The Briefing Room
General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => Topic started by: Wingnut on November 06, 2023, 08:32:44 pm
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Monday, November 06, 2023
Books
I have owned a huge mass of books over the years, including a lot of reference books, if anybody remembers what they are. But I have given most of them away. Once I became an internet user, there seemed no point in looking up books any more. It was easier to click on a link and read anything I wanted without getting up from my armchair.
What I did not foresee is the huge climate of politically correct censorship that has descended on us. Just mentioning simple facts can be verboten these days. The Left would love us not to know that Hitler was one of them, for instance. Though their celebration of Jew-killing by Palestinians is a compelling reminder of what they are. Much of history, in fact, may not now be mentioned. Statues honouring heroes of the past are regularly torn down by angry Leftists. We are supposed to forget any bit of the past that the Left dislike.
It is foreseeable that generations will arise for whom much of the past will be a closed book. It is in fact already happening. What schoolkids learn today is very different from what I learned long ago. What I learned embodied a scale of values that would be disowned today but at least we got the facts, even if our view of them was one-sided
So I have done a complete turnaround in my attitude to books. Leftists can and do remove them from our public libraries but can they remove books from my personal library? They would undoubtedly like to try but I think it will be while before they go after personal book collections. And books are not easy to destroy. So I encourage anybody reading this to take opportunities of buying reference books from the past. Old encyclopedias could be particularly useful. You will be able to look up facts there unobstructed by Leftist censors
-John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.)
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Definitely a solid point.
The Bible app has the same issue. Newer version of the same translation has changed or missing verses.
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This is why I have always preferred hard copy.
The thought that Winston Smith (1984) would have had a much simpler job with cut and paste than literally chopping things up and inserting the new, approved copy Big Brother wanted has been in my mind since I edited my first Word document.
Add in the spin on history that has been applied in the last couple of decades, and the tendency for books even to be a second or third derivative (commentary on commentary on commentary) instead of drawn from the original documents, in context, and preserving older accounts of virtually everything is important. It is refreshing to open my old Geology 101 book and not find a single reference to AGW or "climate change", nor any of the nonsense attached to it today.
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The internet is great for info, but I got a good library of the hard core reference books, especially on how to do things. Got alot of stuff downloaded too, and other things printed off.
Not only with the censorship and all the other ideological games being played, but the FedGov is trying to make our electrical grid alot less reliable, and that's the achilles heel of the internet.
Hard books and paper copy IMO will always have supreme value.
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I got a set of Colliers encyclopedias at a yard sale a couple of years ago, printed in the 60s, for one dollar. I also got a set Will and Ariel Durants Story of Civilization books when my favorite used book store went out of business for,around $25.I got both sets for exactly the reason the article states.
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I am proud to be a bibliophile
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The grid will eventually go down -- I wish I had a set of encyclopedias -- Britannica is going for over$1k on Amazon. I have several dictionaries of various sizes, several Bibles of different faiths, but I'll have to keep my eye out for a set of encyclopedias.
Problem with the newest editions -- probably 'history' has been updated a bit.???
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Currently, I have 7 book cases that are packed plus whatever is stuck on the floor for lack of room. They are fiction, nonfiction and reference. I keep telling myself, berdie, you would have much more room in this tiny house if you clear out some of this. But I can't bring myself to do that. :shrug:
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Currently, I have 7 book cases that are packed plus whatever is stuck on the floor for lack of room. They are fiction, nonfiction and reference. I keep telling myself, berdie, you would have much more room in this tiny house if you clear out some of this. But I can't bring myself to do that. :shrug:
That's quite a lot of books. I thinned out our bookshelf when we downsized and now I wish I hadn't. I was going to dump some off at our local library too and decided otherwise.
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That's quite a lot of books. I thinned out our bookshelf when we downsized and now I wish I hadn't. I was going to dump some off at our local library too and decided otherwise.
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I actually donated a lot of books about 3 years ago to a local second hand book store. Although I'll never do it (unless I win the lottery) if I were to build a house, I would want one room to be a true library. I would also like to have a very large pantry, aside from the food pantry, for nothing but china, glassware, etc. My other weakness. Maybe I need to go buy a lottery ticket! :rolling:
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Fred wrote:
"I got a set of Colliers encyclopedias at a yard sale a couple of years ago, printed in the 60s, for one dollar."
Interesting that you posted that, because I composed my reply below before I read your post...
On the bookshelf downstairs is the 1961 edition of Collier's Encyclopedia, twenty volumes' worth. My parents (who didn't have much money) bought them back then, when I was 12.
Although after 62 years I don't crack them open much anymore, and although I had thought some years ago about getting rid of them, I wouldn't do that now.
That's because these volumes represent an accurate description of the world from a white, Western perspective -- long before "political correctness" became a mainstream concept. From before the left began to rewrite and obliterate history to the tune of George Orwell.
In a world in which being white will eventually engender the same kind of hatred from nonwhites as does antisemitism produces toward the Jews today, these books contain a true record of "what was".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_ZfZaRCWTI
BTW, if you're looking for the right film for New Year's Eve, the original 1960 release of "The Time Machine" is the one you should go out of your way to watch...