The Only Books Worth Buying are Ones You’ve Already Read

Posted on September 27, 2009
Filed Under Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Maverick Philosopher has up an intriguing and short post. He asserts you should never buy a book you haven’t read. That is only have in your library books you’ll read again.It’s an intriguing proposition. I’m not sure I’d go so far to say one should never buy. But perhaps one shouldn’t bother keeping books you don’t intend to read again. Certainly I’ve picked up books simply because I didn’t want to wait. (Even a few hardback fictions that perhaps weren’t worth it in hindsight)

Since I’ve reached the point where I no longer have sufficient shelf space for my books I ought heed the point and go through my library to see what I’ll not read again. But it’s sometimes hard. For instance it’s been over a decade since I went through a phase studying Renaissance philosophers, the Kabbalah, and early modernism. Will I return to those books? With a few exceptions it’s been quite a long time since I last cracked any of the volumes. But can I really justify getting rid of all the volumes – which probably is well above $1000. (Ah, the days when I was single and could justify buying books…)

What about all my volumes on Popper, Kuhn, and various other writers on philosophy of science? Once again, with a few notable exceptions, I’ve not really studied the subject much the past decade. Will I ever read Popper again? Probably not. But I’m somehow loath to get rid of him.

More interesting are the volumes so well read that I probably ought buy some replacement volumes. My edition of The Essential Peirce volume 2 in particular is looking pretty bad. My favorite book of Mathematical Physics is likewise in disparate need of replacing, even though I’d been quite some time since I last had time to enjoy calculating residues in order to solve some integral.

What I am thinking about doing is throwing out all my CDs once I ensure I’ve actually burnt them. And perhaps, if I find the time, going through my iTunes collection and pruning stuff I’m very embarrassed to have. (Limp Bizkit I’m looking at you for deletion – and I can’t even justify them the way I did some of my music choices when I was 14!)

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Comments

3 Responses to “The Only Books Worth Buying are Ones You’ve Already Read”

I suggest you decide on weighted factors. Not just on how long it has been collecting dust on your shelf, but also on how much the book changed you, either intellectually or emotionally (or both). There are some books that sit on my shelf long periods of time, simply because I have such a long laundry list of new books to get to. But just looking at their cover reminds me of the impact they’ve made on my life.

Yes, there are books I’ve inherited and intend to read, and there are books I haven’t touched in years but which affected me deeply.

Then there really are some books that just need to go. At least two of those are already set aside.

Buying books is generally not a problem for me, because I don’t have any book budget!

I have an Amazon credit card. I get credits for what I spend. The groceries and so forth go on the credit card and I get books. Although of late I’ve mainly been buying for my wife. I have a large stack of unread books I need to get to. No sense buying more right now.

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