How does one cure bibliophilia?

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I'm not sure if this is in the correct forum, since it isn't technically autism-related. It can be moved if need be.

I've amassed a collection of over 500 books, and that does not include comic books and graphic novels. I am literally incapable of stopping myself from buying books anytime I enter a bookstore. For a while, my parents condoned it, saying an addiction to books is better than drugs. But now I am running out of space, and I don't want to cart them around every time I move. I find myself unable to let them go, however. Even the ones I don't like so much, I still find merit in owning.

So, does anyone have any valid suggestions for divesting myself of this affliction? My bank account is finding it quite unbearable

Probably not the solution space-wise, but I've curbed myself almost solely to buying used and Goodwill books. Not only are they only like a dollar then, a lot of them have great old illustrative cover designs. I've got a few hundred too, but not an unmanageable amount yet.

Last edited by nomessiah on 18 Dec 2007, 1:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I used to be like that. My house is overflowing with books. I didn't collect them for art sake, I just couldn't help it. I still have spurts now and again, but my pocketbook suffered. For me it was either pay my bills or buy books, so I paid bills and discovered the library. And I tried to give away what I had already read too. I didn't have much luck there.

So yeah, I'm no help.

I used to buy a lot of books, and my parents would buy me even more for Christmas and my birthday. Before moving to another city last year I sold about half of them in a flea market (and used part of the money to buy newer books ) and donated some more to language learning schools.

I'm not buying that much anymore though. My bank account has also been a bit empty lately.

Is there a library you could go to? That way you can continue to read and not clutter your house at the same time.

Yeah, libraries and the internet have reduced my accumulation of books. Hasn't freed up any time, though - there are still 36 hours of reading to fit into each day.

Sorry, my initial reaction to the question was "Why on Earth would you want to?!"

I love books... probably a little too much.

My solution is to write down the titles of the books I want to buy and then when I get home check to see if my local or university library has them. If not, I put them on my amazon wish list and check to see if anyone's selling it used online (campusi.com to check a bunch of book sites at once) so I can at least get it for cheap. There are a couple of groups where you can trade or donate books--usually at universities I think, but can't remember the name of the organization offhand. I think goodreads.com has an option to check off if you're willling to sell or trade the book you just read and it's a way to bond with other bibliophiles!

I've made over $200 selling my family's unwanted books on amazon.com's marketplace. Its a lot easier than ebay. All you do is enter the books ISBN number or title, and all the info is there for you. you select the book's condition, and see what other ones are going for. Set your price a bit lower than all the others and it can sell that day if it is a desirable book!

Most of the books I sold were hardcover novels on the New York Times Best Seller List that my mom bought, read, and let me sell. Those can go for up to $12 on amazon if they are recent! I also sold some of my old kids' books and novels. Some books are worth less than 1c, and are therefore not worth it. But anything over $1 and you can even make some money on shipping. Amazon gives you $3.99 shipping credit for all books, and it usually costs less to ship them.

I have found it to be lots of fun and something that makes me feel productive for doing almost nothing. Its easy to wrap the books in brown shopping bags and make a post office trip every few days. You can have amazon put money in your bank account or give you amazon gift certificates. (If your goal is to not buy more books, I'd advise against the gift certificates).

That said, I haven't touched my prized collection of books on my shelves! I have hundreds and I'm moving soon. UGH.
I'm getting better at not buying more however. I think of all the books I have that I haven't read yet, then feel guilty and stressed out, and realize I would have more of a "task" if I bought more books.

We've been out of space for ages. I looooooooove my books. The yearly international book fare here has always been like our Christmas. I still miss the hundreds that I've had to give away or donate.
Of course ebooks have saved me from running out of space. I have like 700 hundred ebooks of which about 250 are technical. Which sounds very petty to me. I should like to download the whole project Gutenberg and some sites which have Persian ebooks. And get loads more technical ones(I don't get them now since we have several hundreds at work that I'm yet to read). I should also like to enrich my screenplay and script collection.

I had the same problem, but my bank account suffered as well.

Plus, I already have four bookshelves full of books. I do reread about half of them and refer back to them from time to time, but many of them, I'd never read again.

I like the idea that ohhhhprettycolors had. I might try that! I could always use some dough!

Refuse to buy another book until you fully read all 500. Then refuse to buy another book until you read the last one fully. Start buying more magazines. Think about reading material as disposable perishable items. Get read of them. Your space (AND TIME) is worth more than the information on pages.

You can only learn to cope with your love of books; there is no cure. I play the library off the bookstore and the bookstore off the library. When I'm at the bookstore: "You don't need to buy any books when you have yet to read the 12 books checked out of the library." When I'm at the library: "You don't need to check out any more books when you have yet to read the 500 you already bought." I also ask the question: is this a book I need for reference or will re-read? If not, why buy it?

I like this idea a lot. I'm afraid to go to the public libraries here in Orlando (creepy homeless guys breathing loudly doesn't exactly put me in the mood to read), but I'm starting university again soon, so hopefully they can help. I'll probably spend most of my time in the library anyway.



I've already downloaded most of that and put it in my iPod. It's kind of a pain reading a book on a little screen, but it's so handy.



If I had more discipline than I do, this would be ideal. My problem is my impulsivity. I am totally not Jedi material Incidentally, are you from central Florida? Perhaps you can suggest pleasant libraries.



This is something I hear a lot about for other things. I've used your strategy of "do I need this?" before, and it works until I see something I absolutely need no matter what. As much as I love books, I don't want to end up like the girl in Read Or Die, or the guy in England who had to buy 5 extra houses to store his books in.

Yes, I live in Winter Garden. AIM me sometime at brandonkirk74

I am the same way, and I have been collecting books since the 1960s! I have, literally, between 20,000 and 30,000 of them. Most of them are now in storage.

Now, before, I buy a book, I ask myself, not if, but when I am going to read it. If I can't answer that question, I don't usually buy it.

Books are awesome; what's the matter?