At the funeral of a family member last year, the rabbi spoke of his long relationship with Martin, the deceased. He spoke of Martin's great curiosity and desire for understanding. The rabbi illustrated Martin's curiosity by naming the books that were next to his bed in the hospital:
Plastic: The Making of a Synthetic Century
The Biography of Madelaine Albright
How Can They Do that? Wonders of the Modern World Explained.
The Darwin Awards: Honoring those who improve the species...by accidentally removing themselves from it!
Blow Softly in Jericho (humourous stories by Israeli author Ephraim Kishon)
The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul
From then on, I became conscious of the books that I leave by my bedside. There is quite a stack. Most of them are books that I was briefly interested in, then abandoned -- but even so.
So my question is this: What reading material is next to your bed? If I was writing your obituary, what is one conclusion I might draw about you from these items? If you bring an e-reader to bed with you I would be speechless.
Currently, I don't have a bedside where I can put books, as my bed is in an alcove. Generally speaking though, the books I don't read and use are on bookshelves along with other detritus that is too delicate to live on the floor and not important enough to live on my desk. I am a very clean person, but I am mess when it comes to books, though they are loosely organized into piles. When I had a housekeeper (or when I have a girlfriend) then things seem to be much more orderly. I like having piles of books around me though.
Girlfriends are good that way. I've been thinking of doing a blog on the question: Should I clean my boyfriend's apartment? I expect it will be as popular as "Should I Lend My Boyfriend Money?" which my blogger stats tell me has had over 100 hits this week.
My brother is in college and last year lived with three other guys, all on the baseball team. His direct roommate, the one who's bed was 2 feet from his - was a bit of a slob. All boys in college are slobs, but particularly those who are going to a high ranking university and waking up a 5am to work out and not getting home until after 10pm batting practice. They would often get fairly healthy take out on their way home, or leftovers the mother's would bring all the boys on the team. Because of this, the space between the roommates bed and the wall was littered with empty, or almost empty, styrofoam containers and empty cups. The room in general was messy - cups, take out containers, empty water bottles or cups, a never ending pile of clothes, etc. I remember accidentally discovering a sea of empty vodka bottles under a pile of winter clothes in the closet. My brother's girlfriend and my brother's roommate's girlfriend were quite close and so for the roommates birthday they decided to clean the room for them. My brother lent her the key and they got down and dirty cleaning the place. She laughed that it was rancid and getting to science-experiment status. But they cleaned it all out, vacuumed, and when the guys returned to the dorm that evening, it was just about the best birthday any college boy could have ever asked for. I've never met a guy who likes to live in a dirty or messy place - just that they have better things to do than clean. Having a girlfriend can certainly give them the inspiration they need to actually clean up. I've found that once it gets to a certain point, it's easier to add to the mess than to undertake such a huge operation. I'm certainly glad that my boyfriend and I are on the same page regarding tidiness and cleanliness.
I love having a clean living area, but I also like having my own space where I can do my thing. If I'm writing a lot, then I like my environment to be the one that I've built up during the process of the work, you know? I cannot abide a cluttered or dirty kitchen though. Bedroom, desk, sure. Kitchen and bathroom? Nuh-uh. When I was in college, I would usually wait to see if there was someone (usually homeless) who regularly collected bottles for the deposits. Then, I'd introduce myself and make an agreement that they could have the empties. A couple of apartments full of college guys can make sure someone has enough money to get a meal or stay warm pretty easily.
There's a big difference between tidiness and cleanliness. I can have a bit of a messy place - books out, papers, out, pile of semi-dirty clothes on the chair, etc. But hair and toothpaste on the mirror and dirty dishes or sauce on the counter - nope. My parents house since my brother and I have moved out has become so immaculate it doesn't feel lived in anymore. I opened some leftovers and some condensation dripped onto the counter and I had to go and get a paper towel to wipe it up because it seemed so out of place.
