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ProfDD
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Obsession with Book Ownership
I now limit my purchases to indispensable reference works and books that I cannot get through the local public library. I do try to be nice to the Inter-Library Loan desk personnel to get more than what the Westchester Library System has. I also focus on the deductibility of the expense, if I am buying.
Speaking ONLY for myself, the words I came to put on that something where 'obsession' and 'neurosis'. [See "The Psychology of Collecting", by Maisterberger.] Owning a book that I hadn't read was a substitute form of 'having knowledge'.Busydave said:Hi Dennis
How did you cope with the switch between possessing a book and just borrowing it? I would find it very very difficult to give away a book I haven’t yet read, even if it was readily available in the library, or cheap on Amazon. There is just something about holding that little world in your hands that goes way beyond cost or storage issues; darned if I can put it into words though! Dave
I now limit my purchases to indispensable reference works and books that I cannot get through the local public library. I do try to be nice to the Inter-Library Loan desk personnel to get more than what the Westchester Library System has. I also focus on the deductibility of the expense, if I am buying.