Why You Should Surround Yourself With More Books Than You'll Ever Have Time to Read

Jessica Stillman from Inc.com tells us why: "an overstuffed bookcase (or e-reader) says good things about your mind."

But life is busy and intentions are one thing, actions another. Soon you find your shelves (or e-reader) overflowing with titles you intend to read one day, or books you flipped through once but then abandoned. Is this a disaster for your project to become a smarter, wiser person?

If you never actually get around to reading any books, then yes. You might want to read up on tricks to squeeze more reading into your hectic life and why it pays to commit a few hours every week to learning. But if it's simply that your book reading in no way keeps pace with your book buying, I have good news for you (and for me, I definitely fall into this category): your overstuffed library isn't a sign of failure or ignorance, it's a badge of honor.

read more here @ Inc com

Unique library Remained untouched for 150 years and now goes under the hammer

How could I not re-post this story that was sent to my by my Facebook friend Jean Doorn.

From: De Redactie dot be
An exceptional library of the 18th century by a French intellectual who fled the French Revolution to Bouillon, will be auctioned next week. The library, both books and the furniture was not touched in nearly 200 years. "Utterly unique. It has pulled the door closed behind him, then no one has ever touched those books, "said the master safe. The rich collection of books there are 182 extremely rare.

It is undoubtedly the dream of every book collector: entering an authentic 18th century library from Bouillon where no book was touched in almost two hundred years. It happened to a Belgian expert from the Brussels auction Henri Godts.

The expert came across the unique library when some relatives of the original owner stepped into the Brussels auction house and dropped that they had an untapped library in the south of our country.

What did the expert revealed the life work of a French intellectual who fled to Bouillon during the French Revolution. About who is right, the family should not be disclosed. But most notable: any book that was saw in the library, there was exactly like in the original owner so left. The reason can only guess for now.

And not only the books were still in their original condition, including the furniture such as tables, chairs and seats are at least 150 years old and almost untouched.

The owner of the library apparently had a fondness for geography, ethnography and exoticism, and the auction was held in the library then 182 authentic 18th and 19th century, rare books with exceptional descriptions of countries and regions, peoples and cultures of the most exotic locations.

Expert Godts of the auction was ecstatic about the experience: "The books are all kept in good condition and still look like they are at that time rolled off the press in their original paper cover, "he said.

As Jean commented:

A library and sale with a lot of questions: (1) Why was it not touched for 150-200 years? (2) Why does the family not want to share the name of the French intellectual? (3) What's the relation between family and this intellectual? (4) What's the story behind him/ her? (5) Analysis of collection (6) Which books were (un)read?

Trash Man Creates Free Library Out of 20,000 Books Found in Garbage

For 20 years, Columbian rubbish-collector Jose Alberto Gutierrez has been holding to the books he finds while on his rounds in Bogota.

After two decades his collection totals more than 20,000 books - many of them thrown away by the people of the Colombian capital, now given a new life in the huge library Jose has amassed.

The Gutierrez's used to run children's reading sessions but, as more and more books come to the library - more through donations these days than through Jose's scavenging - they've run out of space to do that at home.

Instead, they're now concentrating on travelling around the country, delivering books to poor and remote districts where there's no public library.

read more here @ Good News Network

University of Delaware Library acquires rare Shakespeare quarto

University of Delaware Library acquires rare Shakespeare quarto

The University of Delaware Library has announced the purchased acquisition of a rare early quarto edition of a play by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, The Two Noble Kinsmen (London: by Tho. Cotes, for John Waterson, 1634). 

The piece was made possible with support from the B.H. Breslauer Foundation; the University of Delaware Library Associates; the College of Arts and Sciences; the recently retired Lois Potter, professor emeritus of the Department of English; and Mark Samuels Lasner, senior research fellow in the Special Collections Department.