I recently gave away, sold, donated to a library, or threw out many of the books that I’ve accumulated throughout my life. Before I parted with each book, I took a photograph of it. (I apparently forgot to do this for a few of them, and for some others, the photographs did not turn out.)
The reason that I had (actually, still have) so many books is that I love reading, and for many years I was in a position where people would consult me on various subjects. In high school, people often asked me for my recommendations on general science books, and my teachers would also discuss them with me. And while I attended the University of Toronto, I was the President of the Buddhist Student Association and involved in both religious counselling and interfaith dialogue, and so I collected a lot of books on those subjects as well.
I also loved to visit the small bookstores and used bookstores which are peppered throughout Toronto. (The Albert Britnell Book Shop was one of my favourites before it was turned into a Starbucks.) Nowadays, with all the online booksellers, it’s not that hard to find a strange or rare book. But in those days, whenever I netted an unexpected find on a book-hunting trip through Toronto, it was always a treat.
I don’t have time to comment on each and every book in detail, but in this series of posts, I’m going to write something brief about each book that came into my possession.
– davinci 11769
One of the reasons why I’m parting with many of my books is that I don’t want my children to be Bibliophibians.
Getting rid of old books is difficult for me. I have still kept the Borland C++ 5.0 and C++ Builder unleashed books are memories but thats about it. I was kind of glad to get rid of the VB5 books! before I actually started using VB5, VB6 was out.
Anyway, I wonder if it will be possible to thrown out the books on Zen and Tao..but I have a feeling that that day too will come.
God bless.
Zen and the Tao are timeless, and you’ll definitely be able to find people (or a library or temple) who will be glad to relieve you of the material burden of possessing books about those subjects. Old computer books, on the other hand, aren’t really good for anyone except for the rare hobbyist or a museum.
– davinci