starexplorer wrote:

Finds like this are like Howard Carter’s discovery of the tomb of King Tutankhamun

Absolutely, Star..  Whilst, in hindsight, I knew it was likely to still be in the house somewhere, I did not expect to encounter it this morning.

And without the discussion that has gone on in this thread to date I might not have realised its overall significance,  Along with that 1968 Arrow paperback of 2001: A Space Odyssey, it really is one of the foundational volumes in what now comprises my personal library over a lifetime of reading and collecting books.
 

HRHSpence wrote:

My personal library covers 1.5 walls of a very small former bedroom in my house. While the books are of great importance to me, it makes me almost jealous to hear about your libraries, my salads.

Spence, as wonderful as a fine personal library is, it’s the joy, mind-expansion, and resulting rich inner life that is truly the reward of one’s books.

Felicitous Sk8er wrote:

starexplorer wrote:

as wonderful as a fine personal library is, it’s the joy, mind-expansion, and resulting rich inner life that is truly the reward of one’s books.

YES!  
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Like Surtac, I stumble across long-forgotten books I haven't thought about in years (Old Bones, the Wonder Horse).  Others, I had thought were long lost (my 1970 copy of Fahrenheit 451).  It is like encountering an old and dear friend -- but I hardly need to tell anyone here that. 

I've never forgotten Fahrenheit 451's magic.  I still clearly recall reading it in our carport on a blisteringly hot summer day (fitting!)  Neither the compelling story that I couldn't put down -- not its dire warning -- ever left me.      

 

A wonderful memory Sk8er. And I nodded with pleasure as you reminded me of the concept of the carport. I don’t think we have those here in the Eastern Association. I haven’t seen one in years. But we did have one when I lived in Kentucky in 1965! 
I remember that my sister and I were developing gymnastics moves out in the carport, and I (accidentally) dropped her on her head on the concrete. I don’t recall that she was seriously injured, but 60:years later this event has become the apocryphal genesis of her many woes. Though recalled with a smile.

Surtac wrote:

starexplorer wrote:

...as wonderful as a fine personal library is, it’s the joy, mind-expansion, and resulting rich inner life that is truly the reward of one’s books.

Yes, very well said Star, and I would also assert that it's the connections made between those books that help such an inner life to be built in the first place.


 

To amplify on that theme, and at the risk of straining the metaphor, there is a call-and-response between the various books read, the connections made, the mind that has done the reading and connecting: reading is lifelong inner jazz improvisation.
 

Well said, ‘ tac