Comments on: How to Stop Hoarding Books

By: Duchesssammi

Duchesssammi — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 11:24:04 +0000

I AM so amazed to have found others like me—
I thought I was unique- in my Book Hoarding and Compulsive Book Buying– and Trading – on Paperbackswap.com yeah someone else here knows that site..I love that site and can’t imagine how I functioned without it..Been a member there for over 3-4 years…

I love to read series– I love getting to know the characters and follow them for their entire lives– so to speak…to see a story grow – and evolve.. SO if I see a series I won’t even start it until I have every book in the series….

My books are very precious to me – I am so careful not to crease the spines, or bend the pages, god forbid get it wet–So books that I have read look brand new—

Great to meet you all –

By: karlis umbris

karlis umbris — Tue, 11 May 2010 06:33:02 +0000

there is absolutely nothing wrong with hoarding books, I’ve been doing it for years, occasionally getting rid of books I’m not interested in anymore and there are advantages-you don’t have to worry about returning them to the library, you’ll never be bored when you have so many of them and are looking for something new to read, they make your home look colourful and interesting, they reflect your personality and they make you look like a supersmart university academic when you’ve got hundreds of books. I will always love having lots of books!

By: Marie McDonald

Marie McDonald — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 21:28:10 +0000

I guess I have a different perspective on owning books. Currently I have about 3000+ and have donated perhaps 1500 more in the past to libraries, as well as selling another 500.

To me, the book itself is personal. The cover, the feel of the pages. Some books have harsh, unfriendly pages, while others are smooth, and the book falls open gracefully. Are the edges smooth or cut ragged? What about the font? Oh, there are so many. I reread some of my books, others have been only partially read, or not at all.

What I like, however, is when I get interested in a particular subject matter, I can investigate further, knowing I may have another book, or two, or more, on the subject.

What I can’t bear the thought of is having my books thrown in the trash! But, I know many of them are probably worthless, meaningful only to me because I’ve hung onto them for so many years. Surprisingly, some of them are now worth money, being out of print, first editions, or privately published.

Like many others posting here, I need to do something to manage my “collection” and have been searching for a way to dispose of the books. I guess the best way is to bite the bullet and sort, and then donate to libraries, hospitals, etc.

Seems like a good winter project !!!

By: Ornithophobe

Ornithophobe — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:27:28 +0000

I’m sitting right now, surrounded by four foot stacks of books all over my living room. I’ve killed another bookcase; it disintegrated under the weight of books forced into it. Tomorrow new bookcases will arrive, two to replace the one that died. I KNOW I have a problem. I am a compulsive book buyer. I just don’t know how to fix that problem. For you, it’s “maybe this book will make me smarter.” For me, it’s my remote brain. All the knowledge I don’t yet know or can’t remember is hiding in these books, and the ones in my bedroom, the garage, my mother’s attic… and there’s this weird, insane fear that if I let them go, I’m somehow losing part of my knowledge base. Like braincells dying off or something. It’s why I can’t do libraries, or read and release into the wild, or whatever. I just know that somewhere in the house is the book I want, if only I can find it.

By: Ann

Ann — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:02:11 +0000

Hey! I just found a great website: paperbackbookswap.com
You can swap books for others you want, or havent’ read. I’m nuts about old science fiction, & my hubby has a hard time letting books go…

this seems to be a good site, so far.

Ann

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:56:01 +0000

Ha ha! I loved this article! I laughed all the way through it… Thanks. :)

By: Casey Casperson

Casey Casperson — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:11:33 +0000

I like your call to action in all of your posts. I struggle every day to perfect successful methods, but I believe that I would be doing it wrong if I felt as though I was doing everything perfect. I think you do a nice job of explaining the thoughts and motives of the successful.

On this post however, I disagree with your method of book reading. I think that books have a real flaw to them that go against productivity: you have to invest way to much time in conventional reading methods before you realize a book is a dud or not applicable to you.

Reason #1 for books unread: commitment of time.

We all agree that it is very difficult to continue to pick up and put down a book and be able to retain it’s contents. We fail to read because we rarely ever have an hour + to dedicate to a book.

Reason #2 Poor Content Reluctance. What if we invest all of that time and the books sucks?

Solution: Create your own preview.

1. When beginning a new book or deciding to buy it, take 2 minutes to open it up, and read the table of contents. Does the book refer to items that are interesting or applicable? If yes, buy the book, move to step two.

2. Read the first sentence of each chapter. If the first sentence is not enough, the first paragraph. earmark any chapters that are interesting or need further explaining. Chances are that you can put the book down at this point and have confidence you have retained 90% of it.

3. Go back to earmarcked portions for your own entertainment.

4. Make some basic notes that will help you remember the book and place inside. Anytime someone wants to talk about the book, you can always go to that paper to refresh your brain.

This method helped me “donate” nearly 50 books I had horded while being able to speeed read about half, retaining most and really only reading about 2.

Novels and books for entertainment cannot be treated this way, but I assumed you were referring to self-improvement, business books.

Cheers and good luck. Thank you for the posts.

By: Alice

Alice — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:26:51 +0000

I don’t share your problem as such…

I am a book hoarder in my own way;

I read, then re-read & the book is shoved into my cupboard to be re-read again at a later date. I’ll buy more, do the same & sometimes depending on my mood I may go back to one specific novel.

I love my books and don’t want to leave the world they create for me.

They get doggy tagged, bent and torn, coffee stained, disrespected but very much appreciated.

I do hope your theory has worked out for you.

By: mae

mae — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:15:30 +0000

I check out so many books from the library, and then continue to renew them for several months. I start and do not finish many of them. I try now to just limit myself to one or two books. I have been able to renew one book for about a year. There is only a limit on a renewal if the book has been placed on hold by another reader.

Magazines…newspapers…this year has been full for me…Newsweek, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, Money, Fortune, etc., etc., I turned in frequent flyer miles for free publications. Now, they are piled up everywhere because I want to catch up on the year’s reading. Oh well, I did this before, and eventually donated them to the local library.

I’m trying to live a more minimalist life, but I am surrounded by junk…it makes it hard to think.

By: Keychain

Keychain — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:46:02 +0000

Haha, yes I have to keep an eye on my book hoarding habits too!

I find keeping the number of books I’m reading at a time to a miminum (4/5) is effective. I’ll also usually have a main book that I’m working through. Before I can start reading a new book, I have to finish one of the one’s on my current rotation.

In other words, before I can start on X book, I must finish Y book.

The desire to start on bookX is very often the motivation needed to get me to finish bookY!

Keys