"I am hoarding books for retirement."

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by exaltedwombat

Sure, eBooks are great! But you surely didn't throw your paper books away? That's no way to treat old friends!

Isn't the main reason for living in more than one room having space for lots of books?

I donated them to a local charity store, so they can sell them and do some good with the money. Selling all of my books one by one would take a monstrous amount of time, while the monetary gain would be infinitesimally small. I'd be "working" for less than $2 an hour.

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

I'm not sure if you're kidding, but the hoarding discussed here is a form of compulsive hoarding. Fortunately for those who compulsively hoard ebooks, the clutter is digital and not physical, but unless one is only collecting free ebooks, there is still a cost involved in buying far more books than one could ever read.

Having a large number of books isn't hoarding. A person who has a large number of full bookshelves isn't a hoarder, the book hoarder will have books piled everywhere, floor to ceiling. It often is hard even to get through the house, they can't get rid of anything. The person with a large number of e-books is much more like the person with a large number of orderly but full bookshelves. It's really not hoarding until keeping them all begins to interfere with your life. A true book hoarder's life is often impacted to the point where there isn't even anywhere to sit down, even if someone wanted to enter the house.

[speakingtohe]

That would be compulsive hoarding. Other definitions/usages exist.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti...0&t=1391439543

Helen

[pdurrant]

I voted no. OK, so I have 800 unread ebooks bought over the past ten years. But they're not horded - I intend to read each and every one over the next ten years. Certainly well before retirement.

[mva1985]

I have about 4500 in my ebook collection and this thread makes me feel much better about having them.

Some replaced actual physical books but I have yet to get rid of them... maybe if I have to move.

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

That would be compulsive hoarding. Other definitions/usages exist.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti...0&t=1391439543

Helen

Yes, other definitions exist, but using them in this context would be equivocation.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

Yes, other definitions exist, but using them in this context would be equivocation.

I just don't see this. Classic example is squirrels hoarding nuts for winter. Is this not somewhat in line with the Op's intent?

I save money for my retirement, where I might be better off spending it now. Buying 10 years worth of reading and saving that for my retirement might be a better investment. Or a giant survivalist food package with solar heaters etc. These are things I could be buying/keeping that I might never use. Or I might wish I had bought the survivalist food thingy.

I don't think buying something that you may not be able to afford when you want it is aberrant behavior. Or squirreling something away for the future is either. Besides the risk of having insufficient money after retirement there is the risk of losing control of your income. Almost happened to my mother when someone decided they should control her spending and applied to have her made a ward of court.

I re-read the original post and I see no mention or implication of compulsive hoarding, so exactly how or what am I equivocating about? Elucidate please.

Helen

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

I re-read the original post and I see no mention or implication of compulsive hoarding, so exactly how or what am I equivocating about? Elucidate please.

With the hoarding I describe, I mean "hoarding for later use, in such a way that you can actually use it"; I don't mean "hoarding as much as you can because you have some sort of psychological problem and feel compelled to own 15.000 books for no reason".

[QuantumIguana]

The word "hoarding", when applied to humans, is seldom used to describe any sort of reasonable accumulation of things.

[Katsunami]

In the Netherlands, hoarding ("hamsteren") is mainly used to describe the practice of accumulating stuff that might be hard to get later on; it's not neccesarily hoarding unreasonable amounts of said stuff.

Like me, who has bought 4 Logitech UltraX keyboards at a sale (new), after production already stopped, could be accused of "hoarding" keyboards. (Yeah, I like that particular type of keyboard.)

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

In the Netherlands, hoarding ("hamsteren") is mainly used to describe the practice of accumulating stuff that might be hard to get later on; it's not neccesarily hoarding unreasonable amounts of said stuff.

Like me, who has bought 4 Logitech UltraX keyboards at a sale (new), after production already stopped, could be accused of "hoarding" keyboards. (Yeah, I like that particular type of keyboard.)

Maybe "stockpiling" would have less of a connotation of aberrant behavior.

[montalex]

Yes, I am hoarding books. I'm 63, and, even though, as someone mentioned, I am self-employed and cannot retire as long as I can stand and state my name (don't ask my profession), I don't want to wind up in a home somewhere without good books to read. I read literary fiction (Booker Prize winners and such), and some biography, history and science writing. If I live to be 100, I'll never be able to read all the ebooks I have. Never-the-less, when I read a good review in the Guardian or New York Review, I often "buy" the book -- which is easy to do with ebooks, even at 11pm. Here's the thing, though. I get excited about what's new and innovative in writing, and tend not to look back at unread books that I acquired (ah, there's a good word for it) a year or more ago. In other words, I can't keep up with my acquisitions. But, so what? At least they aren't gathering dust or degrading (as my old Penguin paperbacks did -- crumbling and yellowing into unreadability). My heirs can clean house by pressing "delete".

[crich70]

You see the unhealthy sort of hoarding all the time in the news where people have over 100 dogs and cats etc. or some such.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by crich70

You see the unhealthy sort of hoarding all the time in the news where people have over 100 dogs and cats etc. or some such.

I've watched some episodes of series such as Buried Alive, and Hoarders. That's just... uh... dreadful. I can't even imagine it.

"No, not that book/dvd/LP/CD! I NEED that! I MUST HAVE IT!!!! *screeeech/wail*"

Oh, why? You won't miss it, 'cause you still have 21,237 others...

I just can't imagine it.

[kacir]

I never needed to hoard paper books. We have excellent public libraries here, within easy walking distance, so I always had enough material to read(*).

Later I switched to books in English. The supply of those in our public library is much more limited. When I ran out of paper English books that could be borrowed, or purchased cheaply here, I discovered e-books. That was some 15 years ago. Now I will never *ever* run out of reading material, wherever I go, however unexpectedly I have to travel somewhere.

This is not hoarding. This is making sure that when you finish the book you are reading, you have at least a dozen to choose from depending on your mood.

(*) Except when I went for holidays as a schoolboy. I could spend a month or more in remote village. And they wouldn't let me borrow 40+ books in library or pack another large suitcase to the car or for a bus ride ;-)

(*) Except when I fell ill unexpectedly and I was stuck home for a week with only a small number of borrowed books

(*) Except when I couldn't make it to the library and ran out of fresh books before weekend

(*) Except when ... ;-)