"I am hoarding books for retirement."

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by hansl

But if you accept that life is too short anyway...

I don't. I still hate Tolkien for introducing me to immortal Elves that stay young and beautiful looking like they're thirtyish when they really are close to 3,000. Yeah, I'd like to look like Elrond when I'm 3K years old...

Fortunately, Terry Brooks' Elves are more like men; they age and have a lifespan of about 85 years. (And they also have names that would make Tolkien turn in his grave.)

And yes, I'm buying faster than I can read, but with regard to some works (such as the Delphi Classics Charles Dickens collection, ~20K pages long), I don't expect to read everything. I also have Greek classics from Delphi, but I'm not going to read everything; I'll probably not read 6 translations of The Odyssey for example.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I don't. I still hate Tolkien for introducing me to immortal Elves that stay young and beautiful looking like they're thirtyish when they really are close to 3,000. Yeah, I'd like to look like Elrond when I'm 3K years old...

It gives them a chance to write books...

Spoiler:

[hansl]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I still hate Tolkien for introducing me to immortal Elves that stay young and beautiful looking like they're thirtyish when they really are close to 3,000.

The poor grow 3000 and still have no ebook reader or Internet. But imagine the hell of 2000 generations of reader devices you would have to face during 3000 years, 1980 of which would be Kindles

[rraod]

By nature since my childhood, I was an avid collector. This collection habit has evolved with my age. In childhood I used to collect, matchbox covers and postage stamps. Then I moved on to photography at the age of 15. I still have the B&W 6x6 negatives taken during those days. I collected family and friends photos both B&W and color (35mm) and now digital photos. I have a project to convert all my old photo collection to digital by scanning, and I bought a flatbed scanner for that purpose. Sometimes I scan these photos and due to hundreds of them, I get tired soon and pause the project. But I aimed to complete this project. I have passed on these scanned photo collections to my relatives and friends making them happy.

I was a voracious reader and used to read various books mostly classics and thrillers since I was below 10 years. During 70's the novels and hobby magazines (How and Why series, old Popular Science issues, Chip and other computer magazines) were cheap in India and I used to buy lots of them till year 2000. Though I lost many favorite books by friendly borrowers, most of them remain with me. I subscribed to Reader's Digest from 1980-1989 and 91-95 and I kept all of them including few condensed books.

I lost appetite to buy physical books due to prices gone up since 2000 and also my reading physical books gone down due to job pressures. I shifted reading on Internet and collected lots of freely downloadable PDFs, DOCs and TXT files.

Last year my sons introduced me and my wife to Kindle and bought us a PW during our visit to US last year. Since then I started collecting old classic public domain free mobi books.

After getting latched on to Calibre, I realized the epub advantages, and got a second hand (almost new) Nook simple touch for $30 through Craigslist. Since then I changed over to Nook. I use Kindle only on night in bed due to it's internal light. I do not wish to buy a Nook Simple Touch Glo until the internal light's problem is permanently solved by Barnes and Noble.

Due to my collection habit (I don't know whether it is hoarding or not), I now have few thousands of free epubs on my Nook's microSD card. I planned to read them during my free time.

I liked the Calibre software for eBooks and I appreciate Kovid and his developers for their continued great work.

I was also looking for similar individual management softwares on open source domain for my large collections of music, digital photos and some movies but found no good ones. I appreciate if someone develops them on open source domain. I do not mean to integrate these features in to Calibre as suggested in one of the old posts, but separate programs with similar features, look and feel of Calibre by other than Kovid and his developers.

This will make lots of music, photo and movie lovers happy.

[wizwor]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I wonder: Is hoarding for retirement useful (especially in the case of ebooks)?

In practice, I suppose I am hoarding for retirement. In reality, it's much more complicated. Right now, I am making the most money I ever have. I also have very little time on my hands. For the last eight years, the economy has been in the tank. I have been using my excess funds to buy things that are on sale for use at a later time. I have flooring piled up in a hallway as I slowly replace aging carpets in my home. I have doors and wood in my basement to make repairs on my home -- eventually. I have purchased fasteners and tools for these projects. I have installed an antenna and am recording shows with dvrs that I do not have time to watch. And we are gardening.

In my mind, I am looking forward to a time in ten to fifteen years when I get up, do some gardening, work on the house, work on the car, float around in the pool, read a book, make a nice dinner, watch a movie, and call it a day.

