Chapter 2: Skip it!!!

You're going to notice we skip a large section of numbers, but why is that?
Let's refer to the classifcation of the numbers 030-079 in the Dewey Decimal System.

030 General encyclopedic works
031 General encyclopedic works -- American
032 General encyclopedic works in English
033 General encyclopedic works in other Germanic languages
034 General encyclopedic works in French, Provencal, Catalan
035 General encyclopedic works in Italian, Romanian, Rhaeto-Romanic
036 General encyclopedic works in Spanish & Portuguese
037 General encyclopedic works in Slavic languages
038 General encyclopedic works in Scandinavian languages
039 General encyclopedic works in other languages
040 Not assigned or no longer used

O30 refers to things like the Oxford Book of Lists, The Guiness Book of World Records, and the Encyclopedia of Guilty Pleasures that I reviewed just recently. 031 is books like the World Book Encyclopedia or Funk And Wagnalis. But 032-039 are all in another language. And unless we were in a large metropolitan area, which we are not, the odds of one of our Public libraries carrying such a work is slim. So, we skipped 032-039.

041 Not assigned or no longer used
042 Not assigned or no longer used
043 Not assigned or no longer used
044 Not assigned or no longer used
045 Not assigned or no longer used
046 Not assigned or no longer used
047 Not assigned or no longer used
048 Not assigned or no longer used
049 Not assigned or no longer used

Well, we can't read that which isn't there. However, the library in Hillsborough lists magazines in this section, with 041 being works like Time, Entertainment Weekly, and Guideposts, and 042-049 as foreign language magazines. So Jan and I have decided to buy a magazine in English and review it for category 041-045 and skip 046-050, unless
there is something in the 050's to read, since it involves materials in English.

050 General serials & their indexes
051 General serials & their indexes American
052 General serials & their indexes In English
053 General serials & their indexes In other Germanic languages
054 General serials & their indexes In French, Provencal, Catalan
055 General serials & their indexes In Italian, Romanian, Rhaeto-Romanic
056 General serials & their indexes In Spanish & Portuguese
057 General serials & their indexes In Slavic languages
058 General serials & their indexes In Scandinavian languages
059 General serials & their indexes In other languages
General Serials are like reading Fiction Magazines, like Ellery Queen or Weird Tales. So Jan and I will buy something and review 051-055's books, but skip the 056-060 book unless, the library has a 060 book which is in a different genre. However, if the Chapel Hill Library has books in the 051-055, we may decide to read something there instead of making a purchase.

060 General organization & museology
061 General organization & museology In North America
062 General organization & museology In British Isles In Englan
063 General organization & museology In central Europe In German
y 064 General organization & museology In France & Monaco
065 General organization & museology In Italy & adjacent territories
066 General organization & museology In Iberian Peninsula & adjacent islands
067 General organization & museology In eastern Europe In Soviet Union
068 General organization & museology In other areas
069 Museology (Museum science)

This is where it gets a little confusing. Our libraries in Orange County consider only newspapers for this section, while it's been said that other libraries include magazines in this category. So Jan and I will read a newspaper for 071-075. And skip 076-080 unless the library has a book in 080 that is available to read at our library.

070 News media, journalism, publishing
071 News media, journalism, publishing In North America
072 News media, journalism, publishing In British Isles In England
073 News media, journalism, publishing In central Europe In Germany
074 News media, journalism, publishing In France & Monaco
075 News media, journalism, publishing In Italy & adjacent territories
076 News media, journalism, publishing In Iberian Peninsula & adjacent islands
077 News media, journalism, publishing In eastern Europe In Soviet Union
078 News media, journalism, publishing In Scandinavia
079 News media, journalism, publishing In other languages ation chart

Hope this helps you in your journey to reading outside the box.
The list for this chapter came fromhttp://www.tnrdlib.bc.ca/dewey.html#000 and help from the great libraians from the Orange County Public Library in Hillsborough, N.C.

031-035.999 (Tony) The Encyclopedia Of Guilty Pleasures (031 STA)

We all have them. Eating Ready Whip Straight from the can. Reading trashy novels. Watching Bob Saget TV shows. And yet no matter how embarassed we get when our secret pleasures are revealed, we keep coming back to them, over and over, and over...again!
This book is a collection of 1001 Guily Pleasures. It is not comprehensive. Not taking itself very serious, this volume mocks anything it the realm of guily pleasures it can cram into 1001 enteries and 318 pages. From ABBA to Ziggy, all 26 letters of the alphabet are accused of spelling GUILT in the heart of many a fan and GOD AWFUL to those who hate your guilty pleasure.
This book is not for those who want to learn more about their guilty pleasure (unless they are interested in finding out why everyone else thinks their guilty pleasure is crap). This is more of a trip down memory lane or that glimpse Clarence gave Jimmy Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life (Thank God I'm not A David Hasselhof fan when enjoy Tahitian Treat soda and the music of Yanni) .
As you read this book, you realize there are a lot of freaks out there. Like, people who revere John Denver like he was Pope John Paul, or those who will scour the country side for a McRib like a Deadhead with a full tank of gas and the weekend off. And you discover that there's alof of odd stuff in this world. For example, did you know that Madame Trussaud's in London has an exhibit of celebrity butts you can squeeze? Or that We Only Just Begun originally was a jingle for a Bank? Well, you do now.
Reading this book is insightful and sometimes mind boggling. Just don't blame me, if you decide after reading this book to run outside in the snow yelling, " I want to live again! I want to live."
Sometimes seeing the path you could have chosen is just to painful to experience.

