The more time goes by, the more I come to realise I brought my books as a way to 'gain' knowledge. Why? Because truthfully many I never read. Maybe it is because I am a sucker for good graphics on the sleeve or just have to have this book or that on a particular subject. I have enough recipes to last many life times
( not sure I get close to 600+ though :shock: ) but again I rarely actually try them. Out of say, 150 cookbooks costing lets say, average of £20 a pop that's £3,000 just on cook books :yikes: That is an aweful lot of decent restaurant meals there :roll:
I actually use around 10 of them all the time. And cook books are just an example.
I realise that by buying books I was literally 'buying knowledge'; if I have a book on the shelf then I 'own' or am 'imbibed' in some mystical way by that books/ authors knowledge. I a sure it is part of the hunter - gatherer instinct and those dusty book shelves hold the 'trophies', the tokens of a good foray into today's urban jungle.
In fact I also see that I do not actually buy books for reading at the time which was it's purpose, but I tend to come back to the book some years later when 'it' is ready.
I am seriously considering selling the lot except for the 5% I read all the time, freeing up 20% of the usable floorplan of the house and using the money to buy a small patch of woodland. At least that way I can recycle some of the forests used in their production
What REALLY p**ses me off though above all else is when I visit the Amazon web site and it states quite blithly on my welcome page:
A S Lisney, make £173.66. Sell your past purchases at Amazon.co.uk today
When they bl**dy well know I spent £10,000 to buy them from Amazon in the first place :roll:
It made the difference between me being a microbiologist and a physiological ecologist. Personally, I think everyone should read it, but then, that's just me. :rolmao:
