Book Stores

You are behind the times, @Sifu Phil Bonifonte ! I USED to use my computer chair and read from on the computer monitor (which was seriously uncomfortable for much reading); but once I got my first iPad, all of that changed , as in the "twinkling of an eye".
I now relax comfortably in my recliner chair, Chipper nestled on the rug at my feet, and read with either the iPad or the Kindle. Most of the things, I read with the iPad, and since I have the external keyboard, I use it for posting on forums, as well.

When I am just reading , then I prefer the Kindle, which is smaller and easy to hold, and has different settings to adjust the light input for reading, as well as the font size.
You can't do that with regular books. Whatever size print they are, or whatever size the book is, that is what you have to deal with. And if you happen to be traveling, and in the middle of a flight, you finish your book---- then what ?
With e-books, you can store as many as you want when you go somewhere, and not worry about it taking up space in your carry-on luggage, or having to take extra books along on the trip.

All that being said, I DO worry about the fact that we are losing print books. If we had an EMP, or some other calamity that left us (as a nation) without access to our electronic devices, what will happen to all of the knowledge that is stored in those books ?
And will there even be people in the future that can read the books, even if some are saved ? As was mentioned, the children of today seem to communicate with text messages, and the "no child left behind" schooling is producing college kids who still can't read or spell correctly.

 

I have hundreds of books, which I bought new and used. When we bought our house, we tore down the walls between two bedrooms to form a library, which is full. Plus, I have five bookcases in my office, a small one in the living room, and another small one in the bedroom. On top of that, between us, my wife and I have four Kindles. Since our library is open for only a few hours a week now, libraries being another thing that are closing all over the country, I don't use the library often, but I have frequently bought books that I read in the library because, if it was a good book, I wanted it in my own library.

 

Truthfully (I guess it's time to admit this) I am at heart , also a book collector. My problem is that I am also somewhat of a vagabond wanderer; and the two just do not mix well together.
Even though I spent my life growing up in one house, after I became an adult and got married, the moving started.

My first husband was a construction worker, so we sometimes moved every few weeks as he went from job to job.
After we had children, we didn't move quite as often; but there were all those boxes and boxes of books that had to be packed every time we moved.
I would try to cull out some that I thought that I could live without; but there was still a lot of them left anyway.

My idea of a Dream House was one that had a real Library, with the wood paneling, and bookshelves on all sides with a fireplace on one wall, and a comfortable couch or chair near the fireplace.
However, even though I moved so many times over the years, it was never to a house that had such a room, or even close.
Now, I have resigned myself that such a library is never going to happen in my life, and most of my cherished books have had to be left behind in one move or another; and I am afraid to collect any more. I am down to 1-2 boxes now.
Truthfully, I have packed around even my church song book since 1990, and I have not even had my Omnichord for the last few years to play any music with; so I do not know why I hang on to even that, but I do.

 

I know just what you are saying, @Sifu Phil Bonifonte .
My equivalent of all those 400 martial arts books was complete sets of the Arabian Horse World magazine, including the yearly January Stallion Issues (the horse version of Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue) , and several years of the registry volumes for the Arabian Horse Registry.
They were from back into the 1970's and would be collector's items now.

Gone also are all of the horsetraining books and videos, several years worth of old (collectible?) Mother Earth News from the 60-70's, as well as old editions of Poe, and several old early 1900's era novels, like "Shepard of the Hills" and similar classic books.
Also missing are the original releases of "The Hollow Earth", and several of Erik Von Dannikens "Chariots of the Gods" books, and others along that line of interest.
There were the health books by people like Gaylord Hauser, Dr. Jarvis (Vermont Folk Medicine), and many of the other health and nutrition writers of that bygone era.
And lets not forget the motivational books, Norman Vincent Peale, W. Clement Stone, Zig Ziglar, and Og Mandino, just to name a few.

Even when I can find these books and read them on the Kindle, it is truly not the same feeling inside as I get when actually holding a piece of history in my hands and know that it is not just the book, but also the cover, that is a treasure.

 

I also once had the first several years of Mother Earth News, from volume one, but I lost them when I forgot the bath water on one day and flooded the house. Unfortunately, Mother Earth News was on the bottom shelf of the bookcase.

 

I don't know. I have never had that problem.