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How do you care for your Rand books?

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musenji

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This may seem like a superficial question, but it runs a bit deeper.

Just now, I tied my shoes, placing them upon my hardcover copy of Atlas Shrugged, because it was laying on a coffee table and it provided the most convenient height at the moment.

I wonder, would you (the individual reader) consider this as a sign of disrespect for the author? I first thought, well, the importance of the book is in the words themselves. But then I thought of the false mind-body dichotomy, and wondered if that idea, of mind and body being one, would/could apply to physical objects. Does it matter if a copy of Atlas Shrugged ends up being beat-up, if the words are still in immaculate condition? Is the sign of truly loving a book the fact that it is well-preserved, or that it is well-worn due to being used so much? Does the "lack of mind-body dichotomy" apply?

By the way, no damage or mess was done to my book. :-)

And I'm aware one can own two copies of the book--that's besides the point!

Edited by musenji
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There's people who believe in a proper stacking order.

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/texts/About_Jewish_Texts/Jewish_Books.shtml

Some would even go so far as to give special treatments to things containing G--t's name.

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/475304/jewish/Proper-Disposal-of-Holy-Objects.htm

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Does it matter if a copy of Atlas Shrugged ends up being beat-up, if the words are still in immaculate condition?

Oh for goodness sake! You'd think this was a Koran!! Now if it were an immaculate signed first edition, worth in the tens of thousands, it would be one thing, but obviously you wouldn't be leaving it out on a coffee table.

Do you make notes in the margins? Dare to underline things? Dog ear the pages?

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I first thought, well, the importance of the book is in the words themselves.

Right, it's the content, not the form that it is in, that matters most to me. Be it in book form, e-book, whatever.

Does it matter if a copy of Atlas Shrugged ends up being beat-up, if the words are still in immaculate condition?

My copy of Atlas Shrugged was abused during my marriage, my ex-wife threw it across the room, I had duct taped the spine, and inside it was really marked up by me. But the way I keep my books now, is on my Kindle Fire HD. I now own no books, only ebooks. All the rest have been discarded over 2 years ago.

Is the sign of truly loving a book the fact that it is well-preserved

Maybe in the case of those ones that are valuable, as in first editions. But for me a mark of love for a book, is all the marks within it - the annotation, underlining highlighting... shows appreciation for the words significance within. Then again that doesn't always show love for the book, one might just be researching or something ones one particularly does not like, or have a spectaluar memory where such marks are superfluous, or that you aleady grasp certain things so you don't need to highlight to go back over something you already understand, but that being said I hope the point isn't missed by that.

Edited by intellectualammo
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:huh:

What on Earth does the mind-body dichotomy have to do with any of this???

The idea would be that the "mind" of the book would be the words/ideas contained therein, and the "body" would be the book itself. There would be no dichotomy between the two, and as such, somehow "disrespecting" the book would thereby disrespect the words and the author.

In Finding Forrester, the title character rebukes his pupil for dog-ear-ing a page in a book: "Show a little respect for the author!"

[edit] corrected grammar

Edited by musenji
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Aesthetically, a book is at its best when it looks like at least five people read it cover to cover. That's also the sign of a good book. I remember, even as a kid, whenever I picked out a book off of someone's shelf, I always stayed away from the brand new ones. They usually sucked.

So, I care for my Rand books the same way I care for all the other ones: I make sure all the pages stay intact. Other than that, it doesn't matter what happens to them.

Edited by Nicky
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