Attack of the Bibliophiles
Lyman Reed
November 25th, 2007
Books, Links
In a recent post, I mentioned that my mom was instrumental in giving me a love of books. I can remember sitting with her, learning how to turn these indecipherable scribbles into meaningful concepts, not really knowing the worlds that would be opened to me, but loving every minute of it. I read the novelization of the first Star Wars movie when I was seven or eight, The Hobbit when I was 10 or 11, and haven’t stopped since.
A Bibliophile is a person who loves books - I’m definitely one of them, and Karen of Live the Power has asked me to participate in a book meme - to answer a few questions on books that I own, have read, and that mean something to me.
Here we go:
How many books do you own?
That’s actually a tough one for me to answer. I’ve moved around so much over the past few years that I’ve boxed up, unboxed, reboxed, stashed away, and sold a ton of books… an accurate count would be impossible. I know that at this point it’s no where near the number that others who have participated in this meme have. I’m going to guess that I’ve got about 50 or so physical books laying around here, but I really can’t be sure.
What is the last book that you read?
I finished two different books on the same day: Open Secrets - The Letters of Reb Yerachmiel ben Yisrael by Rabbi Rami M. Shapiro and A New Earth - Awakening To Your Life’s Purpose by Eckert Tolle.
What was the last book you bought?
The last book I purchased was the Tolle book - via Amazon.com, thanks to a gift certificate from Karen. The last one I purchased in a bookstore was The Astonishing Power of Emotions by Esther and Jerry Hicks.
Name Five Meaningful Books
Wow, only five? Well, I guess it’s easier than three. 
Ask and It Is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks
Conversations with God : An Uncommon Dialogue (Book 1) by Neale Donald Walsch
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Thanks again, Karen! That was fun. 
How about we hear from Deborah, Vickie, April, Dave, and Stephen… feel free to join in with your own answers.
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Discuss this post at Personal Development Partners
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Hi Lyman,
The hardest part about this exercise was trying to pick out five meaningful books. Five? Every book we read impacts us. Five meaningful authors would have been easier, but still there are many more than five.
It sounds like we’ve read a lot of the same books. Bach, Rand, Hesse all have honored places on my shelves.
Rick - That was the hardest part of this… if a book isn’t meaningful to me while I’m reading it, it usually doesn’t get finished :).
And BTW, I’m reading the Dimnet book now… good stuff!
Lyman,
Thanks for playing! It was fun!
I read “Atlas Shrugged” so long ago–such a deep book definitely worth a reread (don’t know when though
as it is so long!) a great book!
Looking forward to reading that Tolle book!
Thanks for inviting me, Karen. “Atlas Shrugged” is still one of my favorite books, although it’s been years since I read it. I’ll probably never attempt a full re-read because of it’s length, but I still poke around the ‘net for excerpts from it. Francisco’s Money Speech is still one of my favorites.
Lyman,
I just noticed your last book was “Conversations with God”….
That is one of my absolute favorites…
I knew that book would touch your heart too!
Did I ever tell you that I read a selection of excerpts from Ayn Rand for my Speech and Diction final in college.– Including Franscico’s Money speech. And liberal that I am I think I still pretty much agree with it–because no THING can be the root of evil; just what people do with it. Thanks for reminding me of “Atlas Shrugged”–and I’m glad I’m not being challenged to name my five favorites–no way could there be that few and they wouldn’t be nearly as yours.
Thank for the tag Lyman. LOL I will have to pass on this one though because I would have nothing really to add! I used to be a big reader, but life changed the amount of time I actually have to sit down and read. Between owning a business, having three kids, a husband and animals and a big house, reading time is a bit sparse at times. The one book I did read recently was “The Five Love Languages” by Gary Chapman. It was a real eye opener to me.
Any other published material I partake in is usually via CD on my way to and from work and running around getting stuff done.
Thanks for the response, Vickie - I know what you mean about having the time to actually pick up a book and read… it can be tough! Not too long ago, my own “to read” list was getting pretty overwhelming, until I just decided “Hey, I don’t Have To read any of these!
Karen,
I had a feeling that you were a fan of that one as well.
Mom - no, I didn’t know that! And it is funny how people twisted around the original Bible verse from “the love of money is the root of all evil” to “money is the root of all evil”. Big difference, especially since you are right - no THING can be evil… it’s only what we do with it.
And believe me… coming up with just 5 *was* pretty tough.
okay, Lyman.
I will do this, only because I truly do love books, and participating here will help me get more comfortable with the “how to do” things you have been showing me about the computer. I already know which of my favorite books to mention, and strangely I just purchased several.
Thanks for asking.
Cool, Deborah!
I thought this would be a good fit for you, since I know you’re as much of a bibliophile as I am. Thanks for joining in.
I will have to get use to your new theme. The color change is the biggest for me. But, I like how you set things up.
Like you, I have no idea how many books that I currently own. I think that I have bought 6-8 books from Amazon over the past 2 months. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho was the last book that I just finished reading 2 weeks ago. It is a fantastic book that someone online thought that I would like. I loved it. It is such a simple, deep, magical book. I love books. I am usually reading 3-4 at a time. I have books scattered throughout the house, anywhere that I might sit down for more than 2 minutes. I pick up the nearest book and read just a few pages to a chapter at a time. I like to think about and absorb what I have read. 3 of the books that I purchased recently are written by Thich Nhat Hanh. I have one in the living room beside my bed and the other two are in each of the bathrooms. The fourth book that I am reading right now is by Byron Katie. It is an understatement to say that I love to read. I have been told that Saggittarians have a thirst for knowledge.
Deborah - I’m still getting used to it myself… I’ll be tweaking and changing it as time goes on, but in general I’m pretty happy with it. I’m glad you like how it’s set up. Thanks.
Thanks for sharing that Patricia… it sounds like your reading habits are a lot like mine with the number of books you are working on at the moment! I’ve usually got one next to the bed (right now I’m re-reading “Ask and it is Given” there), one in the car for my lunchtime at work (”The Art of Thinking” by Ernest Dimnet), one in the bathroom (”The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield), and then of course there are the number of ebooks that I’m working through.
I’ve been browsing through Byron Katie’s stuff on the web, and it seems interesting… I’ll probably end up checking out her work soon as well.
watched Conversations with God recently, i appreciate the point that Neale Donald Walsch makes about having freedom to admit that he’s not perfect so he can move on from where he is at that point.
That is a great piece you took from the movie, Daniel… thanks for pointing it out!
If you’ve got the time, I’d really encourage you to pick up the first book in the series as well. While the movie was more about Walsh’s experiences, the book contains the actual “conversations.” Whether you agree with the view they present or not, there’s some great food for thought in there.
Nov 28th, 2007 at 2:21 am
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