The Case For/ Against Living in a Library

In Norwegian class, after bumbling my way through Norwegian and Scottish politics, the black death and Hanseatic settlers in Bergen (I cheated on the entrance test to make sure I got a difficult class) we finally discussed Norwegian literature, and books in general. I was like great! I tried to narrow it down because I could surely go on all day, so I said I liked science fiction. I was asked to name some science fiction books I liked, and without Goodreads or any science fiction books in my flat, and the pressure of it, I couldn’t name a single novel for like a full minute!

Is it because I read on my Nook most of the time?

I’m a travelling about guy, so I can’t afford the luxury of many books, and reading as often and as widely as I try to do, I read a lot of things I’m not that keen on, and I don’t want physical copies of those books hanging about. Most of the time, not even buying a new physical book from an author I like is a safe enough bet. For the last 3 or so years, most books I buy will either not be available as ebooks or will be big books I want to re-read and spend some time with. Particularly postmoderne litteratur (cheers Berlitz) tomes are worth investing in paper copies, so you can flick about, cross reference, look cool in public, and so they can stare at you from coffee tables and shelves, goading you into finishing them. I want more!

Work is about to move me to a city- I don’t know which- where I’ll be for about 2 years, which is long enough to fill a place with books if I feel like staying longer.

My dad’s goal is to live in a library. It seems like a no-brainer if you like books, and you’re looking for a Minecraft-esque lifegoal, why not?

The Case For Living in a Library

Research has shown that if people know how to find an answer by Googling it, they won’t typically bother to remember the answer. Clearly the brain treats the internet as an extension of itself.

Also, the reason you forget why you entered a room, is because the brain compartmentalizes thought based on location, treating doorways as boundaries, and the memory for an object or task is sometimes not assigned to the room that contains the stuff you need.

Doorways as “event boundaries” is an example of how the brain assigns information to a physical location. There’s something about printing off a document that makes it easier to read, easier to remember. While each page of a book is a separate physical location, every page of an ebook is read in exactly the same place: it has no discretised physical location.

Books create memories.

And there’s just something about being in a massive bookshop that lets you draw power from all the books there.

The Case Against Living in a Library

Too many books can tie you down.

Books are objects and a life in pursuit of objects is a life in pursuit of materialism.

It’s been long theorised that watching objects decay will remind you of the passage of time and where we’re all gonna end up.

Plus, Henry Miller says“A book lying idle on a shelf is wasted ammunition. Like money, books must be kept in constant circulation… A book is not only a friend, it makes friends for you. When you have possessed a book with mind and spirit, you are enriched. But when you pass it on you are enriched threefold.”

The Ideal Scenario

A slim, living library, with books in constant flux between the living libraries of family and friends, and their family and friends, and their family and friends, with books taken care of but not obsessed over, with their ideas spreading and enriching and filling you and everyone with joy.