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Ask MeFi on sane solutions for book clutter
Merlin Mann | Dec 27 2007
Advice for clearing literary clutter | Ask MetaFilter There's a thread on Ask Metafilter about book-centric clutter that's getting lots of good comments right now. It started when matildaben asked for "practical and creative systems for reducing the number of books I own," saying:
The solutions people offer are thoughtful and suggest that many of the better ideas are coming from fellow bibliophiles who've struggled with The Book Problem. Like several folks in the thread, I think this comment from occhiblu gets to the heart of what makes clutter such an emotionally complex problem:
Yep, that pretty much nails the problem and the cause for me. Recap: Merlin's "War on Clutter"As it happens, I'm about to begin the next phase of My War on Clutter. If you're in the same boat, here's links to my articles from that series.
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 Book ClutterSubmitted by Jacki Hollywood... on December 27, 2007 - 3:32pm.
Books are meant to be read. I always suggest donating books that are not being read to a local library or school library. There are several things that you can do to keep your books close to your heart but still get rid of the clutter. Start a bibliography on your computer or notebook: Take the book information (ISBN, Author, Title etc) Add a photo of the book Write a paragraph or two about the significance of the book to YOU, the impact the book had on YOUR life, who gave you the book, why you kept it, to whom you would recommend the book. If you can't be bothered writing about how important the book is to you than do you need to keep the book? If you are writing SO much about the book that you've started a second page...maybe you could keep that book. Certain reference books should be kept like dictionaries, and atlases because sometimes it is quicker to look up the information in a book than it is on-line. I got rid of (almost) all of my cookbooks as I can find a bunch of recipes on-line for almost everything I would ever want to eat. I did keep my Nanny's Purity Flour cookbook because it has her note taking about how to make a perfect lemon meringue pie! » POSTED IN:
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