What's in your Library?

[VideCorSpoon]

What is in your philosophy library? It doesn’t matter if you have one book or one hundred, your philosophy library may describe the type of person you are and the underline interests you have in philosophy… almost like basing a person’s personality on type of shoes they wear. Heck, it doesn’t even have to be philosophy. Art, music, science, etc. are all things that describe you.

What book(s) do you have? Which is your favorite? Does the way you keep your books reflect your interests in philosophy and your preferred topics… especially where you store your favorite? Do you put your favorite book in an accessible spot but do not use it often?

BTW, I am very serious when I say it does not matter if you have one book or a hundred. A very good professor I had (in etymology no less) did not keep a single philosophy book at home. He thought it was bringing work home with him. (as impossible as it would seem)

The reason I bring this topic up is because I just started going through my old philosophy books and reorganized them. When I finished, I noticed that I had grouped them together by what I considered to be “subject” and arranged them in a very peculiar way.



This is more a critique of “why the heck did I do that.” I noticed that I keep all of my favorite books at the top (i.e. some political philosophy books, Philosophy of anime book, etc). But I also keep my Black existentialism books up top, which I admit I have only read once or twice at the most a few years ago. So why did I put them alongside my favorites??? I also have philosophy of law and science, but I don’t even touch those. Maybe it’s a personality descriptor rather than an organizational system. Also, the books I tend to use the most are at the bottom, not the top, dealing in general philosophy, not specific areas. So why are they so far away from my favorites? Oddly enough, I also incorporate military history and writing technique in my idea of philosophy… even though I know they are not true “philosophy” and I keep those type of books in an entirely different book case. But I keep my favorite book, warrior politics, why leadership demand a pagan ethos" in a very accessible spot next to my logic books, although I don't read it as much as I used to to. It's more a representation of why I got into philosophy in the first place.

Actually, I think doing this made me realize what books were the most influential to me. Well… what’s in your philosophy library.

[Theaetetus]

I have a wide range of books that are usually philosophic in nature (well except my electrical engineering books). My favorite books are my Jose Ortega y Gasset, Tom Robbins and Alan Watts collections. Of those three authors my favorites are Revolt of the Masses, Skinny Legs and All, and The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are respectively.

One book that I thoroughly enjoyed was a collection of essays by modern philosophers called Bull**** and Philosophy. The collection was inspired by Harry Frankfurt's book On Bull**** and is required reading for those interested in the dark arts of communication.

[VideCorSpoon]

B.S. and Philosophy actually looks like a really good book. I may buy it from amazon. I have always found general philosophy the most interesting reads.

[Victor Eremita]

My library bookcase is a mess so I'll just list them out:

Secondary Sources:
Metaphysics: The Big Questions, van Inwagen
The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle
The Cambridge Companion to Kierkegaard
19th century philosophy, Patrick Gardner
Readings in Epistemology, Crumley
Reason and Religious Belief, Peterson et al.
Several readers from Louis Pojman

Primary Sources:
The Complete Works of Plato
The Complete Works of Aristotle
Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics, Kant
Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard
For Self Examination, Kierkegaard
Being and Time, Heidegger
Concept of Mind, Ryle
Being and Nothingness, Sartre
Myth of Sisphyus, Camus
Philosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein
Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Kuhn
Word and Object, Quine

And some others. For the rest, it called your local library

[VideCorSpoon]

But is there any particular way you arranged them? Are they all grouped together? Do you tendsto put your favorites in a certain spot as compared to the books you just keep?

What would a person think you views would be based off of what they saw in your collection?

This is more of an exploration of how your collection defines you...or not?

[Victor Eremita]

Originally Posted by VideCorSpoon

But is there any particular way you arranged them? Are they all grouped together? Do you tendsto put your favorites in a certain spot as compared to the books you just keep?

What would a person think you views would be based off of what they saw in your collection?

This is more of an exploration of how your collection defines you...or not?

If someone were to look at it, they would see Kant, Kierkegaard and the 19th century books easily accessible, followed by Plato and Aristotle.

