old books

I have a thing for old books. Maybe it is the romantic in me (underneath the cold, scientist exterior) that likes to imagine who else has read this book before me, where it has been, where was it bookmarked and why; I like seeing passages marked and highlighted, maybe it reminds me of high school English class where I learned to scrutinize everything I read with an analytical eye. I like seeing the bends in the spine, the smell and yellowing of the paper. Of course, it's satisfying knowing that used books are cheaper and help conserve the resources that go into printing new books.

I visited the campus general library today and located the fiction section. There's a limited selection, especially of books in English, but I found a few gems. Most books are super old and tattered, even with some photocopies of pages inserted into them. I checked out an old Asimov (classic science fiction) and Michener (The Source - which has an Indiana Jones feeling to it). This is going to be much better than having to buy new english paperbacks for 2X the price as the US listed price! (I bought The girl with the dragon tattoo for wayyyy to much $$)

What I love even more than old novels is old textbooks or science books. I have a few at home, including a 1st edition Theory of Special Relativity, an old astronomy book, and an old hardback collection of the Feynman Lectures from the 60's. At UCLA I worked at the Science and Engineering Library within gifts acquisitions, which meant I got to go through books that people donated (specifically professors that passed away and their families donated their books) and see if the library already had them. If they already had multiple copies, I was able to take what I wanted!

One day I'm going to have a library specifically with gothic design interior and tons of old books, a fire place, cozy couch and of course a butler to bring me coffee and pastries.