….that Sir Ellis Layton is,  for a speech of forty words, the wittiest man that ever he knew in his life, but longer he is nothing, his judgment being nothing at all, but his wit most absolute…

It takes all sorts to make a world. We cannot expect everyone to have all qualities. ‘We are all members one of another’, as I have remarked before. We need to combine our assets be they practical skills or intellectual property. The moment that we forget that without each other we die in all senses of that word, then we ourselves are lost or at best, stuck.

*****

I must have about a thousand books. They are in the spare room, the living room and my office. Except when I fell in and out of love with  kindle I am a regular customer of Amazon. Books have a look, a feel and a smell particularly new ones. I will never lend a book because on the one or two occasions when I did so, I never got them back. I will give a duplicate away. In a fit of enthusiasm I bought two copies of Eckhart Tolle’s ‘The Power of Now’. Americans pronounce his surname ‘Tolly’.

I have no protocol for throwing away or giving away books. I might need them. I have about 50 biographies, Lots of Jung, Nearly all Carlos Castaneda book – be they myth or fast I know not. These are part of my life and were very important to me when I read them. I have long ago tried to sort them Dewey classification style. When I hunt for them I remember the colour, size and shape. There are certain books I feel I should buy. These include political ones i.e. Main Stream Media vs Alternative media though funnily enough the importance is being reversed as more and more people get disillusioned with reading half truths and lies.

If you asked me to repeat the substance of a book that I have read, I would only have the sketchiest idea but I know the book has changed me, modified my opinions, changed my prejudices, widened my understanding of human nature in general and my health in particular.

The Book Barn, Somerset

When I ascend from this mortal coil what will happen  to them. I might bequeath them to a second hand book shop. There is an enormous place near here called ‘The Book Barn‘ which really is a barn of a place. They claim there are a million books there. I could not stand the thought of the books being grabbed in a heap and pulped. They deserve respect.

This winter I plan to hibernate and read, read and more reading.

Long live the book and – yes – I would love a library in my house but that must wait until I win the lotto or some such. I better make Plan B in the meantime.

Night all