Time to give away some books and dust those that we keep and the shelves they sit on. Okay, which ones do we want to give away? We have already used the criterion of having read the book. There are many books I have read that I don't feel I need so those can go. But this is probably the 6th or 7th book culling we have done and many of those books were donated years ago.
Our Kindle archives hold more than 750 books and those e-books take no space and no shelving and trap no dust or pollen. We still have four shelves of books, three shelves of audio books and tapes and four short shelves of CD's, most of which we also have on our iPods.
But just as a place or a person can be a great reminder of a wonderful time, so can a book. My students often agonized over the question of what book was their favorite. With enough experience, I concluded that there are many favorites, depending on the weather, one's mood, and type of book. My favorite math book is "Introduction to Finite Mathematics" (free at the linked site) but I wouldn't read it for thrills. When I look over my oldest list of good books as well as look at our shelves, I look for a book that serves as a souvenir of good times, important times, memorable times. Here are some candidates:
- On Becoming a Person by Carl Rogers
- I, Claudius by Robert Graves
- The Fabulous Flight by Robert Lawson
- The Once and Future King by T.H. White
- King James version of the Bible
- Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
- Mere Christianity by C.S.Lewis
- The Screwtape Letters by C.S.Lewis
- Teacher Effectiveness Training by Thomas Gordon
- Out of Control by Kevin Kelly
- The Tents of Wickedness by Peter De Vries
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