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How Many Books?

amarok2005

Ephemeral Spectre
Joined
Aug 26, 2005
Messages
370
As long as I was getting my books out of storage (had to -- with this being about our hottest and most humid summer ever, they were starting to mildew), I decided to answer the question that has plagued Mankind for seconds: Do I have more science fiction or Fortean books?

I decided not to count books about SF, like Billion Year Spree, or non-fiction by authors usually thought of as SF writers, like Clarke's Profiles of the Future. And sometimes the line between SF and fantasy was a bit blurry.

Fortean books were easier, but some ghost books, for example, are simple by-the-campfire reads, while others are serious delvings into the paranormal. Forteana slides into folklore and legend at one end, and into more-or-less non-fiction at the other (William Corliss' book on atmospheric phenomena - fortean; another book on weird halos and such seemed like straight science).

So: The final tally: Science Fiction -- 682 books. Fortean -- 508

SF wins! ("Ah, good forteana is hard to come by," grumbles the crowd. "And you've got four bloody versions of 'War of the Worlds!'")

I also have 791 comic books as of today. And 961 magazines, at least 200 of which are Fortean Times alone!

Now . . . if I just had time to read some . . .
 
It's football books/magazines for me. I dare not look in my loft for damage to any of them, just leave them there and assume they are ok.

Nearly half of my spare room is taken up by books, most of which I will prob never fully read, but which I cling on to under the premise that I might need them for research further along the line.

The curse of being a hoarder :(
 
My books are mostly history followed by ghosts,but sadly mostly the a to z of legendary ghosts, no one has ever seen but the author copied from another author who copied... :(
 
Haven't counted but SF would certainly be in the majority followed by history/politics, Bios/litcrit, Science and then Fortean.

edit to fix ommission.
 
I've not counted for years, but it's mainly SF, followed by history/archaeology, with a lot of mythology and Forteana. And quite a few books that straddle these genres.
 
I dont dare count.

(I dont think I can count that high anyway)

A wide variety, mostly non fiction
 
I've got loads. I've moved a few times in the last couple of years, and each time I take all the ones I haven't already read. The problem is, these tend to be the ones that are difficult to read, so I end up accumulating more readable stuff and lugging around a dead weight of pynchon and joyce ;)
 
James_H2 said:
....pynchon and joyce ;)

One day I will actually finish Gravity's Rainbow, I've been 'reading' it since 1992...
 
Yup, that's one I haven't even started. I've read enough books about Ulysses that I could probably give a convincing impression of having read it, but in reality I've only ever managed slightly more than half (the easy half). I did enjoy that half very much, though ;)

I've just got A Glastonbury Romance, but I think i'll have to psych myself up for that.
 
I've been reading Ulysses for three years now :roll:
Can't get into it; read Finnegan's Wake in three DAYS!
 
I know a guy who refuses to read Finnegans Wake until he's learnt French, Latin and German :roll:

I think I agree with what (I think) Peni posted here once - that it's problematic if reading seems like a chore.
 
Looking at my collection last night I see quite a crossover. Is a book about Opus Dei religion or Fortean? Ditto with books on Cults, US Christian Politcal Right etc
 
Ha!
A few years ago I decided to sort all my books out into nice, neat, categorised sections.
It was only after about 2 hours when I had them all in piles on the floor that I realised how damn difficult it was going to be. I very soon wished I'd never started.
They just ended up going back more or less how they'd been in the first place :roll:
 
About 15 years ago, I had almost 3000 SF and Fantasy books - but, like a complete fool, I gave them all away to a charity shop. There were a few collector's items among them...
...Now, I've decided to get back into reading again, before I go blind (I am in the beginning stages of developing retinopathy).
 
Mythopoeika said:
About 15 years ago, I had almost 3000 SF and Fantasy books - but, like a complete fool, I gave them all away to a charity shop. There were a few collector's items among them...
...Now, I've decided to get back into reading again, before I go blind (I am in the beginning stages of developing retinopathy).

Thats sad new Mytho. Any hope of treatment?
 
Thanks, Ramon.
It's not bad at the moment, but I do notice a blurriness occasionally.
Unfortunately, there is no treatment for retinopathy at the moment, but I am hoping gene therapy will eventually become available.
 
how are you coming along now myth?
I'm OK, thanks for asking. I'm just about to sign up for an experimental diet that is going through clinical trials (called Counterweight Plus).
Hopefully, I'll lose a ton of weight and maybe stop being diabetic altogether. That'd be good.
 
I'm OK, thanks for asking. I'm just about to sign up for an experimental diet that is going through clinical trials (called Counterweight Plus).
Hopefully, I'll lose a ton of weight and maybe stop being diabetic altogether. That'd be good.

Any step in the right direction healthwise is a plus the older you get. I hope you see some benefit from your diet, literally.
 
Having filled all of the bookshelves (and bought more and filled them) in my parents home (they have about 60% of them as I live overseas), I threw away all of my old clothes (unworn for a decade) and filled two (built-in) cupboards.

When the time came for them to move home, they discovered that the sheer weight of old hardbacks had bowed the floorboards and there was a noticeable depression in the wood beneath each!

The complete works of Joseph Conrad is one guilty party; a long run of Blackwood's Magazine is another culprit.

75% of what I buy now is Second World War military history.
 
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I'm OK, thanks for asking. I'm just about to sign up for an experimental diet that is going through clinical trials (called Counterweight Plus).
Hopefully, I'll lose a ton of weight and maybe stop being diabetic altogether. That'd be good.

Last night's PM on R4 had a long section on weight loss and its effect on diabetes. You might give it a listen!
 
Last night's PM on R4 had a long section on weight loss and its effect on diabetes. You might give it a listen!
Funnily enough, I did hear something on the radio about this diet. It's 'new thinking' and is shaking things up.
 
75% of what I buy now is Second World War military history.

You Sir are a Hopeless Generalist, 95% of what my dad buys (or has bought for him) is about Second World War British Aircraft. Most of the rest is about other aspects of the Second World War.
 
You Sir are a Hopeless Generalist, 95% of what my dad buys (or has bought for him) is about Second World War British Aircraft. Most of the rest is about other aspects of the Second World War.

I could be more specific.

65% of what I buy are autobiographies, biographies and memoirs of British soldiers that achieved ranks between Major-General and Field Marshall during the years 1939-45. The vast majority are first edition hardbacks in dust-jackets.

The other 10% relate to the units, officers and men of 4th Indian Division 1939-46.
 
I could be more specific.

65% of what I buy are autobiographies, biographies and memoirs of British soldiers that achieved ranks between Major-General and Field Marshall during the years 1939-45. The vast majority are first edition hardbacks in dust-jackets.

The other 10% relate to the units, officers and men of 4th Indian Division 1939-46.

OK, you win.

As for myself, I only look at books with pictures.
 
OK, you win.

As for myself, I only look at books with pictures.

This kind of thing?

Screenshot 2019-05-17 at 04.08.11.png
 
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