Then on the farthest away of my bookshelf, they'd see Heidegger, Ryle, Quine. They'd also see those books have dust on them. lol

[Didymos Thomas]

My 'library' is sprawled out all over the house. Old text books and my volumes of Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas are in the music room along with my 'psychedelic' literature (Huxley's Doors of Perception and that sort of thing). On the back porch I have a collection of novels and treatises; many of the treatises are political - Locke, Paine, and I think my copy of the Prince is out there as well. On the computer desk, you'll find several history books, mostly war and religion. In the living room I have just a few books. One of my Bibles is out there as well as a few novels.

My bedroom hosts the bulk of my collection. Plato and the most of my ancient Greek works that are not in the music room have their place in my closet. There's another Bible and some Buddhist material. Hume, Berkley, Kant, Descartes and God knows what else are either in the book case or scattered about the floor in the living organism that is the mess of my room.

I like to keep copies of books I read and value. I'll borrow a book, read it, enjoy it, and then buy a copy myself. As a result, I have more books than I can count. There's also a significant portion of my collection that I have not yet read. I hit used books stores and feel no guilt for buying ten or fifteen books that I expect to read at some future date. Total bargain book freak.

[de Silentio]

Videcor, I noticed that your bookself has doors on it, are you a closet philosopher?

[de Silentio]

Originally Posted by VideCorSpoon

What is in your philosophy library?

All of my 'hardcore' philosophy books are grouped by author on one self. I think in this order: Machiavelli (1), Plato (3 - almost the complete collection), Hume (2), Kant (10), Aquinas (2), Kierkegaard (7), Rawls (1), Descartes (1).

Then on the next self I have a collection of greatest works. Stuff like Thoreau, Plato, Aristotle, Shakespeare, Plutarch (This was given to me). Next to those you will find my hodgepodge. Like Didymos, I go to the local bookstore and find bargain books, and just stock up for fun. Things like Spinoza, Rand ($1 books, cut me some slack), Voltaire, more Plato, the B.S. and Philosophy book (never read, it was a gift, a co-worker found it funny to by me the B.S. and Philosophy book), and numerous others that I cannot read from here.

The next self I have really deep books like The Shy Little Kitten, Let's Share, Goodnight Moon. Oh wait, that's my sons self!

Then I have my literature self, with notables like The Once and Future King, Lord of the Flies, a book on Julius Caesar, some Follett, Mccullough (Great Roman Historical Fiction), and a few others.

Then I have the child development books and some Steven King. Though these are more my wives. You will not find me reading What to Expect When Your Expecting.

Oh, and a couple books on the bedstand, more existentialism I think. And some downstairs in storage, textbooks mostly.

Other than the books I own, I find that the Library is extremely cost effective. I am lucky enough to have access to books from most of the college libraries in Michigan. Any obscure philosophical book (you know, the $80 books) I have looked for, I have found on the library reservation site.

[VideCorSpoon]

Victor,
So you would more closely identify with Kant and Kierkegaard more than Heidegger and Ryle? I have noticed though that the books I never touch are some of my favorite ones. But I realized how odd it was that I kept those favorite ones in a spot where I always go to for books but never touch them. They are always in the way, but I can never seem to put them somewhere else. So maybe you identify more with Heidegger et. al.

Didymos,
I heard that! LOL! The books being sprawled all over the house is what spurred me to collect my books today. I even found text books in my backpack from when I went to college. If you can think of it like this, perhaps the fact that you keep your philosophy books everywhere indicates how immersed you are in philosophy, because you have consistent reminders of the subject throughout your living space.

Funny that you would mention the Prince, that’s one of the books I always seem to keep out.

As for borrowing books, I’ve always been the possessive type when it came to my books. I used to lend them out until someone lost my copy of the complete works of Plato. That…was…my…goldenboy. [single tear].

De Silento,
I even go so far to put in a few leather bound books to give the right smell for the rest of the books. That nasty library book smell doesn’t cut it.