Books are the closest things to religious objects that many non-religious people have.
Books are everywhere, in every room, on every table. They inform, decorate, impress, inspire, and more.
Most of us buy a non-fiction book for the information. It tells us that we have just traded something, usually an hour of our work time, in exchange for knowledge.
But on the flip side, getting rid of a book tends to indicate getting rid of knowledge. This can help explain why National Geographic magazines still exist in many homes.
I’m not here to tell you to get rid of your books. I’m here to say that getting rid of them doesn’t mean you are getting rid of knowledge.
Head-knowledge is almost obsolete now. The internet has made all kinds of information widely accessible. Jobs and careers are now specializing heavily. The point now is not to have the information, but to know where to find it.
Buying a book new is the equivalent of buying a car. As soon as you take it out of the store and the 10 day return expires, the price someone will pay for that book drops like a rock. You pay for having it first.
Think about why you are buying a book before you get one. Information is free or extremely cheap. Newspapers are having problems because people are realizing that.
Those who follow the self-help, minimalism or even Christian help “movements” have to be especially aware. Often a book is the easy way out. I know I have read enough free material to know in general what a new book or class will talk about. I love reading about other’s journey and little hints and tips about these subjects, but there is only so much you can read about without actually doing something.
You can only read so much about organizing your house and getting rid of clutter before you’ve read everything anyone has to say on the topic and you’re left with actually going forward. I struggled with this when starting this blog. My thoughts were, “do we really need another blog on minimalism?” I answer that now by noting that no, we don’t.
But I keep this up for two reasons. One, I needed to stop reading about minimalism, and creating a career you love and start doing it. Two, part of the beauty of the internet is that everyone else can have a blog, why not me? I may not hit the big time, I may not influence many, but the point is to put it out there. Someone may stumble on this and not on other minimal blogs. I believe that in this cultural/historical context, one of the most important things to realize is that possessions aren’t everything, and that we are not living out our faith as Christians if we behave much as everyone else with regards to our stuff.
Books are good, but they can only take you so far. Getting rid of books doesn’t mean getting rid of knowledge. In fact, getting rid of books might help you to get started on doing what all those books told you about.
