Preparing for another purge
Life has cycles. In my case, it can be summed up in library purges. Allow me to reminisce.
About forty years ago, while perusing the discard pile at my local campus library, I acquired an elementary grammar book, for Russian. Not a language that I speak, or study; it just seemed like a good thing to have in my personal book holdings. Ahd there it sat, until moving forced me to winnow the piles. I still have trauma. When I couldn’t get an offer for some of the (hundreds of) books at the local used dealers, I made the trip to the city incinerator. Pitched complete cartons of volumes into the maw of the furnace. Yes, the Russian book, too.
I paid to move dozens of sealed cartons to my new address, by bonded carrier. Books have value, including mine. Now, let’s fast forward about half a lifetime. The collection did recover. And now, with declining eyesight, I accept that I will not be digging back into the boxes that are stored in our garage. Many boxes. For the record, these are all GOOD books, but the resale market has collapsed. Thank you, Google and friends. And since my pile has been piled, nicely, for seven years, it is time to purge, again.
This time, I’m going to go with that rule that says if you haven’t tried to reread a book for seven years, you aren’t going to. I believe that the incinerator is still operating, and that the maw of the furnace is still hungry.
All I ask is a moment of silence, for all those books that will cease to exist (in single copies). I checked with my family, and there is zero desire to get this as a legacy. Change of language, etc. I won’t be doing an inventory, either. Too painful to consider. Getting back all that space in the garage will have to make up for the waste of paper with ink.
On the plus side, the energy from the “big burn” will help to heat the hospital.
