As the world starts to edit and reform the books you grew up with, and we learn that digital information isn't as robust as it once seemed, we need to build our own physical libraries
Very good recommendations. We all need to find feasible ways of becoming the small monasteries that the coming age will require. For me that recently has included taking a wider view and buying books I didn't intend to read right away. Most of the time I at least scanned them anyway.
I'm like that too. Not sure about the longevity of digital books, and I can't see many of the things I want getting easier to find in the physical realm.
Any digital copy on any platform you don't fully control (that includes all the platform it cloud based e-readers) is merely rented. You have access only for as long as the platform owner grants it. Only physical copies can actually be owned in any reasonable sense.
And I agree, there is no better time than right now to build your library.
Older kindles, kept offline and loaded via USB, are probably the best bet for digital stuff. You're right that you don't ever really own any of the digital media.
I enjoyed the books of a certain writer who went crazy. They no longer exist on any legit platform as they were deleted from the kindle store, print on demand stores and other places when his identity and crimes became news. It was a lesson in how quickly something can be scrubbed from the internet, and considering the books of mass murdering politicians are still freely available, something of a surprise.
Very good example, indeed. It just makes a physical copy you hold in your hands while sitting in your favourite chair and smoking your favourite pipe all the more enjoyable.
All good points. I regularly buy old editions of books I am interested in. Some are being reprinted but recently I got 3 volumes of sermons for £10, where each individual reprinted volume now costs over £30!. I'm still searching for the 4th volume of the set...
It's always nice to get a whole set. I got a 7 volume set of Gibbon's Decline and Fall for £12 a couple of years ago.
I often feel that a nice edition can add to the reading experience. My copy of the Oxford Book of English Verse has a sweet and personal dedication, I think dated to 1919.
It's not too hard to find, though the bindings are often heavily worn.
It goes both ways, Spengler was only published unabridged in English a couple of years ago. I've only got an abridged version, and find that heavy going.
Well, Spengler is tough reading, no matter the edition. I find his thinking a bit hard to follow at times, too. His analysis of historical events is pretty good, but that idea that everything positively HAD to happen the way it did, is almost alien to me. It almost borders on socialist dialectic. His thinking leaves little room for stupidity and coincidence.
Very good recommendations. We all need to find feasible ways of becoming the small monasteries that the coming age will require. For me that recently has included taking a wider view and buying books I didn't intend to read right away. Most of the time I at least scanned them anyway.
I'm like that too. Not sure about the longevity of digital books, and I can't see many of the things I want getting easier to find in the physical realm.
Any digital copy on any platform you don't fully control (that includes all the platform it cloud based e-readers) is merely rented. You have access only for as long as the platform owner grants it. Only physical copies can actually be owned in any reasonable sense.
And I agree, there is no better time than right now to build your library.
Older kindles, kept offline and loaded via USB, are probably the best bet for digital stuff. You're right that you don't ever really own any of the digital media.
I enjoyed the books of a certain writer who went crazy. They no longer exist on any legit platform as they were deleted from the kindle store, print on demand stores and other places when his identity and crimes became news. It was a lesson in how quickly something can be scrubbed from the internet, and considering the books of mass murdering politicians are still freely available, something of a surprise.
Very good example, indeed. It just makes a physical copy you hold in your hands while sitting in your favourite chair and smoking your favourite pipe all the more enjoyable.
It reminded me I need to do some book 'weeding' soon! We still have a box of your books in the loft!
I'll take them when I come over. We keep weeding ours too, a lot go back to Amnesty which is where most come from!
Three pages, one paragraph, and nothing happens? Sounds like Ulysses.
d'Annunzio, Trollope, Walter Scott... it's a trend from that era.
All good points. I regularly buy old editions of books I am interested in. Some are being reprinted but recently I got 3 volumes of sermons for £10, where each individual reprinted volume now costs over £30!. I'm still searching for the 4th volume of the set...
It's always nice to get a whole set. I got a 7 volume set of Gibbon's Decline and Fall for £12 a couple of years ago.
I often feel that a nice edition can add to the reading experience. My copy of the Oxford Book of English Verse has a sweet and personal dedication, I think dated to 1919.
The abridged paperback copy of Decline and Fall I have here is a great point of personal shame for me...
It's not too hard to find, though the bindings are often heavily worn.
It goes both ways, Spengler was only published unabridged in English a couple of years ago. I've only got an abridged version, and find that heavy going.
Well, Spengler is tough reading, no matter the edition. I find his thinking a bit hard to follow at times, too. His analysis of historical events is pretty good, but that idea that everything positively HAD to happen the way it did, is almost alien to me. It almost borders on socialist dialectic. His thinking leaves little room for stupidity and coincidence.