Discussion Forum > Tips on Managing one's personal library
The main thing for me would be to create some sort of "protection" around your time to read. That is, giving yourself space to feel comfortable and free to read for some amount of time every day. I find that I have no trouble reading after that.
October 10, 2021 at 20:42 |
Aaron Hsu
Aaron Hsu
"Reading books" is not really a category for self management. Reading is a general thing like eg. walking. You walk from your desk into the kitchen. You walk from your house to the post office. You walk from the front lines back home. If you are British, you swim.
Do your reading when it is a next step for a given project. You want to take notes. So do your reading at the desk. If it's poetic, what you read that is, then stand up and read out loud. Like actors do. What is your aim in all this?
Every specific type of task finds it's best natural fiting time point during the day. Reading for pure pleasure? Do it after hours, when you had a drink already but do not want to take dinner yet.
Mark H.:
Since you are a piano player, maybe you could do your reading in intervals between practice sessions? Do you need pauses to rest the fingers? If yes, then that's a good time for reading, isn't it?
Do your reading when it is a next step for a given project. You want to take notes. So do your reading at the desk. If it's poetic, what you read that is, then stand up and read out loud. Like actors do. What is your aim in all this?
Every specific type of task finds it's best natural fiting time point during the day. Reading for pure pleasure? Do it after hours, when you had a drink already but do not want to take dinner yet.
Mark H.:
Since you are a piano player, maybe you could do your reading in intervals between practice sessions? Do you need pauses to rest the fingers? If yes, then that's a good time for reading, isn't it?
October 11, 2021 at 7:15 |
Christopher
Christopher
Did you have two questions? 1) How to physically organize your books in a smaller apartment, and 2) how to make reading a more organized activity?
Googling "organizing books small apartment" will likely get you lots of pictures to give you idea. This link, for example, has lots of wild ideas: https://www.bookbub.com/blog/bookshelf-hacks-for-storing-books-in-small-spaces
As for 2) - I've read that young folks aren't using e-reading devices much, but as a 60-something who has moved lots of books over the years and is tired of moving boxes of these damn heavy objects, I am moving my books to e-readers where I can. We're downsizing to a smaller place also, so managing books is on my mind. I kept physical books when I had sentimental attachment to them, or they're art books that just need to oversized to be appreciated, or they never made it to e-reader and would be hard to find otherwise.
The e-reading experience is not as satisfying as holding the physical codex. But if you're just skimming books, it could be OK. I heavily use my local library's e-book holdings. In the US, I use the Library Extension add-in in Firefox; when I find a book in Amazon, it adds info to the Amazon page to tell me whether the book is in my local library as a physical copy, or is available as an e-book or audiobook. (Don't know if this works outside the US.)
With physical books, I leave 2-3 books near my various reading stations around the house, and those are the ones I pick up. When I had books in shelves, I used the Noguchi filing method (search Mark's site for more info on this). I designated the top shelf in one of my bookcases as the "active shelf", and whenever I pulled out a book I returned it to the leftmost side of the shelf. As books were reviewed and placed on the shelf, they were always returned ot the leftmost place. So all the books on the left were the most recent or current reads; books migrated to the right side of the shelf if I lost interest or had read them.
All that said -- nothing kills reading joy like making reading a project. I follow the poet Randall Jarrell's advice: "Read at whim! Read at whim!"
Googling "organizing books small apartment" will likely get you lots of pictures to give you idea. This link, for example, has lots of wild ideas: https://www.bookbub.com/blog/bookshelf-hacks-for-storing-books-in-small-spaces
As for 2) - I've read that young folks aren't using e-reading devices much, but as a 60-something who has moved lots of books over the years and is tired of moving boxes of these damn heavy objects, I am moving my books to e-readers where I can. We're downsizing to a smaller place also, so managing books is on my mind. I kept physical books when I had sentimental attachment to them, or they're art books that just need to oversized to be appreciated, or they never made it to e-reader and would be hard to find otherwise.
The e-reading experience is not as satisfying as holding the physical codex. But if you're just skimming books, it could be OK. I heavily use my local library's e-book holdings. In the US, I use the Library Extension add-in in Firefox; when I find a book in Amazon, it adds info to the Amazon page to tell me whether the book is in my local library as a physical copy, or is available as an e-book or audiobook. (Don't know if this works outside the US.)
With physical books, I leave 2-3 books near my various reading stations around the house, and those are the ones I pick up. When I had books in shelves, I used the Noguchi filing method (search Mark's site for more info on this). I designated the top shelf in one of my bookcases as the "active shelf", and whenever I pulled out a book I returned it to the leftmost side of the shelf. As books were reviewed and placed on the shelf, they were always returned ot the leftmost place. So all the books on the left were the most recent or current reads; books migrated to the right side of the shelf if I lost interest or had read them.
All that said -- nothing kills reading joy like making reading a project. I follow the poet Randall Jarrell's advice: "Read at whim! Read at whim!"
October 11, 2021 at 14:14 |
Mike Brown
Mike Brown
Thanks for the replies. There is some advice if you Google search it. For example:
https://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/book-shelf-and-home-library-tips
https://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/book-shelf-and-home-library-tips
October 14, 2021 at 18:09 |
Mark H.
Mark H.
Mark H:
As has been already pointed out, there seem to be two problems here.
1) How to store books - about which I have no advice to offer other than "a book out of sight is a book out of mind". If a book is not where you can see it, you might just as well not own it.
2) How to read books. That's easy. Pick three books at a time. One should be an easy read. The second a classic novel or a book of poems. The third a non-fiction book. Rotate between them. If you get stuck on one dispose of it and start reading another of the same type. When you finish one replace it with another of the same type.
As has been already pointed out, there seem to be two problems here.
1) How to store books - about which I have no advice to offer other than "a book out of sight is a book out of mind". If a book is not where you can see it, you might just as well not own it.
2) How to read books. That's easy. Pick three books at a time. One should be an easy read. The second a classic novel or a book of poems. The third a non-fiction book. Rotate between them. If you get stuck on one dispose of it and start reading another of the same type. When you finish one replace it with another of the same type.
October 14, 2021 at 20:31 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Here's a video from a fellow who sorts his booke by publication date:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtGUjkczE34
Might be something to consider…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtGUjkczE34
Might be something to consider…
October 17, 2021 at 9:12 |
Christopher
Christopher
Christopher:
<< Here's a video from a fellow who sorts his booke by publication date: >>
Not a bad idea - at least if your bookshelves are all the same size. Which mine aren't!
There's also the vexed question of exactly when some of the older books were first published.
<< Here's a video from a fellow who sorts his booke by publication date: >>
Not a bad idea - at least if your bookshelves are all the same size. Which mine aren't!
There's also the vexed question of exactly when some of the older books were first published.
October 18, 2021 at 17:39 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
I recently downsized to a smaller, 500 sq. ft. apartment, and although I donated 150 books before the move, I still have too many books. I perhaps have 500-600 books. I have much more piano score music - I am a pianist - but I am not including that. I am 65 years old, and I am planning to have more reading time in my older years, but I won't have time to read all the books I have. I need to donate some more books just to have room in my apartment. I was keeping them in a storage unit, but decided to move them into my apartment. I can donate some books without reading them at all, I can donate some books after skimming them. I can decide which books are keepers and I want to digest them, and read the whole book. I am thinking that it might be good with the rest of the books to read them by subject. i think I need to set aside daily time for reading.
This falls under projects, goals, areas of responsibility, etc. But I rarely have seen any advice on this, other than reading lists, which I never have been able to follow.
Reading some books, like War and Peace, are really projects, or long-term goals.