Among the Gently Mad

The full name of this book is Among the Gently Mad: Strategies and Perspectives for the Book Hunter in the 21st Century.  I read this one for my morning reading program, where I read a book every workday morning for about 20-30 minutes before I drive to work.  These usually tend to be non-fiction as it's easier to read those in little doses without losing  the thread of a plot line or character motivation, etc.  This book, by Nicholas Basbanes is a sort of follow-up to his lengthy but amazing 1999 book, A Gentle Madness, where he goes through the history of bibliofilia and provides numerous examples of book collectors throughout history. 

This time, the book is much shorter but no less interesting as Mr Basbanes focuses a bit more on how to collect books, emphasizing that book collecting is not just about finding and collecting rare and valuable books but also about accumulating that which interests any particular collector.  In other words, for every book afficianado out there that is looking for a quality first edition of Catcher in the Rye there is also a collector of pop-up children's books through history or a collector of all books with the name "Billy" in the title.  He sprinkles numerous anecdotes about the collectors themselves, many of whom he had interviewed for the first book and also offers lots of tips for how to go about starting a collection of your own.  He examines book fairs, auctions, catalogues, etc. and also provides a thorough discussion on the pros and cons of the impact of the internet on modern book collecting.

Just as when I read the first book, I found myself wondering if I am a book collector at all.  I am first and foremost a book reader and consequently I tend to accumulate lots of books but I can't say I've ever searched for a book based on its monetary value and I probably never will.  It would be fun to do so, especially for some area I really like, perhaps the early pulp fiction era, but I suspect I'm too frugal to spend the kind of money I would need to do so.  I certainly don't mind if others choose to collect books that they have no intention of reading but that's just not me.  After I read a particular book, I do tend to cherish it and I love looking at my book shelves, reminiscing about the memories.  I suppose I could categorize myself as a collector of "books I like to read" but that seems rather silly, even though I own and catalog over 7,000 books in my house. (Yes, I fit the description of a "gently mad" person).  I think it's pretty good that I only have ~300 still unread although I can't seem to get that number much lower.

Anyway, I very much enjoy Mr Basbanes' books; they leave me with a deep sense of satisfaction and I always love books about books or book people.  He has more published so I hope to add them to my "collection" one day.

A Gentle Madness

For quite some time now (more than 20 years) I have classified myself as a bibliophile. In my mind that means I love books...everything about them from reading them to collecting them and in my dreams I like to write them. So it was with great anticipation that I began to read A Gentle Madness by Nicholas A. Basbanes. This has been my morning reading book (the one I read for 30 minutes or so before I head off to work each day) for the past couple of months. It has been a fantastic read for me and always puts me in a good mood first thing in the morning.

The title alone is fantastic. I can think of no better way to describe the often illogical mania people like me have for books. We are, I think mad in many ways and yet it is a non-threatening sort of madness. I have been crazy about books since I was a little boy and used to gaze up at my parents crowded book shelves in the living room. And to this day, when I have a couple of minutes to spare, I love to glance over the titles in my own library at home, reminiscing about past reads and anticipating future adventures. A gentle madness indeed.

Mr Basbanes does a fantastic job of cataloguing most of the famous and infamous bibliomaniacs in history. He describes the famous historical collectors as well as modern examples. He discusses what they do and how they do it and somehow is able to get into their psyches and examine why they do it. Of course not all are the same but they all do seem to share the same indescribable love for books. Some collect for the benefit of mankind while others do it for their own bragging rights. I enjoyed reading about the collections that 19th and 20th century collectors put together, fantasizing about what it would be like to be rich enough to build the kind of library they could. But I think I preferred reading about the more common person who put aside other pleasures of life in order to pursue their passion on a more modest basis. I guess I identify more with them. I also enjoyed the story of Stephen Blumberg, known as the most successful book thief of the 20th century. He had stolen more than $20 million dollars worth of books from libraries all over North America before being arrested in Riverside California in the early 1990s. In his mind he was accumulating a collection and preferred to think of the books as on an inter-library loan. This was definitely a gentle madman.

This book gave me an interesting perspective. First, it's nice to know I am not the only one out there with my "disease". But secondly it helps clarify the purpose of my own library collection. You see I don't collect books just to have books. I don't collect books because they might be valuable someday. I collect books in order to read them and so I think I am slightly different than most of the people discussed in this book. I guess I am a collector of "reading experiences" more than of books. Although I rarely depart with a book that I own, even after reading it and even if it is unlikely I will ever read it again. I love to see it on the shelf and remember the time I spent with it. So I guess I am still mad...but gently so.