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.

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.

[isaac_hill]

Books, plants and tools.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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....

[(Anonymous)]

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

[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....

[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.

Re: Book-binding!

[avalterra]

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

[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?

[(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

[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.

[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.

Re: Book-binding!

[ecosophia]

Excellent! I'm delighted to hear this. That's a crucial skill and needs to be preserved.

[ecosophia]

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

[ecosophia]

Good question...

[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...

[(Anonymous)]

Are there any books that we should grab right away?

[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...

[ecosophia]

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

[ecosophia]

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

[ecosophia]

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