Hacker News Reader

Comment by linsomniac | Hacker News Reader

I went through a major book downsizing ~7 years ago when I moved unexpectedly. I don't know the exact book count, but something like 60+ linear feet, down to a single armload. The Tao of Programming and The Tao of Pooh both made that cut.

View on HN

Paring down a book collection is a very strange act for the bibliophile. I only did it once but the end result was a much sharper collection. (Un?)Fortunately since then I got a bigger place, more shelves, and now my collection is over 2x since then. But the day I donated a ton of books sticks out in my mind, I remember the weather, all of my movements, and even what I ate for lunch (chicken sandwich). Few days from the far past I remember so vividly.

Books etc. expand to fill the space allotted to them. At some point, I decided that the (considerable) space in my house devoted to books and other media was at a peak. Since then, I've done an annual or so winnowing to keep inflow (though a lot of that has shifted to digital) and outflow approximately matched.

I could still get rid of a lot though if I wanted to.

Ugh. We were moving and donated books to a local goodwill type charity. Later we found out that they literally were sending all donated books to a paper recycler. I could understand that with some books, damaged or foxed (or dragoned) but it was an unexpected emotional blow.

I paired down my book collection recently, and while looking for a shop to take them, I was discouraged to discover how selective of the type of books they accept

>> No: atlases, catalogues, computer books, comic books, condensed books, exercise, erotica, magazines, journals, art catalogues, outdated business books, romance novels, and textbooks.

I moved abroad about ten years ago to a non English speaking country. Got the first kindle that came out and never looked back. I have hundreds of books I take with me everywhere now.

I have hundreds of books I take with me everywhere now

This is an underexplored cultural shift I think. In the past your books and your music on LP or CD and your movies on DVD or VHS were part of the decor, usually on prominent display in the living room, the room of the house where guests were entertained. Even your games carts for your console would be in that display. Seeing what was in your host's collection was a part of getting to know them better, and of course, they might choose to curate their collection knowing it would be perused by visitors. That doesn't happen so much any more, for some people, it has never been a part of their experience. I wonder what has replaced it.

There are of course the ways to share your digital collection. Your games list on Steam, books on Goodreads, music on services like Spotify and last.fm. On the one hand it's less immediately visible but on the other people can see it without visiting your home. As for what has replaced it in the home, no idea.

Blank white spaces. And art.

What I find troubling is that we don’t own our goods in the digital space. When you “buy” a kindle book, you don’t own that book, you own a license to read that cannot be transferred or inherited. That means that parents no longer can pass on cultural artifacts to their children and grandchildren. This cannot be a healthy evolution for humanity.

There are two types of people, broadly speaking: the ones that keep nothing always throw everything away and format their computers once a year, and the ones that hoard everything like an archive.

Although I am proudly the second type, I understand that many people are the first type. They don't really care that much about this stuff that to me feels fundamental, so they have no issue with things not really being theirs.

And in a way, they are right. While year after year I'm burdened by being the archivist of my own possessions, there are many people that just live unencumbered by such things.

The thing with owning books is that your family eventually finds your way to them if you own any. My family found my old books recently when looking for something to read - I saw it on their desks. Had to tell them "Yea, that's good, throw that one away, I wasted my time on it, don't waste yours." So that's an argument for keeping stuff, but extremely filtered.

Kind of like code, I guess.

"The things you own end up owning you."

This. Having done 4 intercontinental moves, some on tight budgets, I have donated/dumped boxes of books and now mostly read on my e-book to avoid repeating that. The only downside I have seen to this is the "display case" which is such a great way to find out when you share fringe interests with visitors.

One technical solution I have given a lot of thought is to achieve a tangible representation of books, music and photo albums as small printed cards. These cards should then be recognizable by your media devices (e-readers, audio-players,...) via QR codes or RFID tags. Think putting on a playlist by dumping a bunch of music cards on your player, etc.

I find keeping a library, while a pain in the ass to move, keeps the books and their contents more fresh in my mind. Sometimes I browse the shelves and get reminded of interesting ideas or just feel compelled to pick something up again. I don't get the same from scrolling through my Kindle library for some reason.

Did Zen and the Art of Motorcycling Maintenance make the cut.

I have a hard copy (copy #3 for me, I believe) because I, too, have trimmed down to essentials and that book is one of them. The Bantam printing, IMO, is nearly unreadable if you're over 35 years old. I have the Kindle version, too, so the hard copy is just decoration at this point.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com