This is one reason I like ebooks. I don’t need to worry about storage space, dust, mold or anything else that might keep me from having as many books as I might want. I don’t feel guilty for owning digital copies of a book that I might never get around to reading, because one could conceivably make an infinite number of copies of any given book (I always feel somewhat guilty leaving a physical book sitting around unread too long, as it feels Iike the paper’s going to waste if no one’s reading or has read that copy). But I still treat an ebook as a valuable thing, because the information and the experience are still just as valuable – so I kind of doubt that good books will be treated poorly in the future just because they aren’t necessarily physical things.

Tell your friend to start giving his books to me

Some books I keep and cherish. Others, I donate. But I probably keep more than I should.

That said, the majority of my book shelves (and e-readers) are full of books I haven’t yet read, and am looking forward to. I generally keep the ones I love, even though I might not read them again for many years; the ones I’m ‘meh’ about I pass on to places like the Library or Goodwill.

I cannot abide the idea of throwing books away, even in the recycling, even though I know it’s probably not that big a deal. Gives me the willies something awful.

My experience working at a public library has changed my attitude about this. Every week we have people coming in attempting to donate rotted, yellowing, mildewed, smelly, grease-stained and buggy books that have obviously been stored in their attics, garages, basements, car trunks, etc. They never fail to act insulted when we tell them they should throw those books out (complete collections of National Geographic are also popular!). I always wonder who they think would want such books.

That said, I have trouble throwing out the books in my personal library, although I have no problem giving them away. There’s a certain mystique that lingers to a good book, whether its from good memories or the cost of purchase. Many times books are attached to childhood memories and learning, both things that have meaning to people, so there’s a certain guilt one feels when throwing them out.

I think the Kindle culture of books for two bucks (less than a cup of coffee!) might eventually devalue this mystique by making books more of a disposable commodity in our culture.

Best,
George

I grew up making books – in art classes, for friends. It takes a lot of effort to put a book that lasts together, and those are treasures. Heirlooms, really. Beyond genre, an artist named Enid Mark (http://www.theelmpress.net/aboutelm.htm) who took this idea to another level entirely – using hand letterpressing, hand-lithographing, and hand-binding to create exquisite books. These were limited-run books, and they are valued in the thousands, if not hundreds of thousands.

Most paperback books aren’t meant for that. They aren’t necessarily designed to biodegrade, but they do fall apart. If you are a bathtub-reader (I totally am), this happens even faster. But some of those I keep because it shows me where I’ve been, and what I’ve treasured most. Even if it’s held together with rubber bands.

When I took a local train the other day, I found inside the station a small bookshelf labeled “Take a Book, Leave a Book,” – and people were using it as directed. Movements like the Little Free Library (http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/) are setting up (some really adorable) stations all around the world for book sharing.

So I guess, instead of disposable, I think books are sharable, exchangeable. Sometimes degradable. They make fine tables too. And forts. They are fun to find in unexpected places (train stations, hallways, mailbox-things) and discover new stories.

The $5 boxes of books are sometimes a lifeline for kids who have saved a very little money and want to have books to call their own. Seanan McGuire writes about this in her essay on poverty: “My bedroom was an ocean of books. Almost all of them were acquired second-hand, through used bookstores, garage sales, flea markets, and library booksales, which I viewed as being just this side of Heaven itself.” (about halfway down the page http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com/390067.html)

I’m going to write more beyond this reply, because the idea of found books (which you write about eloquently above), and books that you don’t throw away — that are made to be heirlooms, is a broader set of thoughts and I need time to mull.

I think that for many people, giving away objects to charities is mostly about avoiding the moral stain of having thrown something away. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But I think that the practical difference between giving something away and throwing it away is much less than people imagine it is.

I think that leaving a book in a hall is much less defensible than throwing it away. When you leave it in a hall or in the street, you’re cluttering up a common environment.