A Wall Full of Books in Your Pocketbook

When we were little and were going on vacation, my dad used to pack a huge box full of books. We’re talking the size of your biggest overhead carry-on luggage! I’d like to say that the Kindle revolution has stopped this need of his to buy physical books, but it has at least slowed down the paperbacks and halved that box of books to a bag that could actually fit below an airline seat.

But our dad is a Smart Structure, and out of all the types, they are the ones who have the MOST problem letting go of physical books. Okay, wait, let me rephrase that. Out of all the types, they’re the ones who REFUSE to throw out ANY BOOKS at ALL. Now we do tend to come up upon book resistance with any type who considers their books to be a manifestation of their achievements, or a sentimental reminder of their past. And frankly, a nice bookshelf of hardcovers DOES add a nice decorative touch to a room. But when you don’t have a study or a hallway, or a library, well, books can quickly overwhelm.

Paperbacks. Those small ones, trades are a different story to some extent. But seriously. Traditional paperbacks are not meant to be saved. They don’t fit nicely on bookshelves, they look junky, and they’re printed cheaply on paper that VERY quickly disintegrates and gathers dust. This means that a paperback will also quickly disintegrate in a landfill and so what’s stopping you? So much easier to at least make the jump to buying paperbacks on Kindle, the Nook, or iBooks while leaving the hard covers to brighten up your library. Soooo much easier. 

What’s the alternative? I’ll tell you the alternative. Four rows of Metro shelves — those hige industrial kitchen metal shelves — in my parents basement filled with books that will be thrown away the minute my father hits the ground. Yes, dad, I’m talking to you and seriously, it’s time to go through the books and throw the ones by famous authors away because they can easily be found online and they’re just creating a bio hazard melting away in your basement. Although, for our mom’s sake, we’re glad we got them into the basement and away from her daily living!

And for you sentimental types? Take a photo of the book. And if it’s really important to you, go ahead and download it onto Kindle the same way you downloaded your favorite songs off of iTunes. After you start taking photos of your “favorite” books, soon you will realized you won’t ever read half of the ones you’re saving and you’ll only download a few that you will actually read again. Personally, I only hang onto books by obscure authors who don’t have their books available electronically.

So our moral of the story is, if you haven’t tried a Kindle or it’s equivalent yet, go ahead and try. You don’t have to get rid of your books or anything, but it’s much better for your health to have one less dust trap cluttering up your home, and you’ll find that you quickly get used to it, and how easy it is to take 10 different books on vacation, oh and even change your mind when you’re there and just download a bunch of mysteries. And also know that most of these devices also have apps, so you can sync and read your books on your smart phone. This is helpful for those Smart Freedoms and Organic Freedoms who are always losing the adaptor to their Kindle. And unlike iBooks, with Kindle, when your kid steals your smart phone in the middle of a key plot point, you can just switch to your laptop. Can’t do that with iBooks and so I’ve stopped giving them my money until they allow me to read my books on my computer!!