I'm not sure how many people have as extensive a bookshelf as mine. This is actually after a huge book purge. And I certainly have more ebooks and books that I've given away or sold or checked out of the library. If I had to think back to how many books I've read over my lifetime, the number is probably in the tens of thousands.
These books have made me into the person I am. I started thinking about this, after I read an article this morning called "What Did Charles Darwin Read? See His Handwritten Reading List & Read Books from His Library Online." Can you even imagine? What if you had read all the books Charles Darwin had read? This article essentially gives you a brief glance at what was in his head. It leads you on the journey of what it's like to come up with the greatest theory in all of science.
So I started thinking about what I've read, and what would someone come back and say about me, from the books/evidence I leave behind. I've had that joke with my girlfriends "If I die, the first thing someone should do is erase my browser history."
These books have made me into the person I am. I started thinking about this, after I read an article this morning called "What Did Charles Darwin Read? See His Handwritten Reading List & Read Books from His Library Online." Can you even imagine? What if you had read all the books Charles Darwin had read? This article essentially gives you a brief glance at what was in his head. It leads you on the journey of what it's like to come up with the greatest theory in all of science.
So I started thinking about what I've read, and what would someone come back and say about me, from the books/evidence I leave behind. I've had that joke with my girlfriends "If I die, the first thing someone should do is erase my browser history."
A lot of my books are about working with people. I've needed to work with people in many ways, as an employee, as a boss, as an entrepreneur, a friend, a child, a girlfriend, and a scientist. There's a lot of reading that involves learning how to cope with dealing with people, and I love self-help books. Part of me is never willing to settle for a situation to remain uncomfortable, so I'm always looking for tips on how to make things better. When I've been unhappy as a girlfriend, I've read to learn how to be better. When I've been unhappy with my job, I've read to learn how to assert myself. When I've been unhappy with relationships with my family, I've read to help make the relationships better. Some of these books have been read once, some 20 times, and some have just been poorly written, and I've skimmed them or tossed them on the shelf unread.
I've kept a large number of textbooks around. Maybe it's to remind myself of the thousands of dollars I've spent on my college education for my undergrad, master's, and doctorate, or maybe it's because I just really like knowing that I know some of this stuff. Who is enamored with Financial Accounting?
Maybe some day, someone will analyze my library, and see it as a window into my brain. It's quite an extensive window.
RSS Feed
