Don't Feel Guilty About All Those Books!

[bookslover]

"It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones." - Umberto Eco (1932-2016), Italian writer, whose personal library totaled approximately 50,000 books.

So, relax, guys!

 

[davejonescue]

I gently push against this idea. Umberto Eco was an avowed agnostic/atheist, being under no self-perceived or Spirit-enlightened notion, or obligation to be faithful to any sort of commandment to be good stewards of the resources God bestows upon us.

There is a very real sense of Christian bibliophilism in America, and if I were smart enough to write a book on the topic, it would be called "Quail As Well." There is a point a Christian in the West can reach very quickly, where their library far outpaces their ability to read, ever. The sad thing now is this is being imported to impoverished nations where Christians there feel as if they are inadequate if they dont have the sprawling libraries behind them like they see in every Youtube video they watch from us. This is not to mention the whole "market" behind the selling of books, which makes every book sold seem like a "must have" and the complex many Christians put on themselves if they do not have "that set" or "that book" on their shelves.

I had my doubts at one time, but all of them were laid to rest when I witnessed the new Bavinck in pleather come out, and actual memes were created (though in presumed jest) of the peasants who still had the HC's. Think of how many people disregarded a perfectly good text, to get one with a different cover, just so they could keep up with whats trendy?

I could be wrong, and I hope I am, but I think one day for us who have spent quite a bit of money collecting books, (as if the collecting makes us cultured,) will be judged by every book that collected dust. Could not that money have been better stewarded? This has no bearing on books that are used, read, and contribute to the edification and spiritual growth of a saint. Or books for research purposes. But I think we all know people, or have been such ourselves, who get all bubbly-gutted by thinking how good something is going to look on their/our shelf, or thinking we "have" to have it because it is standard in a particular camp, or we saw our favorite theologian promoting it.

My opinion, is this line of thinking is not cool in the age of millions of free books, is not something that should be promoted, and is an indicator of the "respected vices" we overlook in our financially prosperous folly. The thing that saddens me the most about this, is the people we look up to, the ones who should be pushing us to be sacrificial, the ones who should be reminding us of our responsibilities as believers, many times are the ones who are quick to push the greatest extravagances in this regard.

This isnt pinpointing anybody out, nor is it demonizing books, book publishers, or the free-market; it is dealing with the bigger issue of book-mania within the body of Christ. This topic seems never to be touched upon, seemingly lest it set siege either to the market itself, or our personal addictions, and our prideful, uncontrolled, and covetous procurement's we can at times make. We hear so much about book buying, which in itself is not bad; (thank God for good books and the people that produce them), yet, the choir is quiet on book buying responsibly.

With this in mind, how does the above "encouragement" help? Yes, many older authors will talk about having good libraries, but none of them lived in an age where you have access to millions of books for free with a click of the mouse, and millions more contemporary titles with low-cost subscription plans. We are responsible within the context of the generation we live in, the same way if we made our children manually heat buckets of water every night to take a bath, (when you could simply turn on the faucet,) would now be considered cruel, when it was considered common 200 years ago. I have been guilty of this myself, (not trying to be a hypocrite) but as time goes on, by Gods grace, the fog is starting to dissipate.

 

[Ben Zartman]

Books can be passed on to children, read over and over again, and do less damage to the eyes than a screen. If I had to read all my books off a screen, @davejonescue I'd just revert to illiteracy.
Of all the things to clutter up a house, books are the least bad, in my opinion. I've had some books for years, just waiting the right time for me to get to them. If it isn't this year or the next, it may be the one after. One in particular--Tables for Clearing the Lunar Distance--has been waiting for nearly 20 years for the right concatenation of circumstance that will bring it into its own.
And while they were all available on PDF, invariably on a recent trip everyone chose the paper copy of a reference that I had brought to reading it on a screen. It's just that much better.
I do agree that some make books an idol and a cause for boasting, but that's not the problem of the book, but of the person. Removing the books won't fix their maladjustment--they'll just find a different outlet for it.