A Whisper in the Night

[ecosophia]

Buy physical books now. Great ones, good ones, bad ones, ones you happen to like. Store them safely as you would treasures. They are. Some will become unavailable soon, I suspect, for reasons that may not be stated candidly. If I’m wrong, what have you lost?

We, the library

— Walter Kirn (@walterkirn) February 12, 2021

This seems uncomfortably appropriate to me just now...

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Speaking of uncomfortable things, assume that I want a digital copy of one of your books that is not available as such, for personal use. So, I buy one and I scan it. Then, how do I dispose of the paper copy? I don't want to violate copyrights.

You know, for all talk of preservation of paper, I might face the opposite issue, a huge occult library might become a painted target on my head.

[ecosophia]

1) Donate it to a charity that will sell it.

2) If you think that electronic media are private, think again. Nothing that happens on, or by means of, the internet is ever private, so if you have a huge digital library of occult books, that fact is even more public than if you have an equivalent library of printed books.

Book-binding!

[cs2]

This is why I plan to take book-binding courses once the lock-down ends! I'd been sewing my own journals and notebooks for years and finally realized I should just get myself trained.

Re: Book-binding!

[avalterra]

Online or in person course? Care to share a resource? It is something I have considered often.

[isaac_hill]

Books, plants and tools.

[ecosophia]

Oh, plants and tools are likely to remain readily available for a while yet...

[realmscryer]

I do well with very little materially. Except my book addiction. When I have discretionary money I eventually buy books. Physical books. With enough extra money floating around in my account admittedly I would also be a gun collector. Granted, with a massive unwieldy library.

So if they start knocking on doors which would they ask for first?
Strange times.

[ecosophia]

Good question...

[stcathalexandria]

I just borrowed the book Human Smoke from the library on recommendation. I'm now reminded I need to buy a copy immediately because that is one they will ban, even though it is simply a collection of interviews, newspaper articles and speeches which are all accessible. Or at least they are right now.

What's upsetting me is all the archives are controlled by the woke and they have been advocating for sometime on correcting what is in the records. I'm more frightened by this than books right now.

[ecosophia]

If you assume that the wokesters are using George Orwell's 1984 as a manual, you'll rarely go wrong. They've even got the Anti-Sex League...

[violetcabra]

Thanks for this. It's all the more remarkable that at my local thrift store one can buy classic titles really cheap, like, I just finished reading a paperback of Gogol's _Dead Souls_ that I bought for less than a dollar and before that a paper of _Two Years Before the Mast_ which also cost less than a dollar. In addition, in my last haul I found Epictetus' _Discourses_, Buber's _I and Thou_, Hesiod's works, Erasmus' _In Praise of Folly_, and some beautifully bound Dostoyevsky novels with art deco pen and ink illustrations in the inside cover. Altogether they cost less than $10 and there was a few other titles thrown in. Of course, every time I go there are classic translations of Tolstoy and plays of Shakespeare selling for real cheap. In the education section they have classical mathematical books, and technical works. I mailed a friend a textbook on practical metallurgy recently, hardbound, with what looked like clear technical language and good illustrations. Last week, I found a Dion Fortune title from the 1930's.

Point being, people are just throwing these books away and so they bring them to the thrift store. I would say 85% of the books were printed between the years between 1920 and 1980. I'm not sure what the used book scene looks like in other parts in the country, but here in suburban Massachusetts now is the time to buy! People are throwing out classic and not so classic books and one can get them for almost nothing. Prior to this, most of my books came from access to places where people were throwing out books and I got some real good titles: Hesse, Borges, Twain, Homer.

From my perspective I agree with Mr. Kirn: now is the time to stock up because people only have so many books to throw away until there is nothing left to throw, and when that happens I shudder to think what that copy of _Dead Souls_ might go for, if it could be found at all.

[ecosophia]

I've noticed that. I'm not sure how much of it is people purging their collections of anything that could get them in trouble, and how much of it is the ongoing contraction of the salary class leading people to dump possessions as they downscale their lives...

[wbj]

I give it a year or two at most before there's a massive crackdown on book selling by the elite. It'll be justified by some sort of moralizing, but really it'll be because it is necessary to prevent people from sidestepping their fast tightening stranglehold on the dissemination of information online, and an awful lot of information out there is very dangerous to the established powers.

So your not the only one feeling cold right now....

[ecosophia]

Given that Dr. Seuss is now being banned as subversive literature, I don't think you're mistaken...

[(Anonymous)]

If you were stuck on a deserted island and could only have a handful of books, which would you choose?

[ecosophia]

I hate that question. I've never been able to get my list of must-have books down below a couple of hundred.

[stcathalexandria]

Not on the subject at hand.....a friend sent me a link to a segment on TimCast live stream by Tim Pool and there was someone who went by Ecosophian who submitted a bit about fusion energy and asking (apparently this one of several times) for Tim Pool to interview you. "Oh there we are with the John Michael Greer again." was the comment made. Just in case your ears have been itching....

[ecosophia]

Funny. I suspect it'll be a cold day on Venus before that happens, but we'll see.

[youngelephant]

Yes! I started collecting physical books in the Fall around when I discovered your blogosphere.

I've been been an avid reader for awhile now, but was foolishly buying e-books for years. Mainly because I wanted to conceal what I was reading from non magic friendly family.

I think there's many areas of life that operate as a "Matrix" of sorts, and some comment or other of yours, or maybe just the vibe of the space, woke me up to the fact that breaking my e-book addiction and collecting physical books was of the upmost importance.

It's all physical books from here on out.

[robertmathiesen]

"When I get a little money I buy books. If there is any left, I buy food and clothes." -- Erasmus of Rotterdam (who died in 1536), probably in a private letter.

