Smitten Eagle and I share the same feelings about books, as do others mentioned in his post. I love to collect books and I love to read books but not everyone understands that. I have every intention of reading the books I have but I never have the time to read them all. But it doesn’t matter; I still like to collect books.

Yes, the arguments are that I can borrow from the library. Well, not all of the one’s I like, but even so, borrowing them is not the same as having them. I also like hardbacks rather than paperbacks. Sure, paperbacks are less expensive but they don’t last as long. Besides, the real cost in reading a book is not the cost of the book but rather my time.

You can tell a lot about me by looking at my library. If you knew when I bought what you can tell how my interest have evolved over time. When I younger I read what I had to read and then tried to read what I wanted to read. In college and shortly thereafter I read to improve my professional knowledge of my specific area of interest and never read fiction. My reading time was so precious I couldn’t see wasting it on fiction. However, I soon learned the error of my ways and now read some fiction, some good fiction. I also try to read more outside of my area, but with my weird education it is hard to say what is in and is out of my area.

SE also mentions General Mattis and links to this AFJ article which has a profile of Mattis. I have never met General Mattis but would love the opportunity. I suspect I could just sit and listen to him for hours.