Yes, exactly. But, the two often go hand-in-hand, in both directions. I once read that "neat freaks" or, people who care more about clutter than cleanliness, tend to spend more time organizing and re-organizing than is worth the effort, if the space is used regularly. I wonder if it's true, or just something I latched on to, to justify the way I like things.There's a big difference between tidiness and cleanliness.
Sounds like this is a question that deserves it's own askhubski entry -- should be pretty funny given that a substantial group of hubski are male ages 15-34. -- maybe it should have a male ring to it: Would you let your girlfriend clean your apartment? -- or on a larger topic: how do you and your partner negotiate a liveable space? ... although that's a whole other thing (or is it)? maybe: Do you resent it when someone else cleans your space?
If the girlfriend is new and she starts cleaning, my hackles are raised. If we've been together for a while, then if she starts cleaning, usually I start cleaning. That way I can put the important stuff away myself so I don't lose track of it. Women can be messy too though, so it's kind of a roll of the dice with that.
The big sadness of my life is that my beautiful daughter is threatening to move to a dumpster if I make her clean her room. (She lives in a different city from me in a house that she and three others rent from me, so as a "landlady-parent" I can still insist on a clean room). My response is this: Moving to a dumpster would probably be an improvement over your room. (Besides, she might run into BLOB_CASTLE.)
It's not as bad as you might think in here. Just put on some gloves and you're all set!
BREAKTHROUGH: A short essay on Dysfunctional Parenting 101: The junior unit ran out of money -- so she took up my offer on a clean room in exchange for October rent. Keep it clean and November is on the house as well. (note - she's had an offer of free rent all along if she would let me help her make a budget - but she turned that offer down (so instead I've been supplying her with food and bus tickets). The reason for my caution is a couple of years ago she gave all her money to a boyfriend. We are still recovering from the nightmare that he was.
Dang lil, how many houses do you have?! Sorry, that's rude. I think living with roommates can create a laxness that the individuals might not have otherwise, in regard to cleanliness/tidiness, if only to ensure that people coming over or dropping by will have a place to sit. I'll admit that it's taken me a long time to get to where I am now in regard to my attitude about the topic, but I think it was necessary for me to take that time. Oddly enough, my typical "uniform" (or the clothes people see me in most often) came out of that process. In college, I would often have to make decisions like, "if I buy smokes, then I can't do laundry" or, "if I get one more beer, then I can't do laundry." So, I didn't do much laundry. However, I went to school in downtown Boston, close to the shopping centers. Whenever I was about to run out of clean shirts, I would go down to Filene's Basement or Marshall's or whatever and buy a package of white t-shirts, whatever brand was cheapest. So, I was almost always wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans. When I finally got around to washing my clothes, I . . . well, I don't want to say how many white t-shirts I had. Let's just say that when I had a housekeeper and I explained why, she smacked me and then laughed for a long time. Even now, I prefer them, though I also wear solid colored t's. It's a pretty good go-to for me (I think).
"The bank is a HUGE partner in all this. My current spousal unit has been an entrepreneur and visionary from time to time. I was living in a dump(ster) when he met me. Hubski, however, is the great equalizer. Houses, housekeepers, we're all just text on a screen. However, tonight I made buttermilk-cheddar biscuits which were fluffy and flakey. I've been reading about biscuit secrets -- I believe it was your recipe that got me going in the first place. The biscuits were to accompany my fish chowder made with fresh haddock, perch, tilapia, potatos, carrots, onions, leek, frozen peas, and one can of Campbell's clam chowder.how many houses do you have?!
It depends on what you mean by "have."
The thing with biscuits is, that they're easy enough to make, but you have to make them enough times to get the feel for how to make really great ones. Then, they become easy enough to make that you way as well make some, for whatever reason. If nothing else, making biscuits is good motivation to work out!
Oh no, no euphemism. When I lived abroad, I had a housekeeper who came 6 days a week and did the floors, did the washing and ironing and all kinds of other stuff. Great lady. I paid her a fair wage and did things like paid her medical bills and got her a phone. In return, she took good care of me and made sure that when I was going through a rough patch, that I wasn't burning the candle from both ends too often.
