The Disorganized & Saturated Library....

[Gordon Smith]

...once again I have reached that point where my house can no longer contain all the books I own. There are books piled everywhere in the most dishevelled mess you can imagine. I have an entire room dedicated to nothing but book storage and it's not still not enough. I talked one of my housemates into giving up some of the space in his basement office (he works from home) so I can move some of the books downstairs. Yet even this won't help much.

I swore up and down I would never do this, but I have no choice. I'm gonna have to start storing some of them in the garage. I never did get rid of my older comic books the way I had intended, but with storage space at a premium, they're gonna have to go sooner or later before I'm completely overwhelmed. And yet, even that is certain to be a temporary measure at best. The books keep coming and the available space keeps shrinking.

Heaven help me if ever I have to leave the house for an apartment...

[saintsaucey]

I hear ya man, i have four tall book shelfs (granted one is for toys but still) I try to keep the books organized on it but they are right buy the door so i always end up sticking the mail on them and nearly empty coke bottles

[Roquefort Raider]

Why do we keep books like that? I know I am unlikely to re-read any (or a very small numbers) of the books I own, and I rarely go back to them to check some obscure fact... but each time I resolve to give some away it's like getting rid of family members.

My mom is quite good at disposing of books she's bought and read. I wish I had inherited that trait from her.

[Matthew E]

I knew a woman once who said that she and her husband had so many books that they had to get their house reinforced because of the weight of all of them. When I heard that, I said, "I have a new ambition now."

[Gordon Smith]

Why do we keep books like that? I know I am unlikely to re-read any (or a very small numbers) of the books I own, and I rarely go back to them to check some obscure fact... but each time I resolve to give some away it's like getting rid of family members.

My mom is quite good at disposing of books she's bought and read. I wish I had inherited that trait from her.

I hate giving away books. I never give away books. Once I buy a book, it stays mine forever. The very thought of giving away a book makes me queasy. There are some books I never revisit, but there are a good many I do keep going back to to check some obscure fact or to reread a favorite passage, so losing them is quite out of the question.

[Shellhead]

Have you read Inferno, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle?

There was a section of Hell where two groups of people were doomed to spend eternity in conflict. Each group would push a huge diamond boulder towards the other group. When the diamonds collided, the resulting shockwave would knock everybody in both group to the ground. After they recovered, they would get up and start again. The two groups were Spendthrifts and Misers.

One man was doomed to be crushed between those two diamonds with every collision.

He was a compulsive collector of science-fiction and fantasy books, as well as comic books. He had an amazing collection that included many rare and unique items... signed first editions, original commission work, etc. Eventually, his collection grew so large that he couldn't afford to store it properly anymore. Finally, his collection resided in a rotting old barn that leaked when it rained. Other collectors begged him to sell off some items so he could afford to take care of the rest, but he just couldn't bear to part with anything. Eventually, the collection was ruined.

He was both a Spendthrift and a Miser.

[Gordon Smith]

No, I haven't read Inferno yet, but just on the strength of that one passage alone, I'm going to have to. That was funny as hell.

[Shellhead]

No, I haven't read Inferno yet, but just on the strength of that one passage alone, I'm going to have to. That was funny as hell.

It's a great book. A mixture of social commentary, dark humor, and adventure.

[BcAugust]

Gorden, I think I've given away/sold six books in my life. Our house is pretty much the same way, and going to get worse when my books finally arrive(9 boxes of books).

Then again, given those books were World of Darkness World(which I knew I wouldn't use again), The first four books of Wheel of time(Hey, I picked them up for a buck, found out I hated them, and then got 30 bucks in trade credit), and the Sci Fi and Fantasy Encyclopedia that was worse then useless for me, given how poorly it was edited, which I got 25 bucks in trade credit for...

[Slam_Bradley]

I periodically cull the herd of books...but it never seems to do much good. I know at one time I got rid of a copy of P.J. Farmer's "The Stone God Awakens."

I recently picked up a copy of P.J. Farmer's "The Stone God Awakens." I'm pretty convinced it is the same one I got rid of last time.

[Jonathan Bogart]

I periodically cull the herd of books...but it never seems to do much good. I know at one time I got rid of a copy of P.J. Farmer's "The Stone God Awakens."

I recently picked up a copy of P.J. Farmer's "The Stone God Awakens." I'm pretty convinced it is the same one I got rid of last time.

I've done that before, using a used-book store as a really cheap pawnshop. I've paid my rent a few times by selling books (and I've gotten rid of thousands of books I don't feel a pang about), but I too am always running out of room to store the ones I still have, and that continue to accumulate.

[Nate C.]

I'm up to nine bookcases, a stairwell, and a dozen or so boxes for my books. I'm up to 59 shortboxes and eight longboxes for my comics.

I do plan on culling soon, because I pick up a lot of "just in case" books, cheap or free thru my local libraries. Maybe a couple hundred (aw, who'm I kiddin? A dozen or so.)

you know, just in case I need one line from that one book, that one time.