Author Topic: The decline of literacy? (Read 2069 times)

Car Knocker · « **on:** July 28, 2006, 08:49:40 AM »

My daughter photographs high-end homes for a major real estate company - Virtual Tour photography. Yesterday's home was 12,000 square feet and priced at $7.5 million. In the 130+ homes she's photographed in the last 18 months, she's seen indoor pools, game/billiards rooms, home theaters with seating for 50 people, etc., and has not once been in a home with a library. In fact, she says it's unusual to see a bookcase with even a few books in it.

It seems odd to me that so many highly successful people apparently don't read at home. Schools around here often have fund-raisers to buy a poor kid a book of his own. It looks like rich kids may have the same problem.

K Frame · « **Reply #1 on:** July 28, 2006, 08:52:53 AM »

I grew up in a home loaded with books.

When Mom and Dad moved, we stopped counting at 20,000. Mom had her personal library, Dad had his personal library, I still had a lot of books there, and then there was the family library...

cosine · « **Reply #2 on:** July 28, 2006, 09:02:58 AM »

Quote from: Mike Irwin

I grew up in a home loaded with books.

Same here. Half of our basement is so full of bookshelves you can hardly walk on that side, our dining room is full of loaded bookshelves instead of a dining room table, and I'm running out of space in my room for my own personal library I've been building for the last 4 or 5 years.

BozemanMT · « **Reply #3 on:** July 28, 2006, 09:04:07 AM »

People don't read anymore
look at the decline of newspapers (some of it self-induced)
look at how novels shrink and the quality goes in the toliet
people want the cliff notes to everything.

Besides, people who don't/can't read and don't/can't do analysis are much easier to control.

mtnbkr · « **Reply #4 on:** July 28, 2006, 09:04:36 AM »

In addition to the various books stashed around the house, I have two large rubbermaid totes full of books. I just don't have room to leave them all out. Plus, I tend to borrow or give away books, so they're only in my hands while I'm reading them. I only keep those that I'll either read again or serve as reference material.

Chris

charby · « **Reply #5 on:** July 28, 2006, 09:29:09 AM »

Libraries have been replaced with home theatres, least that is what I have observed. I read a lot, granted its mostly text books these days, but when I have a break from classes I read for fun. I buy mostly used books or paperbacks and give them away when I am done.

-C

Preacherman · « **Reply #6 on:** July 28, 2006, 09:36:15 AM »

I long ago got to the stage of not bothering to count my books by number, but instead by linear feet of bookshelf space! Earlier this year I decided that I really, really needed to cut back, as I had far too many books. After much cogitation, I disposed of about 70 linear feet of books - but that still leaves me with over 250 linear feet, plus another dozen or so Rubbermaid totes full of books that I must go through!

I feel profoundly sorry for those who don't read. They're missing so much! The worst of it is - they don't realize just how much they're missing. It's like a dead element in their lives that will never awaken.

K Frame · « **Reply #7 on:** July 28, 2006, 10:12:06 AM »

I came across a fantastic quote by Richard Burton (the actor) today that really sums up my feelings about books...

"Home is where the books are."

Then there's Thomas Jefferson's take on the matter...

"I cannot live without books."

280plus · « **Reply #8 on:** July 28, 2006, 10:41:25 AM »

That makes my ~36 linear feet look mighty piddly Preacher. shocked

JAlexander · « **Reply #9 on:** July 28, 2006, 10:48:01 AM »

My wife and I occasionally talk over what we would put into our dream house, and a library is always the first thing mentioned. In our dream world we'd have one of those neat libraries with two storeys of shelves and a gallery to access the upper level. Of course, in my dream world I'd also have a hidden room behind one of the sections of shelving. A home theater room would be ok, but it would be far, far down the list, after the library, a music room, a dedicated office, and so on.

Sadly, most people today don't seem to see the point of reading for pleasure. I'm lucky in that my parents both loved to read, so they always encouraged me to read whatever I could lay my hands on.

250 feet of books is mighty impressive, Preacher. You are now my hero. I went and measured our shelves and it comes out to about 65 feet. That's not counting the manymany boxes I have in storage, though.

James

Chris · « **Reply #10 on:** July 28, 2006, 11:04:27 AM »

In our dreams, we're going to add on to our home. Four rooms. Two bigger bedrooms for our boys, a family room with fireplace, and a loft over the fireplace that will serve as our library. My wife is seriously addicted to reading. She goes through about a novel a week. Me, I savor a good read, but also re-read many of the better works time and again. My Shakespeare anthology is well used.

Matthew Carberry · « **Reply #11 on:** July 28, 2006, 11:20:08 AM »

"I'm very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany."

I also have have the "My Fair Lady" two story mahogany and leather library plan for the Carberry Dream House. Green shades on the lamp, bits of militaria on the walls, perhaps an elephant foot waste basket holding an umbrella and an assegai.

I am being serious, BTW.

El Tejon · « **Reply #12 on:** July 28, 2006, 11:25:56 AM »

Not my observation at all, Car. I cannot imagine a house without books *shudder*. I cannot think of a single friend without a library or without a book "area."

First room I re-modeled in the Alcazar del Tejon was the library, er, home office (still did not get the deduction, darn it). Certain it is not a function of location, Car?

