done through the internet, that homeless people and others in need do have a place to come where they can check their email, fill out applications, etc. So I think it is good to have some computers for people to use.
Pulblic libraries have always culled books. There's only so much room on the shelves, and if nobody's checked out a title for 2+ years (longer in some systems), it ends up as a discard and goes into the library's book sale. This can be frustrating, and I've seen snall gems get cut. But the library I used that pulled the most titles for discards was able to purchase a lot of excellent books, new and reissued. Their semi-annual book sales were a thing of wonder. The selection was unlike anything I've come across elsewhere. And they raised a fair amount of money that way.
Yes but in fairly recent histories, all too many libraries culled books that were absolute classics, with no regard for value of content or why they should keep them available to the public. They gave up and devoted their shelves to what they felt people wanted: romance, detective, and science fiction/fantasy. There are retail bookstores in small towns that do that much. So what is the point of public taxpayers only paying for common trash?
I had a long discussion on this with a used bookstore owner, downthread. I cannot understand the growth of this trend, except for multiple copies of the same title that nobody will buy at library sales. And it might well be part of what is going on. I really don't know. But I doubt any library system can sell 15 discards of the exact same Stephen King title, for example - not least because a lot of "big" books take a beating from patrons who don't know how to take care of actual books.
Yo, e.c. ... I love the Friends of the Library (the org that usually puts on those book sales). Yeah, we have to discard some stuff. I've built up my own book collection very well from hitting up those used sales, or where I am, going to their shop/warehouse to find books. All the money gets fed back into library programs so its a win-win.
It really is a win-win!
Marry Harrington sparked a discussion of library resources here: https://substack.com/@ruthgaskovski/note/c-144269897?r=891oi
Discarding after X number of years - especially if a book hasn't been checked out - has been going on for many years now.
Libraries only have so much shelf space, especially small branch libraries. So in essence, there has to be some kind of discard system in order to create space for newer books. It can be ruthless, but since most systems have multiple copies of popular new(ish) titles, it doesn't hurt to get rid of the excess. (Stephen King novels are a good example of extra copies = can cull most of the extras.)
The same kind of thing happens in bookstores. X titles that don't sell get sent back to the publisher and/or distributor. It is heavy physical work - getting returns ready, getting new titles shelved, etc. (Speaking as a longtime bookstore clerk, although it's been a while since i last did that.)
This is why I think it’s so important for us to have our private libraries. I don’t have hope of reading half of what I own, but I like to know they are still here and in print form, even some new books that libraries aren’t interested in.
I hope that my books don't get tossed in the trash, you know? Which is what happens too often, or else the books are shoved into boxes and go for next to nothing at estate sales.
While I love my books, I *know* that I can't take them with me, and that I need to sell a bunch while I'm still able to do that. There's a point at which we have to start letting go of material possessions. While I'm in no hurry to leave the planet, a lot of my books need to be sent out into the wider world again. My entire grad school library, for example. They're not texts, but people might have need of them, as i did.
I used to work at a library and this is exactly what I saw. Tragic.
I am not sure that "classics" are being "culled" to make room for other media. I mean, when I was a kid until the advent of the CD, libraries had LPs, which are big, take up a lot of room, and are pretty heavy, both for storage + moving them around.
I doubt many places have gotten rid of books to make room for new collections, aside from multiple copies of the same title(s).
No, they did exactly that in our small Oregon town of 30k population. You would think they would try and care for their sacred repository status. But no. First big FOL sale I scored an original 5 book set of Winston Churchill’s History of the English-Speaking Peoples. With dust jackets. Plus many other astounding classics. They did not replace them with modern editions of same title. Only the Fantasy/SciFi, Detective, and Romance titles were expanded and featured.
Did you see this discussion I linked to above? Sparked by Mary Harrington.
https://substack.com/@ruthgaskovski/note/c-144269897?r=891oi
Wait - that Churchill set was a library discard? Or was it a donation to the sale? I'm confused, as sale donations are sold, not added to library collections.
Much as I understand why it's probably not a good idea to discard their only set, Churchill wasn't really a historian per se, and that set is very out of date. It's long since been superseded, and I'm hoping your library has made purchases accordingly. If anything, I'd be more inclined (if i were a librarian) to hang onto his WWII memoirs.
But since i am not in your area and don't see how this is being handled, i can't say much. Did they have multiple sets? I'm betting that they did
. Common tactic with branch library holdings, b/c they generally don't have all that much shelf space.
I have far more books than I will ever be able to read - I am 70 - and I revel in that fact and love that I have choice and agency that no one can take away from me. I will continue to acquire books, the knowledge they bring and the joy they bring as long as I live.
I bought an old collection of Dahl's books just in case I have grandchildren. im collecting physical books for all the reasons you laid out. Im focussing on "classics".
Here's how sinister the times are:
Edward Stratemeyer was a kind and farsighted man who, a hundred years ago, grasped that many children weren't falling in love with reading who might do so if books were available to them which they would want to read. And thus were born The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Tom Swift, and several more.
