Look into your wallet or purse

Simply having a library card means next to nothing. A person needs to use that card, often and well. Today, there is another "library card" available to people who may rarely step into a brick and mortor library building. It is called "internet access". The information superhighway has allowed people to access information instantly, and far more efficiently than researching through dusty tomes in a library.

I have a lot of reference books in my home. I find that as the internet expands, as more information is available to me, I refer to these books less and less.

The internet will never supplant completely the joy of discovery that one finds in reading a book. What it does do, is allow people to access information quickly and efficiently.

I have a library card to my town's library, which I never use. Why don't I use it? I don't use it because I have about 1000+ books of my own, in my home and I buy at least 5-7 hardcover new books per year with my own cash.

I also belong to one book club.

As far as being a "learner", you can learn very nicely, without a library card by learning how to manipulate the Internet. As you probably know, many, many books can now be downloaded free of charge from many of the World's best libraries.

You sure can't beat that now, can you?

I have three different library cards and I never use them! On the other hand, I have a house full of books, overflowing my bookshelves, crammed into boxes and stacked on my bedside table-- some read multiple times, some read only once (but maintained for further additional perusal) and some kept on hand for future reading. Not to mention unread books in my "to-be-read" queue.

So, what's that say about your theory, Sparky? Maybe that you should measure a person by something other than a simplistic "yardstick."

Re: Look into your wallet or purse


Of all the false egotistical statements that you flood this place with, this is one of your dumbest.

for once i agree with phoenix. having a library card doesn't mean a thing. what if you have your own library?

roc kpie- I agree with you. I have quite a large collection of books. However, they have a tendency to lean towards the conservative side. I have consciously gathered some volumes in the last five years which could be classified as liberal. I used to read much more fiction than I do now. I become impatient with an author which takes 300 pages to explicate one idea.

It is clear, however, that even though one reads extensively, there will be, on forums like this one, many people who will reject your ideas immediately without considering them because they do not conform to their particular biases.

Fools think that you can learn something from books only. Where did the writer of the book learn what he put in it? From another book? Then why not read that book?

Coberst

I haven't read all the threads you've started in here, but I've read a lot of them. Nearly all of them center around the opinion that people are in general not very enlightened and not very willing to change that.

A biblical proverb comes to mind. Something about seeing the splinter in your neighbors eye but not the tree in your own...

Is it library awareness month, already?

i have a drivers license, does that mean im a driver?

one may never know

And then they're lousy drivers anyways

This sounds like a convert to books' post to me.

I've read many books. They are not the only way to knowledge but at best are a storehouse of past and present thought.
I've owned many books, most bought for 50 cents or a dollar when used books didn't cost as much as they do now. Thousands. And I've read most of them. Alas, I seem to be doomed, since I don't use the library that is five miles away, which costs me a lot of gas money to get to and back from, or a long walk to a bus and then some hours, and then fines if I am late with the book return.

Of course I like libraries. I've been lucky to read in some wonderful libraries. Still,

I object to the sententiousness of the thread post, the speaking from authority, the attempt to pontificate, the rigidity.

Once online, the library practically becomes obsolete. That's the price of progress.

But nothing will take the place of the hours and hours spent in peaceful solitude in the library.

I spent about a year researching italian history in the UCLA research library, and part of the fun of that was finding other books as I found a place to sit...

I definitely love libraries. I just don't like pontification.