Every time I move, I have to get rid of some books — I’ve probably thrown away a whole truckload by now.
70k Books Found in Hidden Library in This Germany Home (2023)
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Re: 70k Books Found in Hidden Library in This Germany Home (2023)
#72This 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)
Very Very True! 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.
Absolutely. One of my favorite books about the power of books is The Swerve: How the World Became Modern (2011) by Stephen Greenblatt. It tells the story of the rediscovery of Lucretius's poem De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things), which was assumed lost.
Re: 70k Books Found in Hidden Library in This Germany Home (2023)
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
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...
Sloterdijk is a rare celebrity philosopher, popularized by his many TV spots. However, whether people actually know his philosophy as well as they know his face is a different story altogether.
Agreed. Even assuming that most people aren't deeply familiar with his philosophy, it's still nice for a culture to have something like a celebrity philosopher.
Re: 70k Books Found in Hidden Library in This Germany Home (2023)
#74I’m not familiar with the “modern car” unit of weight. “With an assumed average weight of 300 to 400 grams per book, the weight of around 15 modern cars is currently stored in Schröder’s detached house.” 350 grams x 70,000 books = 24,500 kg. About 54,000 lbs. Can a ‘typical’ house bear that weight??
> Can a ‘typical’ house bear that weight?? Modern builds codes require living areas to support 30-40 pounds per square foot live load so while you wouldn't want to pack it all in a 1k sq ft second floor apartment, it's doable in a larger space. If it's an old house that was overbuilt before building codes were optimized, chances are it can support it. It also matters a lot whether this is an upper story, or just a si…
A square foot is bigger than the area used by a person standing and people mostly weigh more than 40 pounds so that seems unlikely to be the design criteria for places people walk.
Re: 70k Books Found in Hidden Library in This Germany Home (2023)
#75In Germany, there was a trend of setting up public bookcases in town squares where passers-by could drop off or take books. But as things go, after a while, they slowly started to go out of fashion. Since then, kebab shops and barbershops have become a more common sight in the cityscape (Stadtbild).
They didn’t go out of fashion. It’s just that some people emptied them to sell the books on flea markets, sometimes drunk people used those for their “business”; and sometimes, kids set them on fire. And this was just in a rather small town.
Re: 70k Books Found in Hidden Library in This Germany Home (2023)
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Can a ‘typical’ house bear that weight?? Modern builds codes require living areas to support 30-40 pounds per square foot live load so while you wouldn't want to pack it all in a 1k sq ft second floor apartment, it's doable in a larger space. If it's an old house that was overbuilt before building codes were optimized, chances are it can support it. It also matters a lot whether this is an upper story, or just a si…
A square foot is bigger than the area used by a person standing and people mostly weigh more than 40 pounds so that seems unlikely to be the design criteria for places people walk.
You're confusing the concept of concentrated load and the uniform load for a floor or room. See page 7 of the HUD guide [1], but local building codes may be stricter. Materials like floor boards must be able to support 250-300 lbs in the center between supports, but that's very different from a whole floor supporting 250 psf.
If you manage to squeeze 400 people weighing an average 150 lbs each into the average 400 sq ft apartment room, it will probably suffer structural damage unless it's a on a solid ground floor. That's one of the factors that goes into calculating the room and building "occupancy limit" signs you see in public places.
Re: 70k Books Found in Hidden Library in This Germany Home (2023)
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
Very Very True! 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.
Absolutely. One of my favorite books about the power of books is The Swerve: How the World Became Modern (2011) by Stephen Greenblatt. It tells the story of the rediscovery of Lucretius's poem De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things), which was assumed lost.
Nice. I had long wanted to read Lucretius' work and try and understand his philosophy/arguments. But a couple of translations that i looked at were in verse form and hence i did not followup on it. I am less interested in his poetry/form and more in his ideas. Maybe i should start with the book that you mention.
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swerve
De rerum natura - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_rerum_natura
PS: I just submitted this which you might also find interesting - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47295304
Re: 70k Books Found in Hidden Library in This Germany Home (2023)
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
Absolutely. One of my favorite books about the power of books is The Swerve: How the World Became Modern (2011) by Stephen Greenblatt. It tells the story of the rediscovery of Lucretius's poem De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things), which was assumed lost.
Nice. I had long wanted to read Lucretius' work and try and understand his philosophy/arguments. But a couple of translations that i looked at were in verse form and hence i did not followup on it. I am less interested in his poetry/form and more in his ideas. Maybe i should start with the book that you mention. The Swerve: How the World Became Modern - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swerve De rerum natura - https…
If you're only interested in his ideas, The Swerve summarizes them on pages 185-199 (1st edition).
Re: 70k Books Found in Hidden Library in This Germany Home (2023)
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
wild, when I went to germany I only saw kebabs and barber shops and a rave
> kebabs and barber shops 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 t…
At that time I used to visit Germany and take part to many Carneval open parties. I intended to even participate in a Love Parade. How did the accident affected other gatherings since then? Open street concerts, Saturday night club districts, Carneval?
Re: 70k Books Found in Hidden Library in This Germany Home (2023)
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nice. I had long wanted to read Lucretius' work and try and understand his philosophy/arguments. But a couple of translations that i looked at were in verse form and hence i did not followup on it. I am less interested in his poetry/form and more in his ideas. Maybe i should start with the book that you mention. The Swerve: How the World Became Modern - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swerve De rerum natura - https…
If you're only interested in his ideas, The Swerve summarizes them on pages 185-199 (1st edition).
That certainly is helpful; a TLDR of his ideas before tackling his work in entirety (a rather difficult endeavour).
A quick Google search gave me exactly what you pointed out i.e. Chapter 8, Pages 182-202 which somebody had uploaded.