There is a Facebook group populated almost entirely by Boomers who have a grudge and are on a perpetual search for Hardy Boys books. Ah, but they're available, you say? Well, yes, they are, but anticipating the high tide of political correctness, the Stratemeyer syndicate, or whatever it's called, long ago purified them of any inelegance which, though acceptable in 1930, might tend to irritate certain contemporary readers. I don't know what changes were made, but the lesson is that if they'll eff with The Hardy Boys, no original writing is safe.
For some temperamental reason, I prefer paperbacks to hardbacks, and I certainly prefer the generally much cheaper prices, but any hardback you can get probably has a better chance of not having been tampered with by a publisher, and certainly has a much better chance of lasting longer physically, because unless things have changed, the paper used in printing them is of much better quality.
Compare the paper of a hardback you've owned for twenty years with the paper of a paperback you've owned approximately as long. And really, you can forget about the twenty years. There can be a great disparity in the comparative time you've owned each: recently, I was looking over a hardback of Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour trilogy. I bought it in 2005. The paper is clean and white. But a paperback copy of Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes which I bought at most seven years ago and which I looked at equally recently had paper so yellowed and generally dilapidated that I threw it out and will be ordering another copy. I trust it won't have been "updated."
There is a newly published edition of Orwell's 1984. I don't know whether the text has been messed with. I do know that it has an introduction in which the writer apologizes for some of Winston's less than currently acceptable reactions.
Well, mass market paperbacks have never been printed on anything but the cheapest paper available. It's not as fragile as newsprint, but it's pretty close. I have some trade paperbacks that were nice, but the pages now have acid burn as bad as anything you'll see in a lot of mass-market pbs.
Check on the reverse of the title page in trade paperbacks to see if the publisher used acid-free paper. (Though some publishing houses list that at the back of the book.)
Thank you for the suggestion!
My pleasure! I sold books (as a store clerk) for a good few years and in a number of different stores. Lousy pay, interesting gig.
Cuz you know Winston needed some fixin'.
Indeed. It's creepy.
Wonderful piece! So jealous that you have Questioning Minds! I am a generation younger than you and for years, I’ve been collecting books (thousands!) in this paranoid fear we ate going to need to preserve something. I don’t feel so paranoid anymore.
I’m doing the same with jazz CD’s. I pick up one or two each month, often used copies of classic releases in fear of a coming apocalypse of physical media.
But people are actually buying physical media these days, from new LPs to cassettes (i don't get that, per format), as well as CDs. Unless you're getting obscure titles on indie labels or limited pressings on disc, there's (probably) little to worry about.
As with MP3 blogs (the illegal ones) about 15-20 years ago, there are a *lot* of younger people with an interest in older music (prog rock, for example) and physical media.
Your instincts have been sound, and many have shared them, and collected as you have done. I wish there were a way we could be at least prospectively in contact with everyone who has these instincts, and has been collecting, also. But how could we subvert surveillance? Carrier pigeon?
Congrats on your impressive book collection. Someday you may be very glad you found them worthy of hanging on to.
Thanks!
Of course, books come about because of writers and publishers. If you aren’t supporter them, then you’ll have no new books. The old ones are great, of course, but we need to support those who create new books, as well.
Let’s support the *good* writers- there are plenty of newer books not worth spending time or money on.
Amen Brother. If you are ever in Oxford, Mississippi stop by Square Books. It's not a big bookstore but everything on its shelves is significant, not a single dud that I could tell. The Faulkner section takes up about 50 linear feet. And check out Waterstones in Cambridge England. Waterstones will make you realize how puerile most American chain bookstores are. They have a collection of tracts and pamphlets that they publish themselves based on ideas and writers from the 18th and 19th centuries--the full versions of things you only get in anthology excerpts today.
I did a book tour that brought me to Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi, and I had a grand time. We recorded a Thacker Mountain Radio broadcast there, and I also played piano. (I wish I had a recording of that broadcast.) The people were friendly and I autographed lots of books. I have very happy memories of that visit.
As both a print and an Ebook enthusiast, I agree wholeheartedly with what you say about the advantages of print books. And while print books might be the ultimate "killer app", they have a massive Achilles' Heel: the cost of transportation.
Here in New Zealand, what used to cost three or four dollars to ship a book from America now costs $25-35 for a paperback. Even more for a hardbound copy. I often have Amazon drop-ship copies of my own books to people in the US. The shipping usually costs me more than twice what the book cost. And shipping costs are only going to RISE, as energy costs escalate. The obvious answer is to print them locally, though that's problematic.
So while I'd LOVE to keep buying print copies of books, I've gone almost entirely to Kindle and Ebooks. I read with a simple Paperwhite Kindle, so I'm not constantly diverted with internet links, videos, etc. It's as close to print as I've gotten with computers, but it's still not as good as holding a book in my hands. And incidentally, I still read a REAL newspaper every day.
