Video Response: Can a Person Have Too Many Books?

[@frankmorlock9134]

I agree with your first two criteria--space and accessibility, but the three year rule is not for me. I only purchase books that I would like to read though not necessarily right away. I will read it if I live long enough and still have it. At 81, I am aware that time is running out--for me, but not on my books because their shelf life is the same as mine.Occasionally, I forget I have book if it is double or triple stacked for a long while. This usually results in my buying a 2nd copy of the book. Once I discover the duplication, I dispose of one, usually the one in poor condition.Over a 60 year period that has probably not happened more than a hundred times. I hate throwing books away, I have no problem giving them away, but throwing them away is something I dislike. A few years ago, I learned I had a cousin who was a librarian (retired) who lived in West Virginia. He came to the D.C. area and I showed him around. He too shared my abhorrence of throwing books away. He told me he had a 7 room house full of books. Also, I freely admit that having books is a comfort for me, just having them, and knowing I have them on subjects I am interested in does my mood a world of good whether I ever get to read that book or not. And I would add that the purpose of having a library is not so much to read every book in it, but to have books on subjects of interest at hand if the urge to read them or to refer to them comes over you, Having a library is a luxury but it is one most people can afford if they have a little money and build it up patiently over time and keep it within bounds of the space available.

[@mtngrl5859]

Frank, such a great observation. Since I have such a wide range of books that I use sporadically, I do not see the value of the third approach for myself. While I do have books in boxes, they are assorted carefully by topic and theme, they can easily be accessed. I am in the process of building a wing on to my small home that will have a library and office, so I will eventually have room for my all my effects. Since this expansion is being financed in cash, not by loans, it has taken longer than I had expected.

[@janetsmith8566]

I agree with every single point you made! And… I want to go to that man’s house!!!

[@janetsmith8566]

@@mtngrl5859awesome

[@hughminor9369]

Take them to a Little Free Library.

[@diamonddavewonfor]

Picked up four 8 foot IKEA bookcases earlier this year. This addition has meant, for the first in my adult life, more shelf space than books! No more stacks and piles. It feels great.

[@sydneysomer9958]

I love my book collection,it brings me happiness.

[@severalgecko]

I agree with the first two but not the third. The last five or so books I read (and even the one I'm currently reading) were in my collection for over three years so I evidently still wanted them. However, I do still think it is a good idea to scan your shelves every now and then and get rid of anything you're not interested in reading anymore.

[@TheWeirdResearcher]

I’ve started buying more e-books since dragging books around got to the point of it being a major hassle (or when you’re at college and the book you want to read is still at home …) E-books solved this problem for me with the added benefit of not having to unhaul my collection due to space limitations. Win-win!

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Thanks for this response! This could prove to be one of your most helpful videos.

[@saintdonoghue]

Well, to be fair, that's a pretty low bar to clear ...

[@angela-thebooknerdess2110]

We have to curate our libraries to be the best representation of what we love about books.

[@davebrzeski]

I am, I can't deny, a hopeless case. I live in a small house, with considerably less space than the books I own would need to be in any way accessible. I have books that I haven't actually laid eyes on for decades, not years! I've been known to buy a book, I know I own already, because it would be easier than finding the original copy. The back bedroom is entirely given over to books, and none of the shelves can be reached, due to all the boxes, and heaps in fromt of them. There's a clear area of about 2' x 5' that I can sort of squeeze into - sometimes without causing a major collapse of heaps! You will be relieved to know that I have, for the most part, switched to ebooks.

[@humanfirst11]

But what about trying to clear out the back bedroom? I mean the point of Steve's entire video was to find out if you have too many books and to _unhaul_ them if you have come to realize the problem. You can slowly / weekly try to go through all those books / book shelves again just to find out if you still want them, and just get rid of the rest.

[@mikekay9529]

Sounds like I just need a larger house!! ;)

[@GenXLisa]

I stand with Shawn 😜📚

[@anotherbibliophilereads]

I’m not so sure about the third prong. If you have enough space and can access all your books, three years is an awfully short time. I technically have room to expand if could get my hands on more shelves.

[@trishbovell9042]

My house is also in a state of flux. My bookcases are emptied into boxes waiting for new flooring and paint. I’m very guilty of not touching books that are over 3 years old.

[@saintdonoghue]

@@ingridfitz5677 I knew that would be the sticking point in this otherwise very sexy video - but I'm standing by it!

[@knapalo]

Unrelated, But my library and most in my County have signs posted no donations accepted. I think I will start filling the small library stands I see on some streets near me.

[@humanfirst11]

Why would they not accept donations?

[@rabello4535]

I know where I live they have a friends of the library and they have pretty strict requirements on what can be donated. Many thrift stores will also not accept book donations. I know a lot of them get inundated with outdated textbooks, encyclopedia sets, piles of harlequin romance and other non-sellable things that they then have to dispose of.

[@GuiltyFeat]

I have watched this video and booked an appointment with Rekall to have my memory of it completely erased and replaced with a spy mission to Mars. You can pry my books out of my cold dead hands.

