Sometimes I think people wonder how it is I end up collecting so many interests (and indirectly, so many books). A recent example might give a hint of my dilemma.
At Chason du Depart, OldAFSarge has been writing a very gripping series on D-Day and the Allied invasion of Europe. (Really. He is an excellent writer. You should go over there and catch up on the latest entry. I can wait....Done? Great. We will carry on.). Reading his series renewed a very old interest I had in World War II - 40 years ago or more.
As I was thinking about this, suddenly I remembered that I saw (in my local used book store) a book by Heinz Guderian called Achtung - Panzer, which is a discussion of the development of the tank as a weapon of war and the proposed use of it in war (Guderian was the architect of the invasion of France in 1940). So I decide I need to read that (review here).
Reading this, I am suddenly reminded of another book I have on Erwin Rommel and his career: Rommel: Leadership Lessons from The Desert Fox. It has been a while since I read this, so I pick this up again (worth your time, if so inclined).
But wait! Both Guderian and Rommel have addition works: Panzer Leader by Guderian and Infantry Attacks by Rommel. So both of these are now added to the used book list, to be ordered and read at a future date.
So I am sure you can appreciate my sad situation: from a set of blog entries, I have become compelled to purchase three books for additional research and review (or, just because I am interested).
On the whole, I think this just proves I was actually Wikipedia before Wikipedia was a thing...
Your process is much like mine. I find a subject I am interested in and buy several books and I may read one or two with the remainder going to my "rainy day" bookshelf. My problem is the rainy day bookshelf now contains enough reading material to last me a decade if I don't buy another book in that time frame.
ReplyDeleteAnother problem I have is that I have too many reading projects. Years ago I started reading NG 100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time and probably am down to 16 or so left, all of those out of print and a challenge to find. I also started down the path of reading a biography on every president in order and made it to I think James Monroe and stalled out. I'm pretty sure I have biographies on my rainy day shelf through Lincoln. I also have a pile of special interest books that I would like to read thoroughly to learn a new skill such as guitar making and boat building. I've done some of the latter but there is much more room for improvement.
In a perfect world, reading time would pause the clock so that life doesn't keep passing me by with my nose in a book.
Ed - We share versions of the same issue. One thing that has helped me lately is that with the travel, I can "save" up new books in flight (when I have no other disturbances). To minimize my desire to purchase even more, I am rationing myself to read books I already own.
DeleteThe other thing I have been doing is making sure that every book I purchase or want to purchase (ideally the latter) goes on to a list so I can look at it and decide if I really need it. I Have found this helpful to get over some of my initial "I must have it" and also manage my reading list in terms of subjects (which I am tending to think more about, honestly, grouping the knowledge increase or new learning into buckets.
https://archive.org/details/infantryattacks00erwi/mode/2up
ReplyDeleteErwin Rommels book "Infantry Attacks" free on archive.org.
Coffee Man - Thanks for the link! I will give it a look. That said, I tend to be a physical copy guy - for some reason on-line reading never feels quite the same.
DeleteThanks for stopping by!
hehe..I love the wiki line!
ReplyDeleteEGB, I have the attention span of a dog watching squirrels run around in the yard...
Delete