by Books are written for purchasing and forever saving.
We should not borrow books from a library. Returning them means severing a friendship.
We must avoid “book renter” websites at all costs. While they claim to save us money, they actually diminish us as a culture of connections.
Do not sell your books. You cannot place a value on associated learning.
Buy your books, be them on paper, or in a Kindle or of an electronic file — and cherish them always near you by centering them forever between your mind and gut in the middle of your heart.
I keep my books. Magazines and journals too. Don’t get ebay and the brisk biz in buying books off people. I get why to buy but not sell.
Oh, yeah, Karvain! There is a bit of a guilt factor in “buying” the discarded friends of others — but that’s a better way than just leaving them to rot in idle hands.
Hi David,
I was completely unaware about the “book-renter” website, something like Netflix???
Interesting!
I still have 20 yrs. old magazines with me, at times I feel like I will have to rent a tent outside my house because there will be no place left for me – but I don’t mind!
Katha —
Yes the book renting site is like an online library, I guess, but you have to pay a fee for the rental.
When you travel from country to country, do you take your 20 year-old magazines with you?
Do you collect newspapers as well?
I couldn’t carry my old books/mags collection outside my country because there are weight constraints, so I left them behind – it’s almost losing a part of “me”.
Collecting newspapers and keeping them in good condition is tough – they tend to get yellow…
Do you store the magazines in a special room, Katha? Or do you rent storage space?
Hi David,
I still have my room with a huge loft left intact in my parent’s house…
All my books are and will be there untill I buy a house some corner in the world…
Fantastic, Katha! You’re lucky books are valued in your home. In many USA places, if a child abandons books for any length of time, they are only fit to stay in the garbage can.
Yes David – I am lucke that way but this is something very natural in any Indian society – you are considered a part of the family…no matter where where you are.
Throwing things out is something I don’t understand David!
A relationship can’t be based on convenience only…
That’s a good thing, Katha. In the USA many parents feel that once the child leaves the nest at 18 or for a job — that’s it. Their work is done. All remnants of the child that lived in the house are removed and the child’s space is reclaimed as a guest room, workout area or sewing parlor.
Yes David, I experienced it.
I used to get suprised by that but later realized it is embedded in the social norm – that’s how it works.
Everything has its pros and cons…
I like the Indian system better, Katha. History and memories are preserved. Children aren’t viewed as a commodity for recycling.