[@knapalo]

I try to give away or throw out. I hate to know how many books I have re-purchased from regret.

[@B-RollBooks]

I spend all day clearing out my office, getting rid of books, and this video is what KZbin recommended immediately after. The algorithm is watching me!

[@Zozette27]

I talked about this on Michael’s video but I mention it again. My brother and I have about the same amount of books but he has too many books but I don’t. I put together three flat pack bookcases for my brother because he said he did not know how to do it himself. A month later only one of these bookshelves was full and he had 100s of books on the floor, completely covering the dining room table etc. Some of those on the floor in the dining area were water damaged from when his freezer broke. I offered to put books away from him. I would tell him the title and he would tell me where to place it. Then I came across some books that the cat had peed on but he refused to throw them out saying he might be able to clean them. After that I gave up helping him. I did not want any more unpleasant surprises. Nowadays I mainly buy Kindle and audiobooks. I buy about 20 to 30 printed books a year usually non-fiction books that are unsuitable to read in anything but a printed format.

[@laurabanken6205]

My method for getting rid of books is quite streamlined. I read my books and right after I finish I make a choice of whether I like the book enough to keep. The ones I don’t want to keep I stick a post-it note on telling me it will be sold. All books that I read during the year go onto 1 shelf because I love looking at what I accomplished. At the end of the year I gather the books with post-it notes and bring them to my local second hand book store. There’s never a major unhauling event where I have to go through things and make tough decisions. It’s always as I go.

[@bouquinsbooks]

The third guideline, books untouched for three years, might be a sign not that you have too many books but that you have the wrong books (quality problem vs quantity problem).

[@janetsmith8566]

Or that time flies while you’re living a good life. My books wait for me. I just went in and asked them today: “Books- are you ok?” And they all answered me cheerfully in the affirmative. ❤

[@bouquinsbooks]

@@janetsmith8566 How lovely! If the books are happy, all is well.

[@AlwaysTheStoryCollector]

Funny enough about the three years 'rule', I have had unread books for more than 3 years but I actually do think about them regularly. I didn't realized it until you said that. Thinking about it some more even though I have tons more books, I think my partner has too many books! They truly just take up space. I'm glad we have the space because getting them to look through them and see what can be donated is an exercise in pain.

[@ThatReadingGuy28]

My yardstick is if the percentage of books in my library that I’ve read verses haven’t read gets absurd then I know I have too many books. Which is why I’ve stopped buying books, as I intend to read 100 of my physical books before I buy more.

[@jimkallerholm6692]

I think the real question is to realize why one wants to collects books. I think that people have a few reasons for accumulating things. The first reason is how people want to be percieved by others. The second is that you accumulate things that are functional. The third is to have things you love or how they look. Then there is the downside like you mention if people can not move around having to much books. Then it becomes a question about what is most important. Maybe it is more important to have more books even if you can´t move around, even if one might be percieved as a horder. Some people like myself go to the library to lend books instead of owning them just because I found no reason to accumulate things one reads one or maybe two times in a lifetime. So basically I found that there is no right answer that can be applied to everyone.

[@Read2live]

The 3rd rule about having books for 3 years is not for everyone because each person's situation is different. For example, in my case, I had started buying several books before I could speak English well enough to have a long conversation with people and certainly I couldn't read in English any of the books I was buying. it took me several years to be able to read some of these books, but having them and thinking that one day I would be able to read them was a great motivation. The books brought me joy and comfort even when I couldn't read them at the time I bought them. Years later, I eventually read most of them; some of them I still need to read them, and eventually I will, so keeping books for three years or only buying books you plan to read soon doesn't work for me. Also, more often than not, I might have a book that I haven't read yet fully, but I might hear a lecture, a review, a discussion about it, and I love that I already have the book to instantly open it and go through some of the pages or just pick it up and read it fully at that time. I still buy books I want to have and read even if I know I won't be reading them immediately. Having said that, I do buy and read more classics, books on literary criticism, anthologies, etc. than contemporary books. I'm more selective with contemporary books and I often give away the contemporary books that I don't like or I won't read. That's why, now I will often download the sample on my kindle first to see if I would want to read the book, or I will read the book on Kindle and I will buy it if I love it and want to have it. With classics, I will keep even books I don't like because I still love referring to them if I need to have a discussion for why I didn't like it or I didn't agree with the book, or simply I might eventually reread it to see if my perspective about the book has changed. I just think it all depends on the person and what do they get out of having many books. However, I completely agree with you that if someone has so many books that they can't get to them and they don't even plan or seriously think about reading them someday, then maybe the books would be better off given away so someone who can actually enjoy them and read them.

