What’s on your bookshelf?
Ialways thought bookcases were for books.
But my wife has other ideas. Like many women, she’s into pictures and knickknacks. So we are in conflict over the limited space in a rather large fixture.
She has plenty of family pictures — you know, the daughter hugging Bailey the horse, the niece and her husband from Massachusetts that we never see and our class picture when we graduated from cardiac rehab. Had to go there because we don’t always eat tofu and kale and are now suffering the consequences. Both of us were doing pretty well until they closed the facility down due to COVID-19. I guess it’s OK to die from a heart attack these days — just not the virus.
On the knickknack side, there’s a ceramic bunny from someplace that only my wife can remember. There’s a model of an Audi race car that I drove at Sonoma (OK, I’ll admit that’s mine) and a cool statue of Dr. Fauci holding a chart that states: “Wear your mask.”
As for the books, most belong to me. There are two rows of law school textbooks and several binders of outlined course notes. There’s an entire row of “Collectable Automobile” magazines I’ve compiled over the years. One might ask why I need space for these? Well, when I want to take a nap, I can grab an issue, look at pictures of cars from the past and be asleep almost immediately. I think it’s better than a My Pillow.
Then there’s the medical and psychology section. But after that, not much room for newer books of interest that I tend to acquire on a regular basis.
We’re sort of at an impasse on the situation. I could get another bookcase, but we’ve pretty much run out of walls. So I give away much of my reading materials to a foothill library. The problem at my age is, I don’t always remember what I’ve read a month later.
To refresh the old brain, I make copies of book covers I’ve passed on and keep them in a folder. That way, if anyone asks, “Have you read ‘such and such?’” I can thumb through the folder and say, “Why, yes!”
Problem with that is finding references for future use. I don’t read novels, but books on personal experiences, life’s various issues and exposes.
The good news is the ever handy smartphone. I can usually look up an author and find what I’m looking for. As a matter of fact, I probably don’t need to keep any of these books. But I need to have something tangible to show for the thousands of dollars spent on tuition over the years.
Still another problemsolving solution is to stack the books horizontally above the vertical ones. It doesn’t look as neat, but at least I don’t have to part with my treasures.
When people come to my house, I’ll bet they look at my book collection and think, “He’s probably a lot smarter than he looks.” If I leave the room for something and glance back, these people are surveying the titles and probably wandering why I pasted pictures of some law professors on spines of the texts? Again, it’s about the memory. I can tell you who my second grade teacher was, but naming a professor from 15 years ago? Well, that’s another matter.
Of course, we all hold onto favorite books because they’ve had an influence on our lives. There’s a little publication from 1958 that my part-time pastor cousin gave me with various biblical quotes. I haven’t opened it in years, but one glance brings back many memories of the Iowa farm he managed, which I enjoyed so much during vacations.
There’s “Signature of the Cell” by Stephen Meyer. He discusses the mathematical odds of complicated life forms simply evolving by chance. In simple terms, the probabilities are about the same as a Ferrari Testarossa evolving out of an Alabama junkyard.
“Erasing Death” by Sam Parnia, M.D., is an excellent discussion of facts surrounding the distinct possibilities of consciousness continuing after death. On the psychology side, there’s “Neurotic Styles,” by David Shapiro. It’s a modern classic. Another is “The Bell Curve” by Herrnstein and Murray, alongside a 677-page critique.
Next to it is “PC, M.D.” by Sally Satel, M.D. She discusses fraudulent and poorly designed studies often found in medical research today. She also takes a look at how political correctness can interfere with proper treatment of patients.
On the sociology side, there’s “Authentically Black,” and “Losing the Race” by former UC Berkeley professor, John McWhorter. From the political scene, I have “Drain the Swamp” by Ken Buck. The congressman exposes corrupt money games played in the House and Senate by members of both parties, which most Americans remain unaware.
Strange thing is, all the books and trinkets have symbolic meanings for us. When we’re gone, they’ll be of little value to those who have the task of cleaning out the bookcase. A few thousand dollars in reading materials and sentimental novelties will end up in a garage sale, or maybe some will find a new home at Tom’s Used Books.
In the meantime, I don’t see us solving our shelf problem by moving into a smaller place or assisted living anytime soon. You can only shove so much stuff under a bed.