Many of the atheists I have known, personally and online, seem to share a common love of books and reading. Atheists buy lots of books, fiction and nonfiction, on all sorts of topics. Presumably one buys books because one loves to read, but why do people buy more books than they have time to read? Is it merely due to being too optimistic about one’s free time or is there something else going on, perhaps some unrecognized motivation?
- Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them in: but as a rule the purchase of books is mistaken for the appropriation of their contents.
- Arthur Schopenhauer, Parerga and Paralipomena
I picked this quote to write about because, I must confess, when reading it I felt that Schopenhauer might have been describing me. I love books, I love to buy books, I love to collect books, I love to read books, and I love to learn from books. One of the joys about running this site is the fact that it requires that I do so much reading, an activity that I would enjoy doing anyway.
I suppose it would be accurate to say that in addition to “possessing” a book that I would also like to “appropriate” it’s contents — although if I were describing myself I’m not sure I would have used that term. In its place I think I would be inclined to say that I want to “master” its contents — come to understand what is in it so well that I am able to integrate the contents with what I have learned elsewhere, synthesize it all, and produce new ideas and explanations for use here.
It is indeed an error to confuse buying a book with simultaneously appropriating its contents — knowledge and understanding are not concrete “things” that you can purchase with a credit card. You can appropriate the contents of a box of cookies or jug of milk through the act of purchase, but the same is not true of the ideas contained in a book.
I’m not sure to what degree I actually make such an error, although there is no doubt that I wish that one were the same as the other. I certainly seem to buy more books than I actually have time to read. Do I do this because I am implicitly and unconsciously imagining that the purchase of a book is sufficient to appropriate its contents, or is it merely a sign that I am far too optimistic about the time I’ll have to read?
What about you — do you buy more books than you can possibly read in the time you have? If so, why? Are there any other outward signs that you, I, or someone else might be confusing the purchase of a book with the appropriation of its contents? This is the only one I can think of at the moment, but there may be others.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, there are a few books I’ve been meaning to get to...
