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On the pleasures of stumbling upon books in the wrong places

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Re: On the pleasures of stumbling upon books in the wrong places

#21

Post by oskarth »

icebraining wrote: post #12
KGIII wrote: post #4

On one of my trips, I bought a number of copies of a few books and left them in random places as I drove, more or less randomly, around the country. I put an email address in each one, along with a quick note. I got exactly one response. I left copies of: Ishmael; Another Roadside Attraction; Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintanence; Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; Battle Cry (the formatting kinda sucks) A dozen c…

That's become a worldwide movement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookCrossing

I travel light and love to read so I drop books off in public places naturally, had no idea it was a thing. Thanks!

Re: On the pleasures of stumbling upon books in the wrong places

#22

Post by NavekM »

teej wrote: post #16
KGIII wrote: post #4

On one of my trips, I bought a number of copies of a few books and left them in random places as I drove, more or less randomly, around the country. I put an email address in each one, along with a quick note. I got exactly one response. I left copies of: Ishmael; Another Roadside Attraction; Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintanence; Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; Battle Cry (the formatting kinda sucks) A dozen c…

JJ Abrams supposedly got inspired after finding a book that was left purposefully for someone else to find. He channeled that inspiration into a book titled "S." by Doug Dorst. I'm not a huge fiction reader but I have found the book really fascinating. It's presented as a fictional book called The Ship Of Thesus with notes in the margins from two people as they read it and passed it back and forth.

Toby Litt wrote a novel called Finding Myself where the book is presented as a diary account of a holiday with some friends of the fictional protagonist, but it includes notes from the editor of the character who has written the diary.

Re: On the pleasures of stumbling upon books in the wrong places

#23

Post by noufalibrahim »

There's a street in Bangalore where people sell old books by weight[1]. Usually, it's full of old cheap textbooks sold off by students, outdated magazines (like Readers Digest) and such. I spent a cool day walking through, random sampling the piles of books and found a copy of PG's On Lisp in mint condition.

[1] https://www.google.co.in/search?tbm=isch&q=avenue+road+Banga...

Re: On the pleasures of stumbling upon books in the wrong places

#24

Post by tehwalrus »

mrlyc wrote: post #15

Librarian here. There is no pleasure of stumbling upon a book in the wrong place.

Have you read Patrick Rothfuss' Name of the Wind?

The Arcanum from it is a librarian's nightmare, I wondered what you thought of the description / if you've ever worked in a library that's too big to sort properly.

Re: On the pleasures of stumbling upon books in the wrong places

#26

Post by dozzie »

Aissen wrote: post #19
mrlyc wrote: post #15

Librarian here. There is no pleasure of stumbling upon a book in the wrong place.

As a library user it's a pet peeve of mine. If I ever see a book in wrong place, I just put it back where it belongs. There's noting more infuriating than not finding a book and knowing it's somewhere in there.

> As a library user it's a pet peeve of mine.

As a book user I really hate this misuse of syntax. This pet peeve of yours is not a library user.

Re: On the pleasures of stumbling upon books in the wrong places

#27

Post by musage »

I once found Hannah Arendt's "Ursprünge und Elemente totalitärer Herrschaft" in the street (in a small box with books). With newspaper clippings about her between the back pages... a book I had been meaning and then forgetting to read for 1-2 years before that. I still don't know whether I am more shocked that I found it or that someone put it in the street like that. But since then I always examine such boxes of books, and I'm finding more books I find interesting than I have time to read. I just love the randomness of it.

Re: On the pleasures of stumbling upon books in the wrong places

#28

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

Aissen wrote: post #19
mrlyc wrote: post #15

Librarian here. There is no pleasure of stumbling upon a book in the wrong place.

As a library user it's a pet peeve of mine. If I ever see a book in wrong place, I just put it back where it belongs. There's noting more infuriating than not finding a book and knowing it's somewhere in there.

> If I ever see a book in wrong place, I just put it back where it belongs.

A lot of university libraries clearly instruct users not to put books back after taking them off the shelf, because in putting it back "in the right place", they often get it wrong. Instead, one should put it in a designated place for the library staff to shelve it instead.

Re: On the pleasures of stumbling upon books in the wrong places

#29

Post by Cthulhu_ »

Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #28
Aissen wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a library user it's a pet peeve of mine. If I ever see a book in wrong place, I just put it back where it belongs. There's noting more infuriating than not finding a book and knowing it's somewhere in there.

> If I ever see a book in wrong place, I just put it back where it belongs. A lot of university libraries clearly instruct users not to put books back after taking them off the shelf, because in putting it back "in the right place", they often get it wrong. Instead, one should put it in a designated place for the library staff to shelve it instead.

Maybe that's why they used to chain books to the shelves / reading stands? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chained_library)

Re: On the pleasures of stumbling upon books in the wrong places

#30

Post by vadansky »

I found a battered copy of 1984 in a school hallway once. At the time I hate books because I mostly read the ones we were taught in English class, which were mostly Hardy Boy-esque type books so I all books were like that. After reading 1984 I realized what books actually were and I've been an avid reader since then. I have a bookshelf filled with books, and then when I run out of space I'm filling up the floor around it with books. And I still have that worn copy of 1984.
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