I want to continue the item about books briefly. This time, focussing on non-fiction. The quantity of books that you own is a subjective number – do you own a lot of books? Relative to any library, no I don’t. But we do have a number. Enough to fill several 9- shelved bookcases.
Why do we have all these books, clearly we don ‘t a hope of reading them all, and more importantly, why in the age of the internet do we even need them? Clearly, we don’t need them. But I love being able to pick up a book and have a browse, and usually you learn something when you do. Everyone laughed at Rumsfeld, but he was correct. You don’t know what you don’t know, until you know it. Books help you with the unanswered, and unknown questions. I should add that although we have a fair number of fiction, most of the books are non-fiction, and they cover a reasonable range of topics.
One thing I did notice yesterday though, was that we only had one book that specifically covered philosophy – Sophies Choice, which I read several years ago, and when I finish my current reading (David Suchet’s biography, Through the Lens) will read again. Of course, I have in a minor way fixed that omission, after a visit to The Works, and a fortuitous gift. The works is a retail store, it sells art and craft materials, toys and books – very cheap books. I acquired two books from there for £3 each; the little book of philosophy and think like a philosopher. OK, I know these are not the works of Descarte or Kant, but I don’t know that much about the subject, and view these as something of an intro. The fortuitous gift? Today, My Father-in-Law gave me a copy of Frederica Sgarbi PhD (in philosophy)’s book; The Philosophy of Cats. I’ve already started reading it. But, I really must continue with David Suchet.
Here are some random pictures.