Just wondering...

[(Anonymous)]

When the COVID-19 pandemic led to 'lockdowns' and long term closures of business and public institutions, why were bookstores considered 'non-essential' and forced to close? Why were libraries and museums considered 'non-essential' and forced to close? Can someone tell me why?
[must. take. deep. breath. - going on a rant doesn't help.]

I only wish I had more space and a (relatively speaking) a permanent home for more books.

JMG - did a recent incident lead to this post, or, did the Walter Kirn quote strike a chord?

Re: Just wondering...

[ecosophia]

The post struck a chord. It's something I've been feeling myself for a while.

[(Anonymous)]

This is such a coincidence--I have been thinking about this for the last two days. I am against hoarding, except when it comes to books, which I do hoard. I'd be curious about your thoughts on the "reasons not stated candidly". Here is a partial list from my Long Descent-influenced thinking:

* Public library closures/budget cuts
* Woke purgings & author cancellations
* Closure of small presses and bookstores in the next depression period
* Over-reliance on printing in China and other far-abroad places
* Disappearance of free online depositories during the long descent
* Contraction of the higher education industry
* Lack of low-tech, low-energy storage facilities to guard against humidity
* Fragile paper, ink, and printing equipment supply chains

A lot of these are happening now! Am I missing anything from your vantage point as an author?

Samurai_47

[ecosophia]

The one thing I'd add is wholesale deletion of resources from ebook venues, making print copies that much more necessary.

[temporaryreality]

A dear friend passed away last year and left us his library, so perhaps I'm part of the way toward become a provider of an ecosophia-proposed reading-room (catalogued 367 so far). I apologize for the fact that the books and I are currently in California, but if I'm fated to stay, and somebody needs to pick what remains up from the dust and help it along, perhaps that's what my library and I will do.

[(Anonymous)]

Are there any books that we should grab right away?

[ecosophia]

The ones that matter most to you, personally.

[(Anonymous)]

I remember when Loompanics folded shortly after 9-11. They published everything from The Principia Discordia to Uncle Fester's Home Workshop Explosives.

Given what's already been canceled or censored online, the list of books that might be next seems quite horrifying. And here I thought the holy rollers going off on music and D&D books back in the 80's was bad.

We aren't to the point of having to refer to rule .303 to hold onto a copy of Kipling yet, but yeah, I think I'm going to put together a good sized list to my local book store in the next few days.

Better short a few hundred bucks than risk the mental and spiritual poverty of the party line that's being pushed on us.

Book preservation

[inavalon]

This resonates for me too. I've been buying physical books since last summer, and polishing up my rudimentary book repair skills.

Samizdat

[(Anonymous)]

If we make and print our own literature, what would be the best home setup for printing, including of images? What would be the most practicable means of distribution? These are questions I've been asking myself.

I suspect that in practice print will prove to be far more democratic than electronic media.

Piero San Giorgio has stated straight up that the time of constitutionally protected freedoms and civil liberties is over, and that tyranny is here to stay. I'd like to be able to say confidently that the evidence isn't with him...

Kevin

Re: Samizdat

[sea_spray]

I've done a little bit in this area and found that an inkjet printer using aftermarket refillable cartridges is very cheap.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_ink_system
You just need to find the right kind of printer second hand.

Decisions....decisions....

[drhooves]

Hi JMG,

I've moved almost 30 times in the last 40 years, and am planning to sell my house and move again in the few months, so my book collection is limited. There's a balance between staying mobile for work, and stashing the essentials.

I'm planning to give away some of my books to a local used book store, sell some others online, and may trade or buy a few more for long-term retention. For me, my focus will be finding a few more books around at home medical care, nutrition, gardening, cooking - and a of course a hard copy of the conservation packet you distributed.

Thanks for the heads up!

[open_space]

*gulp*

If lodges of various kinds ever get back, and I think it would be a great idea, they would be an invaluable resource to preserve items in large libraries, magical and otherwise.

The screw is getting tighter and tighter. I hope we don’t get guillotines in public squares in a few decades or something like that.

Boxes

[stromfeldt]

It's been about 5 years or so since I've added to my collection, but I've so far got about 250.

Boxes.

Will be a good base for setting up a library.

Although I had to abandon my original collection on moving continents, seeds will be next.

Save the books

[brenainn]

I've been doing just that, since they started cancelling even Dr. Seuss books. I've also begun downloading digital copies of classical works in the public domain and printing them off on my home office Brother printer. I make the text "bible print small" and can fit a fair number of works onto a few hundred pages. I've figuring out how to bind them myself. Gods only know how many books will be made to disappear by the loons now in charge.

Re: Save the books

[chaosadventurer]

I periodically run through the Gutenberg project at http://www.gutenberg.org/ and other places for more to download and save, with multiple off-line copies.
With my current space limitations, printing (laser on acid free paper) is for just the most precious of them at the current time.

[(Anonymous)]

When I was a teenager and a big SF fan, I was, of course, familiar with Ray Bradbury’s book Fahrenheit 451 but I have never actually read the thing. Looks like I should get my hands on it before it gets burned… my, my, truth has become a lot stranger than fiction lately.

Ron M

Worth of microfilm?

[sea_spray]

Hi JMG

What do you think of using microfilm to store books compactly? I'm working on a deindustrial version using cellulose as the structural backing.

Re: Worth of microfilm?

[lunarapprentice]

Cellulose is a bad idea. It deteriorates after a few decades, and is more flammable than paper.

[(Anonymous)]

A certain obsolete satire by a mathematics professor about a non-lending library and its time travelling librarian seems suddenly relevant. As does the Anti-Poke Your Nose Into Other People's Business Society…