Both gesta and myself love books, although our tastes are quite different. How we store books is also different; I am a devotee of the FAFSFS (First Available Flat Surface Filing System) – my office at work is absolute carnage. gesta, on the other hand, once worked in a library; her System actually deserves capitalization and is far too complex to explain here, even if I could. Worryingly it would seem that gesta is not alone…
I should say that gesta’s study also follows the FAFSFS, to the extent that occasionally the only piece of available floor is the “path” between the door and the computer chair. To complicate matters further, there is a different system for the academic books than for the non-academic books (and within the non-academic books, a different system for fiction and non-fiction, and so on down).
Whilst I find this somewhat strange, it can be seen as a safety valve – similar to gesta’s gardening and sporting activities: the careful (I could not quite bring myself to say anal) reorganization of the shelves seems to calm, relax and soothe. At least until the book-ends fail under the strain.
I’m sure gesta will try to justify this strange behaviour. Efficiency, neatness (ha!) or practicality may even be promoted as contributing reasons. I claim it to be no more than superstition – a harmless pursuit, but of no intrinsic benefit. Free those flat surfaces from the tyranny of a System – that way they will take more books.
Shame on you Reivers! You know full well that you can’t have freedom without boundaries. The System as you call it is nothing more than a practical and efficient way of making sure I can get hold of things quickly. For those unfamiliar with my ‘System’, here is a brief explanation.
In the living room: every thing that does not relate to teaching and research, shelved by subject, size and alphabetically. Small paper backs are on small shelves. There are some abberant science books that Reivers tries to bring disorder to, but he has failed.
In the study: my history books, shelved by subject (loosely based on the library I worked in) and alphabetically. Again, there is an element of shelving by size – we have limited space and too many books.
There is nothing perculiar here – move along now!
[...] the words of a colleague, we need to ‘calm the fuck down’, so finally, faith, hope and caritas (if I may stretch a [...]