The Future With Books



As we approach two years since our house fire we are still rebuilding and renovating, albeit at a pace now commensurate with two years of folly. That is another story. But one outcome will (eventually, not yet) a more generous space of bookshelves, bookshelves brilliantly and capable of handling most of the collection that I still house at my UR office.

I'm barely at the University---why should I be?---and in the aftermath of covid teaching at home I have brought home hundreds more, almost casually as I have needed them here. When the new hojoki (ten-foot-square room, literally in Japanese though it is a bit longer than this) is complete (maybe by February 14th, the true 2 years since?), I will bring home hundreds of volumes and boxes full of notes, notebooks, about 40+ of work and more than that of collecting.

But the truth is, books are largely obsolete. Everyday another takes digital form---using fewer resources, etc. And though my notes are irreplaceable (anyone want dozens of translations from Sanskrit? Tibetan? Tamil? Right. I thought not.), the real issue won't be space but the fact that someone will eventually have to deal with them.

This piece in the WaPo today reminded me that I am cherishing a past and, yes, still working and planning to work more---these are my tools. But like education and yoga and rock n' roll, books are the past. I'm not sad that that is where I live and I'm no Luddite disdaining the future---Kindle is my friend too. But I am concerned that when the books have to go the people who then buy this leaky, burnt house will wonder what all those shelves were for. I'm glad I grew up with books and music made by playing real instruments and No. 2 pencils. I don't miss some things but most of what I wish were gone isn't, like injustice and war. In the meantime, I intend to read on, calmly.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/12/19/used-books-stores-donation-fran-lebowitz/

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