On Books
Value of Books, Books I Have Read, Favorite Authors, and Favorite Book
Value of Books
I am generally a lover of books. However, books are not all of equal value, and I tend to prefer older books, and sometimes classics, over newer books. I have a library of sorts, although it was mostly purchased as a library rather than being assembled by me. It consists of more than six thousand books now, and I have catalogued them and know almost exactly where in my home each book is located. I have certainly not read more than a fraction of them, but I would like to read a good number of them in the coming years. The mere possession of books is of little value if they are not read.
Books I Have Read
Once I had the thought of making a list of all of the books that I had read in my lifetime. This is a daunting task if you have read a large number of books, especially if you do not still possess them. After I had made a catalog of the collection of books which I presently own, I attempted to make a list of those which I had read. I was disappointed that they amounted to less than nine hundred, although I have added to the list since then and have reached a thousand. That is still a very small number, considering how many books there are to read in any collection of decent size. However, the mere reading of many books is not the goal; some books are genuinely worth reading, and there are great ideas found in some of them.
Favorite Authors
My favorite authors, in terms of number of books read, would include names such as G. K. Chesterton, H. G. Wells (nonfiction more than fiction), Ayn Rand, and George Orwell (Eric Blair). These authors, and others like them, provoke further thinking about various subjects. The purpose in reading such authors is not to be told what to think, but to be stimulated with new ideas that can be incorporated or wrestled with in the process of thinking.
For authors of Christian books, the names would include Andrew Murray, C. S. Lewis, Charles Finney, Charles Spurgeon, F. W. Grant, Ivan Panin, Watchman Nee, and Witness Lee (not necessarily in that order). Not one of the authors whose name has been mentioned is alive today, and nearly all of them died at least half a century ago. I have read some books by more recent authors, but I usually prefer the older books.
Favorite Books
Perhaps my single favorite book, apart from the Bible, is a truly remarkable book entitled The Secret of the Universe by Nathan R. Wood. It was also later published under the title The Trinity in the Universe. If one has the eyes to see it, that book is a marvelous and clear and even overwhelming demonstration of how the universe reflects its Maker. This is one book which has left a lasting and multifaceted impression on me, and which I have read several times. It was originally published in 1932, but the reading of it never gets old.
Another book which I like very much and have read several times is George Orwell's 1984. The concepts developed by Orwell are astonishing and would be quite funny if they were not so serious. Although it is written of a fictional dystopian future, there are too many aspects of it that are all too real. Orwell's basic goal was imagining the consequences of Stalinist government ruling British society, but it can be considered a warning to present and future generations.
April 2007