But your points about Amazon's (and others') alteration of books--especially classics--is spot on. It's a dangerous, slippery slope, and one we should all be aware of. Thanks for another fine article.
It's true. Many Americans are unaware of how expensive it is to print and ship books. Sticker prices have stayed much the same (with notable exceptions), so smaller presses have to print shorter runs and otherwise eat the cost on distribution expenses. It's not easy to make it all pencil out.
I didn’t realize how good we have it in the U.S.
Books used to be so much cheaper to ship. I used to order books from the UK all the time, because shipping was nominal. France, too.
Now, it’s exorbitant.
Last year, I was lucky enough to visit Portugal. I brought an extra bag and flew home a whole suitcase of books in Portuguese, as they’re almost impossible to get here.
John - THIS, a thousand times over! I'm thinking mainly of long distance moving costs for a sizeable personal library. It *really* costs $$$$$.
Per editing Roald Dahl and other authors, Amazon had nothing to do with that. The publishers are the ones responsible.
Agree with my whole heart! My books are friends of highest order. They only argue on a clear and logical basis; they make their points clearly and with constructive ideas and thinking processes. They are always welcome in my home at any time. They give me hope for the future and hold out against assaults upon the human mind and body. Books contain life's mysteries and solutions. Get books. They are good for you.
It's not an unrelated thing that a rich first cousin of mine who is a psychopath despises public libraries, because his county takes an unnoticeable amount of his money each year to help fund its library.
Most people cannot afford to buy lots of hardbacks at list price.
You know, if you posted about public libraries (the ultimate "data centers") instead of constantly fulminating about AI, it would be great. Not least because rural public libraries have been in big trouble for decades - and due to massive funding cuts, it's getting steadily worse.
The ability to slam virtually every kind of digital whatever is an elitist thing. So is attacking a restaurant chain that a lot of ordinary people enjoy because it reminds them of where they grew up.
I have no time and less patience for the constant anti-AI posts. Ted, you are such a good writer when it comes to music. Maybe if you play to your strengths, I'd feel differently.
There's just no pleasing some people.
And FWIW, Anna Akhmatova was fortunate to survive long enough for Stalin to die and for Khrushchev to become Party boss. She *survived* WWII and the Stalinist mass murders, famine (Ukraine), and the many purges. And gulags. She was never sent to one, and she was damn lucky. Her son... not so much.
Did she "triumph"? No, I don't believe that she did. She was able to live better under Khrushchev, and her writing career wasn't *as strictly curtailed* as it was under Stalin, but she was still poor, like most Russians. She was as subject to chronic food (etc.) shortages as other Russians - the Party bosses excepted. She wasn't in good health and, like other Russians, really couldn't get the medical care she needed.
Like many in Russia who had undergone hunger and privation, she didn't get to live nearly as long as she might have in, say, the US or Canada.
And... I know. You'll probably ban me again. I honestly don't care, though I'll miss the good discussions I've had here.
I hope the AI bubble bursts. For many reasons. But I'd be lying if I claimed not to want to see you proven wrong about it all.
Anyway, we are descending into authoritarianism and you're boasting about your personal library.
Spare me, please.
To mangle metaphors, Ted frequently writes with a broad brush. He gets finds a concept he likes, like comparing book collections to data centers, and misses the key points that public libraries are the true data centers under threat, or that you can buy e-books from publishers, not just slimy Amazon.
I find his writing to be frequently lazy, and often annoying, but I haven’t quite guven up on him yet. I see nothing yet that would tempt me to spend $6 a month on him.
Nonetheless, I really liked your post; Ted could take some lessons from you and be better for it. If he were smart, he’d ask you to be his editor! Cheers and be well!
Barry - Many thanks! I've been feeling out of place here, and this particular post hit nerves.
I was going to quit the blog altogether, but maybe I'll stick around...
Edited to add: I ponied up for a Kobo about 6 months ago. *Never* going back to a Kindle, even though I have one (well, two - one with page-turn buttons). I haven't bought anything from the Rakuten Kobo store, but it looks like it's far better than Amazon's setup.
Thanks for the tip. I work in front of monitors all day so I’ve avoided using e-readers so far in favor of real books, but I’ll keep that in mind.
Barry, e-ink screens are the closest thing to actual paper that we can get. There's minimal or zero backlighting.
I can't read books on backlit computer or tablet screens. But e-ink - no,problem!
Mobileread is a good site for recs and reviews and much more. Joining the forums, or even just reading them, can be extraordinarily helpful. I bought a Kindle II years ago (mid-00s) and got a lot of problems with that model straightened out via the forums.
You might be surprised! (I now have an ancient Kindle, a 3 y.o. Kindle that Amazon put on clearance - but i prefer the basic Kobo I bought last year, for many reasons.)
Avid reader who loves books!! I hope and pray you are correct!! May we be a people of the word!!