Haven’t blogged for sometime, so decided to just throw something together that just happened to be floating in my head: My do I always never to seem to run out of books that I need to read no matter how many I finish?
I’ve been an avid book reader for probably like three centuries now(grey beard status coming out), but I haven’t always been. Not really until my later 20’s did I really get the reading bug, but since then it’s been a feedback loop of for every book I read I tend to buy 2 or more new books before finishing the current one. This continued pattern of buying books faster than you can read them has two basic conclusions that can be drawn from this behavior:
- You have OCD around always needing more books afraid of being put in a position where you’ll have no books on hand to read.
- Don’t view it so much as a disorder as really a superpower. Your knowledge base and brain power will just continue to rise over time, so why is this a bad thing?
Now if #1 is true, you’re basically a hoarder and you’re object of obsession just happens to be books and from the Hoarders shows I’ve watched you’ll just end up burying yourself alive with books to the neglect of everything else at which time the cockroaches find another rent free residence and you’re family commits you to a psych ward. I’ve really never heard of anyone falling into this category, but I’m sure they exist.
#2 is usually the case as you’re really just a book nerd that really enjoys reading and your voracious appetite for reading new books must be satisfied or your brain will starve and rot. Think it basically comes down to your own personal affections: for some it’s tinkering with cars, for others it’s jigsaw puzzles, and for others it’s reading books.
Whenever I think about this, I’m always reminded of the Twilight Zone episode titled, “Time Enough at Last” where the protagonist Henry Bemis is always frustrated due to his boss, his wife, and the world at large never giving him enough freedom to read his books until one day his wish is granted and there’s no lone left in the world to stop him.