Book Collection

Originally posted: 4 February 2024

Last edited: 4 February 2024

As a lifelong avid reader, having a personal library of sorts has always appealed to me. Over the years, my collection has steadily grown. In January 2024 I counted 309 books in my personal collection. I have no strict definition of what qualifies as a book and what does not. This number includes every type, genre, and purpose of book, but does not include objects like notebooks or binders. This seems to practically align with Google's primary definition of "book," which is "a written or printed work consisting of pages glued or sewn together along one side and bound in covers."

When I move out, I hope to continue increasing this number. As a teenager I live very comfortably—maybe too comfortably—in my parent’s house but space is an ever present limitation. (As much as I would love a large ficus tree it would be massively impractical amidst the already crowded houseplant scene in my room…)

I would also like to work towards cataloguing every book in my possession, even potentially assigning barcodes for each one. Obviously, I can manage just fine without an extensive database, seeing as they all have relevant data (author, date, publisher, etc.) inside of them. That said, I do like keeping a clear and accessible list on hand to get an idea of the bigger picture and potentially even statistical data. Additionally, being able to search the entire collection digitally and share it with other people is a massive benefit.

My collection is truly a smörgåsbord of different genres and subjects. Though there is always something to be said for specialization, personal collections seem to rarely reach that magnitude. However, I would say the subjects of linguistics, history, and natural sciences seem to be the largest slices the pie. (That’s not even to mention the math books with advices of pi!).

I won’t include every book here, but I did want to showcase some of the more unique/interesting ones that I own.