{"id":1220,"date":"2018-12-29T17:06:28","date_gmt":"2018-12-30T01:06:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/billzarchy.com\/blog\/?p=1220"},"modified":"2024-04-09T15:45:22","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T22:45:22","slug":"on-discarding-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billzarchy.com\/blog\/on-discarding-books\/","title":{"rendered":"On Discarding Books"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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How Not to Be a Library<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Today we gave away over 300 books from our dusty shelves. Many bags, crammed full of books, all in excellent shape, an alarming number unread and unopened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It started with a holiday season when our kids were away most of the time, coupled with a desire to reduce dust and sneezing, amplified by a dread of our kids someday discovering that our vast collections were both voluminous and virginal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latter dread, which is not uncommon for retired folks, is a byproduct of having lived in the same house for 32 years. Without regular purges of stuff, every closet, shelf, or cabinet would be stuffed. That’s why they call it stuff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last book purge took place a few years ago, when we discarded funky old open shelving and invested in glass-doored book cabinets from, you know, the huge Swedish place. But the cabinets didn’t close tight, the dust seeped in, and the number of books doubled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So this week, it was time to purge. Drag them all out, dust them off, wipe down the shelve, then triage the books into keepers, getriddas, and a few specific giveaways. Stuff the getriddas into 10-cent supermarket bags. Eighteen bags in all, averaging 15-20 books in each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s not easy. I was an early reader, devouring books from age three, and always an acquirer. If I loved a book, I had to own it, even if I never looked at it again. Part of that was growing up the son of an author<\/a>, with a healthy appreciation for people who buy<\/em>books and want to own them.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, I know all about public libraries, and I have great respect for them. But I hardly ever use them myself. I feel that as long as I have the money, I want to buy books. I can always give them away when I get too many. Occasionally I buy used books, but usually only for authors of best sellers. Remember that authors receive no profit from used book sales (and usually only 10-15% of new sales). The vast majority of published books yield meager returns for the authors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One more thing … a feeling that has grown stronger over the past few year: I don’t have to be a library anymore. I don’t have to keep books about subjects I’m vaguely interested in, on the off-chance that I might someday need the books for research for a book or article or story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how to decide? Here are criteria we used in our purge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep a book if you can honestly say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n