-- The hows and whys of reading old books --

Happiness... One Book at a Time

I ran into a guy today who has acquired by a bizarre twist of business, two semi-loads of old books. He didn't intend to get them, he just more or less got stuck with them. That may seem like two semi-loads of trash to some folks, but this guy thinks he may have a treasury second only to the Library of Congress. I think so too.

Dwight Moody was a famous American evangelist in the late 1800s. He founded the interdenominational Moody Memorial Church and Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. He was a one-time shoe salesman who became famous for his inspirational sermons. How good were they? Nobody remembers. But my friend knows -- the guy with the warehouse full of books. He knows because one of those old books is full of Moody's sermons. And he says they were great.

I can think of only one thing better than to acquire two semi-loads of old books all at once, and that would be to acquire them one book at a time. One of my favorite spots in the library is the "clear out" table where they put old overstocked books they have to get rid of. The hardcover books are $1.00 each and the paperbacks are 50¢. Then there are discount book stores where you can get new hardcover volumes for $2.95.

The way it works is like this: If you get a book about Franklin Roosevelt and read it, you realize you're going to have to learn more about Harry Truman. After you've read about Truman, you need to read about Douglas MacArthur, then on to Dwight Eisenhower, followed by John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Then you take a break from the presidents for awhile because Richard Nixon leads you to Earl Warren and Earl Warren to Felix Frankfurter. Who was Felix Frankfurter? You can look him up.

Then the next thing you know, you're reading about Lewis and Clark as told by Stephen Ambrose, and when you read about Lewis and Clark, you have to read more about Thomas Jefferson who sent them out in the first place. But Stephen Ambrose was so great you have to read his World War II books -- one about the artillery grunts from D-Day to Victory in Europe, and one about Eisenhower the general.

Then if you find something about Sigmund Freud on the bargain shelf, you get it and read it. And Lincoln -- as many as you can find and as often as you can find them. Then, some good novels in between.

When is there time to read you ask? Before you go to sleep at night, during the night if you can't sleep, early morning when you wake up, during trips, instead of TV, instead of movies -- whenever. Some people read a lot in the bathroom.

Why read? As Channing said, "God be thanked for books. They are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages." The great minds and the great storytellers of the past speak to us in books, and the mediocre minds too, if we allow them. My more serious friends say life is too short to read fiction, but good fiction can provide insights and perspectives that non-fiction never does. Don't miss out on good fiction.

Books are the cure for boredom, your ticket for a cruise around the world of ideas. If fate favors you with two semi-loads, don't dump them or squander them -- you have just won the lottery. Stack them in your attic or garage or under your bed and read them as fast as you can -- to yourself, out loud, to your sweetheart, to your children and to your grandchildren. Then call me -- I'd like to borrow a few.