51–60 of 81 posts
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I never undertood why publishers couldn't agree in 5 different sizes or so.
Because they are an industry, aren’t they? Printing, binding, cover productions, transportation and storage, all that are much easier and much cheaper with a few standardized sizes.
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If you have a library that you want to keep out of the landfill, your job is not storing them, but convincing another human being (who's younger than you) that the books are of value. If no one you know has ever borrowed or expressed interest in them, then the shelf you relegate them to is as good as the landfill.
I keep the ones I want and sell the rest to used bookstores or give them to the thrift stores. I tried selling some on Amazon. That doesn't work at all.
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I keep the ones I want and sell the rest to used bookstores or give them to the thrift stores. I tried selling some on Amazon. That doesn't work at all.
As a buyer, I find buying used books on eBay much better than buying used books on Amazon.
Where ebay gets ahead is buying a box of books, rather than individual books.
I'm not sure about other countries. There is a culture refuse to throw away books in Germany. People would put on the streets for free (I found two interesting books with this method).
German book culture is great! When he was in Karlsruhe to profile Peter Sloterdijk, The New Yorker reporter Thomas Meaney seemed surprised by it: "Over the summer, ordinary Germans who spotted his [Peter Sloterdijk] books in my hands engaged me in conversation on trains, in coffee shops, at universities, and in bookshops." [0] [0] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/26/a-celebrity-ph...
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German book culture is great! When he was in Karlsruhe to profile Peter Sloterdijk, The New Yorker reporter Thomas Meaney seemed surprised by it: "Over the summer, ordinary Germans who spotted his [Peter Sloterdijk] books in my hands engaged me in conversation on trains, in coffee shops, at universities, and in bookshops." [0] [0] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/26/a-celebrity-ph...
wild, when I went to germany I only saw kebabs and barber shops and a rave
Living in Germany, I can confirm that it’s part of the everyday scenery here (Stadtbild).
> and a rave
I can confirm that techno culture is a deeply rooted part of the urban landscape. However, the era of massive, free street parades effectively ended with the 2010 Love Parade tragedy in Duisburg, where a crowd crush claimed many lives. For years, such large-scale public raves vanished due to strict safety regulations. It’s only recently that we’ve seen a revival with 'Rave The Planet' in Berlin—an event led by the original Love Parade founders that attempts to bring techno back to the streets, though under much tighter organizational control.
But you nobody can read 70k books, so what was the point? He had a library nobody knew about, full of books he hadn't read. That's not a library, it's an imitation of a library built by someone who doesn't understand what a library is for.
There’s an interesting term from the book the Black Swan, an antilibrary, which gains value from books that haven’t been read, but are at hand. Essentially resources for new ideas.
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
But you nobody can read 70k books, so what was the point? He had a library nobody knew about, full of books he hadn't read. That's not a library, it's an imitation of a library built by someone who doesn't understand what a library is for.
"There are things in life that we need to always have plenty of supplies, even if we will only use a small portion.
"If, for example, we consider books as medicine, we understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, then you go to the 'medicine closet' and choose a book. Not a random one, but the right book for that moment. That's why you should always have a nutrition choice!
"Those who buy only one book, read only that one and then get rid of it. They simply apply the consumer mentality to books, that is, they consider them a consumer product, a good. Those who love books know that a book is anything but a commodity."
-- Umberto Eco
For some great quotes; see Umberto Eco on Writing, Reading, Books, and More - https://bigother.com/2026/01/05/umberto-eco-on-writing-readi...
This is an intriguing essay by Eco as part of a book review; On Unread Books - https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/11/02/on-unread-boo...
But you nobody can read 70k books, so what was the point? He had a library nobody knew about, full of books he hadn't read. That's not a library, it's an imitation of a library built by someone who doesn't understand what a library is for.
That's roughly on par with saying nobody needs the internet or a library at all. Back the 1920s having a personal library was fairly common for people with more than two dimes, they had this thing called an 'Ex Libris' which roughly translates as 'from the books of'. This was a little piece of paper, often very nicely designed that you glued to the first page of a book and then you could borrow it freely and sooner o…
Exactly my sentiment!
Everything today has been tied down to making money or gaining name/fame. There is no concept of studying "knowledge for knowledge's sake". And yet everybody knows that it is precisely only the latter mindset which has enabled Humans to build all their grand civilizations and technologies.
This reminds me of Peter Sloterdijk describing books as "bewusstseinserweiternde Drogen" (mind-expanding drugs) and "Waffen" (weapons) in his working library. [0] [0] https://youtu.be/Wn5EgkuQb5U?t=293 (4:53)
I like to browse/read/study books on various subjects (have a large collection of my own) which lead me to the realization that it is only by reading books and getting exposed to new ideas that one can engage in better self-reflection leading to a more comprehensive self-awareness.