I am keeping an eye out for free stuff that does not take up much room but will help me advance that cause. eBooks are a big part of that. I am hoarding recipes, exercise books, how to books, and stuff I hope to have time to read by the pool soon.

This is not a light switch operation. I am already working on my home and gardening. I've started doing more cooking and have eliminated my cable bill. I made a batch of beer. I'm practicing.

The fact remains that I have 3,000 books in the cloud. Most cost me nothing. All are of at least some interest to me. I won't touch most of them for ten years. So, I guess i am hoarding books for retirement.

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by wizwor

I made a batch of beer. I'm practicing.

What took you so long? Better late than never!

Home made beer is like home made cooking in so many ways.

[wizwor]

Originally Posted by rkomar

What took you so long? Better late than never!

Home made beer is like home made cooking in so many ways.

I also have a pear tree on my lot that produces hundreds of pears every year. I am going to learn how to make pear wine -- with a pear in the bottle. Hope it tastes good.

[cfrizz]

Originally Posted by wizwor

I also have a pear tree on my lot that produces hundreds of pears every year. I am going to learn how to make pear wine -- with a pear in the bottle. Hope it tastes good.

I downloaded this last month, I'll take a look when I get home to see if they have a recipe for pear.

Homemade Wine :The Ultimate Recipe Guide - Over 30 Delicious & Best Selling Recipes by Terri Smitheen, Encore Books
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GZ8EO44

Yup there is a pear wine recipe in the above book!

[kacir]

Originally Posted by wizwor

I also have a pear tree on my lot that produces hundreds of pears every year. I am going to learn how to make pear wine -- with a pear in the bottle. Hope it tastes good.

You fit the pear in the bottle while it is still small. Then you let it grow in the bottle.
When it is ripe enough, you tear if off the branch and pour in pear spirit. At least 50% proof and hope that the pear doesn't spoil.
I do not think it would work with a wine.

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by kacir

You fit the pear in the bottle while it is still small. Then you let it grow in the bottle.
When it is ripe enough, you tear if off the branch and pour in pear spirit. At least 50% proof and hope that the pear doesn't spoil.
I do not think it would work with a wine.

How do you get it out when you finish the spirits? Smash the bottle? Is there a problem with part of the pear being exposed to air for a while if the spirits in the bottle get too low?

[ebusinesstutor]

I speed read so hoarding is impossible. <sigh>

[crossi]

It's a mistake to hoard. At least it was for me. I was saving up a bunch of my favorite authors because I get depressed and I wanted a store of known favorites saved up. I had hundreds of paperbacks boxed up. Not only did I deprive myself of books by my favorite authors I also when I started to read them all as I replaced them with kindle versions felt getting through the stack was more chore than pleasure. Also in the interm some of my tastes had changed and I didn't enjoy them now as much as I would have enjoyed them earlier. It's also not like new books aren't always coming out so there is no real need to save up for a rainy day. Also don't forget that something might happen and you might die with them still unread so you might never get the pleasure of reading them. "Life's uncertain, eat dessert first."

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by crossi

It's a mistake to hoard. At least it was for me. I was saving up a bunch of my favorite authors because I get depressed and I wanted a store of known favorites saved up. I had hundreds of paperbacks boxed up. Not only did I deprive myself of books by my favorite authors I also when I started to read them all as I replaced them with kindle versions felt getting through the stack was more chore than pleasure. Also in the interm some of my tastes had changed and I didn't enjoy them now as much as I would have enjoyed them earlier. It's also not like new books aren't always coming out so there is no real need to save up for a rainy day. Also don't forget that something might happen and you might die with them still unread so you might never get the pleasure of reading them. "Life's uncertain, eat dessert first."

Good point. I never thought about this before, but I guess that hoarding by fast readers is something different than hoarding by slow readers (who, like me, pile them up because we buy them faster than we can read them).

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by rkomar

Good point. I never thought about this before, but I guess that hoarding by fast readers is something different than hoarding by slow readers (who, like me, pile them up because we buy them faster than we can read them).

Sometimes even fast readers can buy books faster than they can read them. (150 bought this year and only 74 read.)

[crossi]

Originally Posted by rkomar

Good point. I never thought about this before, but I guess that hoarding by fast readers is something different than hoarding by slow readers (who, like me, pile them up because we buy them faster than we can read them).

Oh, everyone has that problem. It is SO easy to buy ebooks and there are all those friendly sites notifying you of price drops and books that you wanted coming available.