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How many books do you own?


How many books do you own?  

83 members have voted

  1. 1. How many books do you own?

    • 0
      1
    • 1
      0
    • 2-10
      6
    • 11-20
      2
    • 21-50
      6
    • 51-100
      5
    • 101-200
      11
    • 201-500
      21
    • 501-1000
      20
    • 1001-2000
      3
    • 2001-3000
      2
    • 3001-4000
      2
    • 4001-5000
      0
    • 5001-10 000
      1
    • 10 000+
      3


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including dictionaries, thesauruses (!), cook books and travel books I own approx 25 - but only about half a dozen are novels

 

I probably read, on average, a book a week depending how thick it is (or I am) most of which I'll get from charity shops or second hand book shops and most of which I'll give back to a charity shop after I've read it - there are approx. 4 books I keep and re-read regularly - it used to be about 8 but some disappeared in a recent house move

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If you haven't read 50% of them then I'd guess that you probably never will.

 

Why would you guess that. You don't even know me.

 

I do re-read books, but my answer was actually how many I have owned.

 

I suppose by that accounting method our wine cellar must hold around 10,000 bottles.

 

Does he collect them having read them, or to read them, or for some other reason?

 

Autocourse and Wisden are reference books. You don't need to read them through. You take them off the shelf from time to time to check on a fact. You wouldn't read a telephone directory or a Thesaurus.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AUTOCOURSE-1963-64-GRAND-PRIX-ANNUAL-REVIEW-OF-INTERNATIONAL-MOTOR-SPORT-RALLY-/200687972851?pt=UK_Sports_Memorabilia_ET&hash=item2eb9ef71f3

You buy rare examples when they become available. You can't order them from Amazon.

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Why would you guess that. You don't even know me.

True, and maybe it was unfair.

I saw since that they came with the house, so maybe that changes things.

 

If you were buying them and hadn't read them, then assuming nothing changed you would never catch up and read them all, but having gained a large selection in a bunch is different.

 

 

I suppose by that accounting method our wine cellar must hold around 10,000 bottles.

I don't really see books and wine as analogous.

Did you give much of the wine you used to own to charity? Do you drink (or eat) or otherwise permanently consume your books?

 

 

 

Autocourse and Wisden are reference books. You don't need to read them through. You take them off the shelf from time to time to check on a fact. You wouldn't read a telephone directory or a Thesaurus.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AUTOCOURSE-1963-64-GRAND-PRIX-ANNUAL-REVIEW-OF-INTERNATIONAL-MOTOR-SPORT-RALLY-/200687972851?pt=UK_Sports_Memorabilia_ET&hash=item2eb9ef71f3

You buy rare examples when they become available. You can't order them from Amazon.

Fair enough, personally I use google when I want to check a fact, but I don't have room or the inclination to store an encyclopedia.

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Fair enough, personally I use google when I want to check a fact, but I don't have room or the inclination to store an encyclopedia.

 

Google is for folk who want to read what they want to see. It’s great if you want to back up your preconceived opinion. You can put in a different key word and get exactly the opposite. The internet is used by a lot of cranks pursuing their own agenda, and can be used to prove black is white if that's what you are looking to do.

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Google is for folk who want to read what they want to see. It’s great if you want to back up your preconceived opinion. You can put in a different key word and get exactly the opposite. The internet is used by a lot of cranks pursuing their own agenda, and can be used to prove black is white if that's what you are looking to do.

 

Google is a search engine. It will give you reliable facts from reliable sources and unreliable facts from unreliable sources. In a very similar way to books.

 

You can even read parts of Wisden via google.

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I've bought hundreds of books which I haven't read nor intend reading. Overall we probably have between 500 - 800 books in the house. If I'd known about this thread earlier I could have been more precise as I've just spent 3 hours moving all the books out of our library into the bathroom in preparation for a new carpet being laid.

 

I call it our library as we have a 30 foot by 9 foot extension over the garage split into 2 rooms, 10 foot for a bathroom the rest a long room containing a dining area and an area which is devoted to bookshelves.

 

As to why I buy books which I never will read, work it out.

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about 300 hardbacks (mixed novels and 'coffee table' types)

about 250 comics (A4-ish 'continental' type, Asterix-like format)

about 70-100 paperbacks (mostly 'coffee table' types, few novels)

 

plus 100s of PDFs until I can find and buy the physical version (hardback or comic), and not counting reference books (mixed of hard/soft covers, mostly legal reference/commentary books), nor those that have 'passed' in our hands (e.g. holiday reads regularly charity'd).

 

My most 'prized' one is my great-grandfather's English language schoolbook, dating back to the late 1890s. Because that part of France was under German rule (then), it's a German textbook for kids to learn English.

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I have about 60 in my "to be read" pile and once read they go up in the loft in boxes, I have loads up there in good condition, any ideas whats best to do with them???

 

Give them to a charity shop, pass them on to friends and family, sell them online, do a car boot, sort through them again and re-read the good ones...

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