A half empty composition book. The geometry textbook I have yet to return to my teacher. Paper Towns (John Green, partially read) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows (JK Rowling) Erewhon (Samuel Butler) The Complete Hitchhiker's Guide (Douglas Adams) On the Road (Jack Kerouac) Looking for Alaska (Also John Green, but read a dozen times)
At the moment -- Starship Titanic, The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear, all light, all finished, all borrowed and currently unreturned. My serious reading is generally limited to one or two things at a time, and right now it's 2666, which is on my computer. So to accompany that I'm reading things that are relatively mindless.
What is wrong with an e-reader in bed? I generally use it to read downloaded articles from a number of sites, like the advanced apes or thought catalog. I do however prefer physical books and currently I bring Makers by Chris Anderson with me wherever I go, so also to bed. It is quite an interesting read. Also, as I live in a 19 square meter room, my bookcase is almost next to my bed, so you might want to consider everything in my bookcase as bedside books :P
Nothing at all is wrong with an e-reader in bed. It is probably less disturbing to a bedmate, should one have such a thing. I would be speechless in terms of this exercise, because if the e-reader is loaded with 10,000 books, one could say that they are all piled up next to the bed. Thanks for checking in on this question. Asking it provides a little peek into people's inner landscapes. I suspect I'd learn more about you by scanning the titles on your bookshelf than I would by rummaging through your bathroom cabinet at a party. On the other hand, your bathroom bookshelf might be interesting.
Hmm, thousands of books next to my bed. No thanks, I wouldn't be able to choose which one to read and end up not sleeping at all :P I am pretty sure that you would learn more about me when checking my bookshelves than rummaging through my bathroom cabinet. There are only 7 items there anyway. A razor, shaving soap, shaving brush, alum, toothbrushes and toothpaste to be exact.
The Way Things Work by David Macaulay The Mysterious Stranger and Other Stories by Mark Twain A college level Biology textbook The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings by Jorge Luis Borges I just noticed that I have little nests of books around areas that I like to relax in. About every room in my home has some kind of bookshelf, but I think this stems to when I slept with books as a kid and imagine I was in the book with the characters.
I only ever have the book I'm currently reading beside my bed. But a couple of favorites always find their way in to my office. One Hundred Years of Solitude, a Farewell to Arms chief amongst them.
I read one of the Rabbit books, I think it was Run Rabbit Run. It was almost too real for me to read, I found it uncomfortable. I read One Hundred Years of Solitude while I was in Antigua Guatemala. It was a wonderful reading experience.
Next to my bed are books I have bought from charity shops to read. At the moment, the only one I can actually remember the name of is Anne Rice's The Vampire Armand, which is a bit fruity for my taste. But the idea of "bedside books" makes me think of having specific books next to my bed that I would rarely read through but would occasionally flick into and read favourite passages. The two that most spring to mind are A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov and Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace; the latter, however, is forever lost to an ex-girlfriend. I think I'll just buy another copy. Looking at what others have written, I see both On The Road and The Road, which happen to be the last two books I read. I was unimpressed with the former - it was a good read, but not great, and people talk about it as if it's amazing - but the latter I did enjoy, even if McCarthy's refusal to use speech marks was annoying.
On the Road was such an enjoyable read for me. I read it just prior to moving to Montana for college and it awoke a mischevious desire to travel and have adventure.
Galapagos (Kurt Vonnegut) The Road (Cormac McCarthy) The Westing Game (Ellen Raskin) An Inquiry into The Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Smith) Websters Concise World Atlas I do have an ereader but these are the physical books that I keep on my night stand constantly.
I don't know if anyone has pointed this out, but how cool would it be if Bill Gates used hubski
The atlas is great, its really interesting to trace the routes different characters take in books and gives you a even more in depth experience.
I thought The Westing Game was even better reading it in adulthood, its an interesting commentary on capitalism and the american dream.
