Libraries: a cave where genius abides

[coberst]

Libraries: a cave where genius abides

If you find no library card in your wallet or purse you are not a self-learner. You are at best a dilettante, a dabbler in knowledge.

A self-learner has a multitude of clamoring questions, in a multitude of domains of knowledge, seeking answers. To discover the nature of reality and the answers to these questions one must have access to a library of books.

Most colleges have a ‘Friend of the Library’ card, which, for a small annual fee, will allow anyone to borrow books from that library.

After schooling is over the experience of learning begins. I think that the first step toward becoming a self-actualizing self-learner is to acquire at least one library card.

Public libraries are not just for kids on field trips.
Public libraries are so much more than a book storage facility.
Public libraries are places where people from all walks of life are welcome.
Public libraries are wonder-filled places where people of ignorance can find genius, a place where the homeless can find shelter and where the educated can find inspiration.
Public libraries smell like knowledge and taste like wisdom.
Public libraries are truly beautiful from the inside out.
Visiting public libraries often and for long periods of time is a modern form of respecting our elders.
Humanity is summed up in the content of the written word which can be found in a public library near you.
To study the masters from within a public library is a humbling and awe-inspiring experience for some people.

The line I used to entice my girlfriend into becoming my wife; "My library card has recently been renewed."
-Savant

What’s in your wallet?

[The David]

Two library cards. PWN'D!

[Sam988]

I dont have any library cards, but i have already downloaded literally thgousands of ebooks (although i didnt read a huge part of them ). Many don't like reading in a PC screen or haven't gotten used to it but i have no problem with that.

That's one of the future trends, IMO. Digitalized books. We download them to some kind of piece of paper that contains thousands of books in it's memory and we can select a book to read and the paper shows it page by page. I hope this product comes soon; would be awesome.

[Brutha]

Technically I have no library card, but I can library at the university where I study anyway.

[Jim11]

Library is only useful for me to save a bit of money now. I no longer find it efficient or all that useful for anything else

I read works that are no longer copyrighted online. I research titles I would like to read online, or right through amazon, and buy them there.

As for books available online - if they're short (like the prophet, small philosophy works, essays, etc) I'll just print them out and read them that way if i don't want to sit at my computer. Costs next to nothing with my printer.

I go to used book stores for literature usually.

To save money I will get anything that is short (and is not worth buying) or expensive (some hardcovers) at the library. But I just reserve them online and have never made it past the pickup desk at the library.

Before the internet I would agree with more of the post. However, anything found at the library is easily and as efficiently found elsewhere now.

Some people I know spend more time browsing at the library and taking out books than actually reading them.

"It is much simpler to buy books than to read them and easier to read them than to absorb their contents. Too many men slip early out of the habit of studious reading, and yet that is essential..."
Sir William Osler

[ShareTheWarmth]

I just moved to this city, but I need to get a card for the public library down the street ASAP.

[ixmatus]

Aha! I have two as well; make that PWND! again!

[The David]

I hardly ever use the library anymore. I read in a non-linear way, at my own pace, and sometimes it just isn't efficient to squeeze my reading into the library's time frame. And sometimes I get bored with a book and want to go back to it later.

[openeyes]

One of the reasons I picked the school I go to is because they have the 3rd largest library system in the nation, after Harvard and the Library of Congress. In addition to the books available on campus I make regular use of interlibrary loan and have library cards for two other local library systems in addition to one in my hometown for when I visit family. Then there's the several small and large books stores nearby that I frequent, plus whatever I come across online. All of it's like a big candy store. Going through a few books per week plus whatever reading I have for class is the norm. Some I fly through, others I savor, it's all fun.