Green, dark pink and dark blue would meld into one muddled brown color code for me.
Dink NewcombJuly 20, 2017, 1:23 PM
A COMPULSIVE READER’S system for sure. I pretty much never had a system but I would make little subject arrangements that were never noticed by visitors. My very favorite was some serious literary virtual trouble making one year when I read a number of biographies and I selected the three most egotistical of the lot and on the middle of a higher shelf, I placed (lft-rt) Douglas Macarthur (“An American Caesar” ?), “Pimp: The story of my life by Iceberg Slim” (in DC in the 40s), and Thomas Edison (“A Streak of Luck”). These three were men with huge aggressive self confidence and I thought the combo would probably create beaucoup unrest and loud vocal incidents in heaven/hell/across regional lines.
Well probably about half of the at least several hundred books here in my office, and several hundred more in the house, which I fully intended to read at one point, have slipped into the category of “donate to something/someone/somewhere” cause they just ain’t gonna get read and it’s a mortal sin to have books just sitting there when others could be benefitting from them.
Afterall, all books belong to posterity, you know, and we, the current possessors, just get to use them for a spell. This is especially poignant now.
Think about it. Now, we are descending into the era of the “New Babel” where words, written and spoken, mean whatever the speaker/writer and listeners/readers want them to mean. Human communication is now in a state of flux and most of it is liquid nothingness. Therefore books, real books, timeless living words on parchment, especially old books, are the bridges that will continue us as a people to a time sometime in the future when lunacy has left the building. When we, us, them, look back at us, we, and wonder what they hell were they thinking? They will simply shrug, grab an old book off the wall and go sit down and transport their minds as all good people do and should.
Needed: Books more than a hundred years old / category. Also: books I’ve read more than once. This is fun.
Bill JonesJuly 20, 2017, 4:15 PM
I’ve got some 3,000 books. I seem to have spent most of my life building fucking bookshelves
c6July 20, 2017, 4:45 PM
The British museum in Cairo, Egypt, at the time I was there (1980’s) arranged ancient jewelry by color, not by providence or age. Stupid. Also, if the cover is lost, faded or damaged, how can you re-catalog the book by color?
NoriJuly 20, 2017, 9:31 PM
My library has much of the above. The smallest section is the – in case of fire – shelf. Most of the books there are old,purchased last century at St Vincent de Paul and other thrift stores. Small,slim volumns,a few heftier ones,books that sparked my interest and took me to another world,which oftentimes was in fact,this world,in another time and place. Absolute essential books that must be preserved,and passed on.
Last Mon while sitting on the porch after supper my wife approached and said I looked like I was bored and maybe I’d like to read this, and she held a small book out. I’d seen this book many times over the years but had never read it. It is based around the Indiana town she was born and they have a statue of the subject of this book installed at the town circle and the local hospital is named after the author.
I took the book and thumbed into it and the next thing you know I was captured by it. I sat there for the next 2 hours lost in the rural lifestyle of an early 19th century Indiana family. 2 hours the next evening, and then 1 hour on the 3rd evening and the adventure was over but not forgotten. Plenty of substance in that 277 page tome to occupy my mind later and maybe forever. It was a pleasant, fast little read, and I’m glad for it.
I am restocking my home library (via amazon) because at age 78 I’ve decided to reread books I read in college. I’ve started this summer with Campbell’s Hero With A Thousand Faces. At the time as a sophomore I could hardly make heads or tails of it and the grade I got (a C) reflected that. In those days profs actually gave out Cs and Fs. But after 60 years the book is a true wonder. I can’t wait to reread the next two on my list: Rudolph Otto’s The Idea of the Holy and W. B. Yeats Complete Poems.
NoriJuly 21, 2017, 7:19 AM
Awesome links,thanks, Ghost. Great American frontier story,with drawings,maps,lesson plans,and ending with recipes! What a treasure. Would be nice to do a Berlin Airlift style drop of a few thousand copies over NYC,Baltimore,LA, etc, so the kids could read some actual history. Bonus points for it making their Prog teachers’ heads pop like chestnuts on a hot fire.
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 MANGROVE AVE
APT 379
Chico, Ca 95926
Green Pants Interior by Klahn
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
Gerard Van der Leun
Comments on this entry are closed.