I'm super-duper late on this. But here are a few books I can read over and over again... Lolita, Vladmir Nabokov. So lyrical, funny as hell, and masterfully written. This man influenced me heavily. (The writing part, not the pedophile part.) Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy. Another master at work, and (in my opinion) this is his masterpiece. Some of the most on-point dialogue you'll ever read comes from this man's head. Jarringly violent and told with this sort of neo-biblical voice that only few can pull off. An impressive work that I come back to every now and again. As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner. Another massive influence on me. Honestly, it's hard to pick just one of his novels. I had never read anything like it before. Faulkner's plotting and pacing has always impressed me. I love how he jumps into the mind's of all of these different characters, and each one feels fresh and different. A book packed with meaning and dark humor, one of my all-time favorites.
Thanks 1hun - Now the money question: Are the books that you love and the ones that influenced you most and ones you keep going back to -- are they the same ones that are piled up by your bedside? Strangely, the books by my bedside are not the ones I'm reading or ones by my favourite authors --except the Paul Auster book. He is one of my favourite authors, but the one by my bed is one of PA's books that starts with a man sitting alone in a room.
That's a good question, lil. I'd say it's a mixed bag--certain authors and books influenced me at different points in my life, for a bunch of different reasons. So I guess my list bedside books would be different depending on when you asked me. For example, when I was in high school I read this book called The Last Domino by little-known author Adam Meyer. It's one of my favorite books and I remember at the time how great of a story I thought it was. I read it three times, I e-mailed the author and asked him for writing tips. I haven't picked it up in a few years now but it inspired me a lot. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is another favorite book of mine that (again) I read in high school. Now, I have a much broader view of literature as a whole--I read (a lot) more than I did in high school and other books have had time to impact me.
The Secret Histoty by Donna Tartt (leisurely fiction a friend recommended. Really fun, I'm devouring it) How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker (an evolutionary-biological perspective on how the mind arose) and Where Nights are Longest - A travel by car through Western Russia by Colin Thubron (a Brit travels through the Soviet Union)
theadvancedapes - do you know the best book on the topic? I like Steven Pinker's writing. Have you read this one?How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker (an evolutionary-biological perspective on how the mind arose)
I need to know about the evolution of consciousness. I wonder about it all the time. Can you give a summary?
Our brain is essentially a computer, and the mind is the program that the brain runs. Our brain evolved, much like our bodies have, to handle problems that our hunter gatherer ancestors encountered. Pinker outlines a "modularity of mind", the notion that a mind may, at least in part, be composed of innate neural structures or modules which have distinct established evolutionarily developed functions. Pinker also identifies some human psychological traits that are evolved adaptations – that is, the functional products of natural selection. I've been told that there better books, and it seems theadvancedapes lists a few. Maybe start there, I never finished HTMW, I sort of got the point after a few chapters, if that makes any sense.
A great popular works is by Consciousness Explained by Daniel Dennett And one of the most technical and academic of works I've read is by a University of Toronto professor with training in biology and philosophy, Evan Thompson: Mind in Life Thompson's work has greatly influenced me. In fact, many of my conceptions and theories that I am building within the framework of my Ph.D. application to the Global Brain Institute comes from Thompson's assertion that mind and life are intimately (fundamentally) connected. I agree.
I used to have an ever-growing pile of books to read, and recently solved that by putting two bookcases against the wall at the end of my bed facing me. I generally keep what I'm currently reading on my bedside hutch/cabinet; If I'm not in the middle of reading something (i.e. at present), my staple for a late night perusal is Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves.
McLuhan, Understanding Media Milton Cross's Complete Stories of the Great Operas Florida Straits, by Laurence Shames. While in Key West, I was told that the author of this book lived in our compound for three months while he was writing it. Back then, the compound of six homes around a pool was clothing-optional. He set this book there. The Places that Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times, Pema ChÖdrÖn. Life, Sex, and Ideas: The Good Life without God, by Grayling Man in the Dark, Paul Auster How Men Feel - a very thick book by Anthony Astrachan American Places by William Zinsser A History of Reading, Alberto Manguel The Outlaw Book of American Poetry and others