My Head Is Full of Books: It is inventory time in the library. You know what that means, don't you?

"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

It is inventory time in the library. You know what that means, don't you?

Roman cauliflower, a fractal in nature. I saw some in the store today for the very first time.

It is a slowish week in the library so I can finally start my inventory which needs to be done by the end of May. Sounds like I left myself plenty of time but one never knows. I am often putting in extra hours in late May to get it done.

Doing inventory means I get to (have to) touch every book in the library, which means that I suddenly have a ton more books to add to my TBR pile. I mean a ton! Today I was working in the 500s which are the math, physics, and science books. A few years ago we had a math teacher who assigned each of her precalculus students to read a library book dealing with some math subject. She did the same for her physics students. I had to buy a bunch of books just to have enough books on those topics for each of her students. Sadly that teacher has moved on but I still have the books and every year I hope I can talk some teacher into requiring his/her class to do the same assignment, thereby putting the books back into circulation, again. Two books in this section which caught my eye today were, A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper by John Paulos and How to Dunk a Doughnut: Science in Everyday Life by Len Fisher. They make math and science sound fun. Right?But if I am really honest with myself it is very unlikely I will ever read either of those books. They sound fun, but a book about math isn't exactly my thing. Or at least I don't think so since I've never actually read a book about math.

Next up, the astronomy books. I love looking at the stars. Maybe I should check out a book on constellations. I have done this before. I should just tell you, it is one thing looking at constellations in a book and a whole different thing if you have to find them in the actual sky, especially around here when it is cloudy so much of the time. Near this section I found a book about fractals (see photo above) in nature. That book has always intrigued me, plus it has lots of pictures. Maybe I should actually check it out.

After pushing my inventory cart across the aisle I found the physics books. I have never taken a physics class and admire those who have. This section has lots of books which intrigue me and I decided two from this section on my theoretical TBR pile wouldn't be too many. But what two? Should I choose Steven Hawkings A Brief History of Time, after all over 40 million people have read it. Another book of interest is one a student read and recommended, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott. Hey, I just discovered Flatland is considered a novella. I like that word, novella. It implies it is short. But as I got to the end of the row I found the book I could probably actually understand, The Cartoon Guide to Physics by Gonick and Huffman. That is about my speed, I would guess.

Now you are starting to understand why inventory takes me so long. What I am really doing is looking at books. All this talk about inventory and I only made 500 to 550s, Marine Biology. Oh dear. There is always tomorrow. What books might I like to read from that section? Ha!