[@mtngrl5859]

Steve, As always you articulate your position splendidly even though for me category #3 doesn't apply. Much of what I am going to say depends on one's view point on the direction of society and the world in general plus the importance one places on having access to books that might cease to be accessible. The idea that one can always depend on certain books being "available" is optimistic. Growing up in the 1970's. I used to read sci-fi of the 1960's and we are pretty close to the era they envisioned. In fact, we are close to the mindset not too far off of the Soviet era. I see that people self-censor themselves in conversation and certain books are no longer acceptable. With this in mind, keep one's copies of Animal Farm, 1984, Thoreau's Civil Disobedience, works of Thomas Paine etc. While it is likely that one will be able to access cozy mysteries, romance novels since these are considered to entertaining and harmless. The real question for me is what books would you want to keep if you knew that they might no longer exist or if you could no longer access them.

[@nynland2163]

We need another browatch.

[@saintdonoghue]

Agreed!

[@booknikYT]

Nobody mention the double stacked, expertly tetris'd to use up every millimeter of space, romance bookshelf directly behind him! 🤫

[@saintdonoghue]

No need to shield me - I mention those shelves specifically in this video!

[@booknikYT]

I have very selective hearing

[@humanfirst11]

This is such a difficult topic to acknowledge!

[@Uppernorwood976]

Your third rule is a true for ‘stuff’ in general, not just books. If you’ve forgotten you own something, you clearly wouldn’t miss it if you got rid of it. Applies especially to clothes! I think owning a book for a purpose other than reading can be justified sometimes, perhaps an edition with real or sentimental value, but that would only be a small proportion for most people.

[@saintdonoghue]

Oh, this is SO, SO true! Yes: that third rule, the three-year rule, is completely true for non-book stuff as well. It's the "Rule of 20" from the minimalism world: if you haven't used something in 20 weeks and you can replace it in 20 minutes for 20 dollars, don't keep it hanging around -

[@humanfirst11]

@@saintdonoghue that's a great advice! Thanks.

[@txmatt2112]

Just this week I addressed this topic before I saw this topic. I started going shelf by shelf to re-organize. My rules were: 1. would I re-read the book, 2. if I haven’t read yet does the book still peak my interest and will I honestly read, 3. is it a book or book collection that is sentimental. So with this I was able to sell about 14 books from 2-3 shelves. I’m not done as it was slightly painful but this damn Kindle has changed my view of books. I love it so much and I was a die hard physical book guy before so this has been a major shift for me. Good examples are like the Jack Reacher series or Michael Connelly etc., these might actually be more fun to have on my Kindle in a collection . but I can’t seem to get rid my Louis L’Amour’s in physical. But that could change. Must go now…Ms. Kindle is calling.

[@sirjamesh1604]

I’m guilty as I have all three problems. Solution. I box them.And do so in stacks

[@SeaSandLand]

My thoughts as I was watching: Step 1: It's cool, it's cool, all my books are neatly on bookshelves Step 2: See response to step 1 Step 3: ...Goddammit, I have too many books! In all seriousness, this was an interesting take and meshes quite well with my own thoughts on if you can have too many books. Over the last month or two, I've slowly been compiling the list of books I own which I haven't read yet. When that list exceeded 100, I knew I had too many books, though my heart pained me to say it. (At time of writing, the list is now 188 books, with about a shelf and a half of books left to add to the list, if you're curious) A tactic I've recently used in response to this is to challenge myself whenever I buy new books with one simple question - 'do I see myself reading this in the next 12 months?'. If the answer is no, it goes back on the shelf. And although I don't necessarily make a commitment to read any books I do buy within 12 months, it cuts down on the number of books where I buy because they look interesting and then never read. But unhauling remains a must, a sad but necessary must.

[@humanfirst11]

This makes me think about Leonard Schrader!

[@anyonymswede]

I have paperbacks in my cd/dvd shelf, the spaces that are free.

[@patrickkenny4709]

Now ya tell me!

[@Deep_in_the_Reads]

Rule #1 and #2 seem to be less about having too many books, and more about not having enough bookshelves. ;)

[@mikekeenanphd]

Some good advice. I would also add: do you want to give your kids the depressing task of disposing of your books? (in the far future we can hope!) Because they don't want any part of them, I assure you.

[@jimsbooksreadingandstuff]

When a person has to move they can have too many books.

[@janetsmith8566]

It’s up to the individual. No such thing as hoarding books.

[@eiketske]

We live on Aruba and the comment on the ereader is not completely true for us. We have a lot of books in papiamento or written by aruban writers which are not available in ebook. So we hang on to them. Even though we don't touch them for years and years and can't reach them either because they're in boxes. Room we have, time and energy to get them sorted are in somewhat short supply :-)

[@arthurodell3281]

Good, I don’t have too many books.

[@fefelofolly6019]

The history of books collecting, allways has been like that; today at least many has THE option and THE opportunity of not falling that hoarding Road; i allways believe in practicallity, ALWAYS ,ALWAYS try that your collection has as little as possible books that only take importante space and your collection don't fall down in your head when your least expected!😆

[@js.3490]

Can a person have too many books? I suppose that if all of your books fell on you and it causes serious injury then in that case, you would have had too many books.

[@janetsmith8566]

I part company with you on this one. Three years? I’ve had books for 30 years that I haven’t actually read or read lately but I still cherish them and I still want them on my shelves. That’s my call, not somebody else’s. 🫶🫵