Books, books and more books.

I have a compulsion to buy books, not at a Robin Ince insane and wonderful level, but I do find I have to stop myself, I know I own more books than I can read in the coming months. I also know I should devote more time to read them, but what can I say there are distractions everywhere (this blog and twitter being two of the main culprits). As I decided to use my blog to think through things a bit more, I decided to examine my own minor book obsession.

I am one of those people who reads lots of books at the same time. Right now there are two on my bedside table, two on my coffee table and about four put back on the bookshelf, half read. It is not like this with every book, if it is a real page turner, then I will make the time and read it quickly. I don't believe every book has to be this way. For example it took me three months to Read Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion, you have to be in the right frame of mind to tackle it, the meaty subject matter and complexity of ideas it was not light reading. I did think it was worth it to persist and finish the book, and I'm sure I will one day read it again, even if some of the notions do come across as a little fundementalist.

My favourite, cannot put it down, book of last year was Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith, a fantastic dark expansion of Pride and Prejudice. I even actually laughed out loud on the bus while reading it. I know not everyone will share my enthusiasm as I do have a little obsession with zombies, but still everyone knows the story, and can imagine the accents as they read it.

If you are a zombie fan I do recommend Zombie Haiku by Ryan Mecum, I read that one in 40 minutes. It is a very short, funny and gross book of poems written by a zombie.

In my random book buying habits I recently developed a new one, nostalgia. I have now begun to buy books I read as a child, or even were read to me. No, I don't mean Spot the Dog, the ones from when I was a little older, like Daniel Keyes' Flowers For Algernon and Stig of The Dump by Clive King. I am not in a rush to read these books, and not even sure why I bought them. I obviously enjoyed them as a child, but will they stand the test of time and impress me now, or be a an utter disappointment? In a way I think I have bought them in order to share them with other young people, although I don't have children, I may one day or at least I can lend them to my nieces and nephews in the hope that they too get cherished childhood memories from them. I may be setting myself up for disappointment in buying these books, times have changed.

I have just started reading Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot, I think it will be in the page turner category, despite being a philosophy book, it is beautifully and poetically written and a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. I ordered it 3 months ago and have waited all this time for the paperback to be in stock, so far it is well worth the wait. Here is a clip of the passage I heard Robin Ince read and then peaked my interest in Carl Sagan.

Another philosophy book recommended to me was Alain De Botton's Essays in Love. This one I read in two days. A wonderful story of one man's journey through love, while considering the nature of love and our neurosis while afflicted. It is the sort of book you find yourself wanting to quote to people all of the time. My favourite line from it was,

"Every fall into love involves the triumph of hope over self-knowledge."

Following my enjoyment of his work I then bought Status Anxiety, and although it is a great book, it does not have the urgent draw of Essays in Love and I find myself reading it much more slower, returning to it every few days. For accessible philosophy I do recommend Alain De Botton.

I love that I can enjoy some books while learning something, and it doesn't feel like studying like the books at university did. I think this is down to that talent of the author at keeping the reader intrigued while relaying the facts. Ben Goldacre's Bad Science and Simon Singh & Edzard Ernst's Trick or Treatment are two brilliant books which spring to mind.

Don't get me wrong I do also love silly entertaining books too. I recently reread Dave Gorman's Are You Dave Gorman? and Googlewhack Adventure; Danny Wallace's Yes Man is also thoroughly amusing (unlike the film based on the book) and of a similar style (Danny Wallace is co-author of Are You Dave Gorman?). Sometimes I do just want something light and fun to read, these books for me are hard to choose. I love Nick Hornby's books, but I tend to get stuck into buying one author so that I have the guarantee of a good read. I have bought a few random books, and they soon get returned to the bookshelf, half read covered in dust having sat on my coffee table for a few weeks. I will finish them one day, but if they are not that enthralling they go to the bottom of the reading pile, for example The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy by Fiona Neill, yes it is witty and a fun read, but once a better book arrives, it can wait.

I also like having a few books that you can pick up and put down again, just dipping into them when the mood takes you. Charlie Brooker's books (Screenburn, Dawn of the Dumb etc) are great for this, pick them up when you fancy a hilarious rant about popular television and then put them away again. I was bought The History of The World Through Twitter by Jon Holmes and Mitch Benn for Christmas and giggled all day as I dipped into it, it is one of those books to randomly peek at and be amused.

I have now started to buy books recommended to me on twitter or in blogs (if they peak my interest), I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing, or if I will need to buy a bigger house to fit all of my books in. (I cannot throw a book away). I just bought Bad Thoughts - a guide to critical thinking by Jamie Whyte as recommended in Peter Harrison's blog which I began to read following my first visit to Sheffield Skeptics in The Pub (SiTP). I can't wait to read it but am resisting my usual urge to start reading several books I really like at once and then struggle to choose which one to read.

Do feel free to let me know any life changing, or interesting books you have read. Thanks for reading a particularly long ramble of thoughts in my head. (I did say I would blog more as part of my TYSIC to think through and record such thoughts more as a way of developing my thinking skills).