My Book Addiction is Getting Out of Control

by James Wallace Harris, Saturday, January 28, 2017

I wrote, “Hi, I’m a Book Addict” for Book Riot hoping the act of writing would exorcise my demon. It hasn’t. Below is a list of books I’ve bought this month. It’s about a year’s worth of reading since I read a book a week. I’m buying 10-12 books for every one I read, which I know sounds insane, but doesn’t stop me.

I’ve annotated the list with my rationalization for buying the book. I know I’m being impractical. I know I’m wasting money. It gives me pleasure to shop for books, especially to find bargains, but those are not reasonable justifications. This compulsive behavior does reveal a pathological need to “own” knowledge. Because my memory is failing, owning a book, especially an old favorite, is a way of keeping it in memory. My new memory is my iPhone, which has become my real auxiliary memory. I guess it’s an external brain, making me a tiny bit of a cyborg.

This list of books reflects what I want to know. Pathetically, not by study, but by acquisition.

Access to cheap books is the main cause of my addiction. Most of the books below cost me just a $1.99. Used books, either from my library’s used bookstore or ABEbooks.com average around $4. Here are the daily newsletters I get that announce bargain books:

• BookBub
• Early Bird Books
• Goodreads
• Kindle Daily Deals
• LitFlash

I’ve hyperlinked some titles to show why the book is worth reading. If you want to maintain your place in the list, just right-click and select open in new window to read the annotation.

1. Dimension of Miracles by Robert Sheckley – read twice, want to keep for memory
2. Draw Lab for Mixed Media Artists by Carla Sonheim – to inspire me to draw
3. Time is the Simplest Thing by Clifford D. Simak – collecting Simak on the cheap
4. 10-Minute Digital Declutter by S. J. Scott – love books about minimalizing
5. 10-Minute Declutter by S. J. Scott – love books about minimalizing
6. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson – classic I’ve always wanted to read
7. On the Road by Jack Kerouac – read many times wanted a copy for my iPhone
8. A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn – always wanted to read
9. The Social Organism by Oliver Luckett – about social media
10. The Grid by Gretchen Bakke – about our aging power grid
11. Revolution from Within by Gloria Steinem – interesting feminist take
12. In the Darkroom Susan Faludi – one of the best books of 2016
13. Chaos Monkeys by Antonio Garcia Martinez – start ups at Silicon Valley
14. Never a Dull Moment by David Hepworth – rock music of 1971
15. Kill ‘Em and Leave by James McBride – James Brown
16. Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly – best books of 2016
17. Schaum’s Outline of Mathematica by Eugene Don – to use with Mathematic on my Raspberry Pi
18. Schaum’s Outline of PreCalculus by Fred Safier – I’m dreaming big
19. Complete Book of Home Inspection by Norman Becker – should keep an eye on my  house
20. How Will You Measure Your Life by Clayton M. Christensen – how to measure success in life
21. College Algebra DeMYSTIFieD by Rhonda Huettenmueller – my dream of relearning math
22. Pre-Calculus DeMYSTIFieD by Rhonda Huettenmueller – my dream of relearning math
23. How to Diagnose and Fix Everything Electronic by Michael Geier – I want to learn about electronics
24. Practical Electronics for Inventors by Paul Scherz – I want to learn about electronics
25. Schaum’s Outline of Linear Algebra by Seymour Lipschutz – my dream of relearning math
26. Schaum’s Outline of Precalculus by Fred Safier – my dream of relearning math
27. Why We Read Fiction by Lisa Zunshine (ebook and audio) – why do we read fiction?
28. Altamont by Joel Selvin – the evil twin of Woodstock
29. Summary of Analysis of Hidden Figures by Worth Books – wanted to see how a book is summarized
30. The Wizard of Menlo Park by Randall E. Stross – bio of Edison
31. Visual Intelligence by Amy E. Herman – to improve my powers of observation
32. Extreme Focus by Dominic Mann – want to improve my concentration
33. Time for the Stars by Robert A. Heinlein – old favorite to keep on iPhone
34. The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes – great science history
35. Wonderful Town by David Remnick – New York as viewed by the New Yorker
36. Time and Again by Clifford D. Simak – collection Simak on the cheap
37. Console Wars by Blake J. Harris – love tech history
38. Island by Aldous Huxley (ebook and audio) – admire Huxley and always wanted to read it
39. The Best American Short Stories 2016 – love this series, get them cheap once a year
40. The Best American Essays 2016 – love this series, get them cheap once a year
41. The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2016 – love this series, get them cheap once a year
42. The Best American Travel Writing 2016 – love this series, get them cheap once a year
43. The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2016 – love this series, get them cheap once a year
44. The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt – books to read because of Trump
45. A Case of Conscience by James Blish – classic of science fiction I want to keep on iPhone
46. The Second Golden Age of Science Fiction Megapack by Mark Clifton – first Hugo winning novel for 99 cents
47. The More of Less – by Joshua Becker – love books on minimalism, might help with this book problem
48. The Hollywood History of the World by George MacDonald Fraser – I’m writing essay on Hollywood’s treatment of history
49. The  New Painting by Charles Moffert – I’m fascinated by the Impressionists
50. On Rereading by Patricia Meyer Spacks – writing article about rereading
51. Composing Digital Music for Dummies – I’d love to learn to use digital music programs
52. The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell – read library copy wanted one for me
53. Mind Tools by Rudy Rucker – my kind of book
54. I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong – another top 2016 book
55. The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey
56. The Big Picture by Sean Carroll

JWH