Here in Yankeeland people value education and learning and that is directly related to the culture. Libraries are big up here as well. I still remember being told how important books are as a freshman in undergrad by a professor of history who told me that we would be living on the moons of Jupiter if the library at Alexandria did not burn. Sad

El Tejon, friend of the library, and proud of it: http://www.wlaf.lib.in.us/friends.html

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #13 on:** July 28, 2006, 12:10:12 PM »

Quote

"I'm very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany."

"I'm just going to put this out there, and if you like it, you can keep it. If not, you can just send it right on back."

Wait, should we be quoting movies in this thread?

Car Knocker · « **Reply #14 on:** July 28, 2006, 12:17:55 PM »

Quote from: El Tejon

Certain it is not a function of location, Car?

It's possible. Some of the homes are used seasonally, usually in Park City, however the vast majority of the homes are principal residences in non-recreational areas. Perhaps it's a Utah thing?

I'm reminded of when I had a doctor's appointment a couple of years ago. I, of course, had a book with me and the nurse asked about it. I told her I was rereading it (I don't recall the title) and she said she just couldn't understand people who reread books. I asked if she had CDs or DVDs and did she dispose of them after listening/viewing once? She didn't understand the correlation. I just figured her lips got too tired for her to do much reading.

Preacherman · « **Reply #15 on:** July 28, 2006, 12:24:25 PM »

How many of you organize your library into a specific order?

I had to organize mine, just to keep track of stuff. I established four major categories: General (fiction and non-fiction, biography, etc.), Military History (ancient to modern), SF & Fantasy, and Religion. General's about 54 linear feet, Military History about 45, SF & Fantasy about 25, and Religion about 40. I also have several dozen linear feet of books being sorted out, minor categories (e.g. Shooting), and so on, as well as my totes outside in my store-room, which will get sorted bit by bit.

I'm hoping to reduce my library to under 200 linear feet by the end of the year - I hate doing it, because I love all my books, but I've got to be realistic. My rule of thumb is that if I haven't re-read a book in a year, it goes into the "Questionable" category. Within that category, if it's a really good book that I know I'll re-read occasionally, I'll keep it: if not, it goes out.

I also sort the books alphabetically by author within each category. That helps me keep track of them, avoid buying duplicate copies (something I've done too often!), and helps me remember to put them away after I've read them - when a shelf looks like it's moth-eaten, time to pack books away again! Cheesy

JAlexander · « **Reply #16 on:** July 28, 2006, 12:35:25 PM »

Quote from: Preacherman

How many of you organize your library into a specific order?

Guilty as charged. We have two IKEA shelf units which contain our fiction, one very large unit that holds all the non-fiction, and one smallish set of shelves for my wife's music books. The fiction is arranged alphabetically, and the non-fiction is divided by subject and alphabetized within each subject. The non-fiction subjects are Texana and the West/Southwest, dictionaries and language studies, poetry/literature, and other. I don't touch my wife's music books at all; she has her own system.

James

cosine · « **Reply #17 on:** July 28, 2006, 12:53:32 PM »

Quote from: Preacherman

My rule of thumb is that if I haven't re-read a book in a year, it goes into the "Questionable" category. Within that category, if it's a really good book that I know I'll re-read occasionally, I'll keep it: if not, it goes out.

What do you do if you have my problem though: you consider all the books you have to be really good books you'll re-read occasionally. That's a big stumbling block to ever reducing the size of your library. Cheesy

280plus · « **Reply #18 on:** July 28, 2006, 12:57:05 PM »

Not me, I just LOVE to look through them several times before I find what I'm looking for. rolleyes

doczinn · « **Reply #19 on:** July 28, 2006, 02:24:27 PM »

Preacher, my categories are slightly different, but then it's author within the category. Of course, I have no space for more than about 20 feet, and the rest are boxed.

brimic · « **Reply #20 on:** July 28, 2006, 03:25:38 PM »

I don't even have room for my books in my house, they reside in the basement in several unliftable boxes. The bookshelves in my home are dominated with kid's books.

Oddly enough, I've never seen my wife ever crack a book open for reading pleasure, she prefers the TV. Sad

The only books of mine that are out are 1 in my 'quiet room/office' (bathroom) and 1 or 2 in the living room. I'm usually consuming 2 or 3 books at a time.

mfree · « **Reply #21 on:** July 28, 2006, 08:02:15 PM »

mmm, 3 1/2 bookshelves packed to the brim in the living room (linear feet? er... 30?) and a couple 20 gallon bins full of college textbooks and other obsoletum in the basement... yeah, home is where the books are.

Matthew Carberry · « **Reply #22 on:** July 28, 2006, 09:46:27 PM »

Quote from: fistful

Wait, should we be quoting movies in this thread?

We'd be fools not to.

(book quote, famous mystery series, 10 points to first ID)

Azrael256 · « **Reply #23 on:** July 28, 2006, 10:24:23 PM »

Quote

We'd be fools not to.

Eh, Parker sucks, IMO. It's Holmes or it's toilet paper.

...has left the building. · « **Reply #24 on:** July 29, 2006, 03:41:56 AM »

Hmm...just about everybody I know has some sort of personal library. Maybe it is because I live in a college town? My dream home includes having a room solely dedicated to books...one where you need a ladder to hit the top shelf.

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Author Topic: The decline of literacy? (Read 2069 times)

Chris

...has left the building.