Green, dark pink and dark blue would meld into one muddled brown color code for me.
A COMPULSIVE READER’S system for sure. I pretty much never had a system but I would make little subject arrangements that were never noticed by visitors. My very favorite was some serious literary virtual trouble making one year when I read a number of biographies and I selected the three most egotistical of the lot and on the middle of a higher shelf, I placed (lft-rt) Douglas Macarthur (“An American Caesar” ?), “Pimp: The story of my life by Iceberg Slim” (in DC in the 40s), and Thomas Edison (“A Streak of Luck”). These three were men with huge aggressive self confidence and I thought the combo would probably create beaucoup unrest and loud vocal incidents in heaven/hell/across regional lines.
Well probably about half of the at least several hundred books here in my office, and several hundred more in the house, which I fully intended to read at one point, have slipped into the category of “donate to something/someone/somewhere” cause they just ain’t gonna get read and it’s a mortal sin to have books just sitting there when others could be benefitting from them.
Afterall, all books belong to posterity, you know, and we, the current possessors, just get to use them for a spell. This is especially poignant now.
Think about it. Now, we are descending into the era of the “New Babel” where words, written and spoken, mean whatever the speaker/writer and listeners/readers want them to mean. Human communication is now in a state of flux and most of it is liquid nothingness. Therefore books, real books, timeless living words on parchment, especially old books, are the bridges that will continue us as a people to a time sometime in the future when lunacy has left the building. When we, us, them, look back at us, we, and wonder what they hell were they thinking? They will simply shrug, grab an old book off the wall and go sit down and transport their minds as all good people do and should.
Needed: Books more than a hundred years old / category. Also: books I’ve read more than once. This is fun.
I’ve got some 3,000 books. I seem to have spent most of my life building fucking bookshelves
The British museum in Cairo, Egypt, at the time I was there (1980’s) arranged ancient jewelry by color, not by providence or age. Stupid. Also, if the cover is lost, faded or damaged, how can you re-catalog the book by color?
My library has much of the above. The smallest section is the – in case of fire – shelf. Most of the books there are old,purchased last century at St Vincent de Paul and other thrift stores. Small,slim volumns,a few heftier ones,books that sparked my interest and took me to another world,which oftentimes was in fact,this world,in another time and place. Absolute essential books that must be preserved,and passed on.
Last Mon while sitting on the porch after supper my wife approached and said I looked like I was bored and maybe I’d like to read this, and she held a small book out. I’d seen this book many times over the years but had never read it. It is based around the Indiana town she was born and they have a statue of the subject of this book installed at the town circle and the local hospital is named after the author.
I took the book and thumbed into it and the next thing you know I was captured by it. I sat there for the next 2 hours lost in the rural lifestyle of an early 19th century Indiana family. 2 hours the next evening, and then 1 hour on the 3rd evening and the adventure was over but not forgotten. Plenty of substance in that 277 page tome to occupy my mind later and maybe forever. It was a pleasant, fast little read, and I’m glad for it.
It’s in pdf online if you’d like, it is named “The Bears of Blue River”.
You’ll like it.
https://www.usi.edu/media/2939448/The-Bears-of-Blue-River-Howell.PDF
Here’s the statue:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/2f/57/a0/2f57a0abdd3e8b59053854b34a89f08a.jpg
I am restocking my home library (via amazon) because at age 78 I’ve decided to reread books I read in college. I’ve started this summer with Campbell’s Hero With A Thousand Faces. At the time as a sophomore I could hardly make heads or tails of it and the grade I got (a C) reflected that. In those days profs actually gave out Cs and Fs. But after 60 years the book is a true wonder. I can’t wait to reread the next two on my list: Rudolph Otto’s The Idea of the Holy and W. B. Yeats Complete Poems.
Awesome links,thanks, Ghost. Great American frontier story,with drawings,maps,lesson plans,and ending with recipes! What a treasure. Would be nice to do a Berlin Airlift style drop of a few thousand copies over NYC,Baltimore,LA, etc, so the kids could read some actual history. Bonus points for it making their Prog teachers’ heads pop like chestnuts on a hot fire.
LOL, that Nori….I seen what you did there:
chestnuts on a hot fire