DD 026-30.999 Tony; The Open Door : When writers first learned to read. D.R. Godine in association with the Center for the Book,1989( 028.909 OPE )

In 1989, there was a push by the Library of Congress to make that year the year of the Young Reader. One of the Library's head honcho's decided to collect a series of essays from writers about their experiences first learnig to read.
Many authors are found in this tome: From Dickens to Douglass, to Rand To King- if an author wrote about their first times (reading), it's probably documented here.
I found some reading trends of these writers over the years rather interesting. The most popular book read was John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress . Most authors were discouraged by white males to read (Douglass, Rand, C.S. Lewis, Charles Dickens, and Anne Frank(Actually, during World War II, all Jews were discouraged, not just her).
However, I had a problem with several of the essays. Instead of life story or anecidote: some writers essays were works of fiction. To me, this seemed like false advertising.
The essays in this book are quite charming me and I am inspiered to maybe read a new author or two. But this book was only printed once (hence the lack of an availible image)- and will be had to find. Unless you go to the Library of Congress.

DD 021-025.999 Tony; The Island of Lost Maps ( 025.82 HAR)

The dust jacket is my wihte whale. I hate them! True, they can make or break a book, but like a movie trailer it can reveal too much or worse, make you think the book stinks. Then there is the introduction- they too can reveal too much or give you all the good stuff in just a few short sentences, leaving the reader with 200 pages of the same stuff they read in the intro.

When I read in both the dust jacket and the introduction and the first 2 chapters the phrase " Terra Incognito", I admit, I was afraid I had found one of those books like I just described. Thankfully- that was not the case.

This book is about the thieft of hundreds of maps from the innards of library books. As the author examines the life story and motivation of the criminal, an amazing world of maps is opened up to the reader. And soon, you start to wonder if in fact you could steal these books. Gilbert Bland stole maps from local libraries, State archives and universities. Being a resident of Hillsborough, North Carolina- this book took a familiar turn when it was reported that Bland stole maps from Duke and UNC. Then the guy was tried in Hillsborough, and suddenly this book is part of your history. Bland was tried, convicted and had his wrist slpped. In return for a very small sentence, he agreed to return many of the maps. So many, that the FBI still has about 500 maps still needing homes.

Then you start to wonder - could I find one of these books he destroyed and save the day for a victimized library.

This book did for me what Emergency did for my wife and thousands of other kids in the 70's- It opened a world of oppurtunity and makes you want to become a EMT or in my case, a map dealer. This book starts off slow, but picks up steam as it opens up many facets of the world of maps, from history of map making to the history of map stealing; from the creation of a map to it's destruction (as per Gilbert Bland) -everything "interesting" you ever wanted to know about maps is here. I guess you could consider this a map for Mapland.

DD 001-005.999 Jan; Biblioholism: The Literary Addiction by Tom Raabe (002.074 RAA)

In reading Biblioholism , I had one very fundamental problem with the book. By definition (and even emblazoned on the cover), biblioholism involves a longing to purchase, read, store, admire, and consume books in excess. There is no such thing. Actually, if you make it to the end of the book ,the author acknowledges that when it comes to books, really, too many is always enough. I think that my problem was that I took the book too seriously, having gotten three quarters of the way through before I noticed the classification on the back corner places the book in the humor category!
Now, my husband often says I have no sense of humor. Quite the contrary, I have a very discerning sense of humor. I often find real life to be funnier than any attempt at comedy. With that caveat, I think this books is mislabeled. While it is a lighthearted approach to the subject and does at times, come close to mockery, it is not by and large a humor book.
Biblioholism has a quiz to rate your level of affectation with the condition. While my husband is teetering on the edge, I am a full blown biblioholic, according to this assessment. As you might expect from a true bibilioholic in denial ( I already told you, when it comes to books, there is no such thing as excess)(When my grandmother describes our home, she says, “You sure do have a lot of cats and books), I disagree.
The book also has an air of pretension to it, on occasion throwing in spelling bee words seemingly just for the sheer impressiveness of it.
The book is worth a peek, though, if for no other reason than the chapter describing the ideal or “fantasy” bookstore. Would-be store proprietors, take note! There is a right way and a wrong way to sell books. If you think of books as inventory instead of furniture or even friends, maybe consider a donut franchise instead. Or at least study this chapter and study it hard.
Our local bookshop in Hillsborough comes close, especially in regard to the person who owns the shop- Julia, the ideal owner. (The store is call Brick Alley Books and is highly recommended) There, books with torn jackets or bent covers are never “damaged”- they are “hurt books”. And you can keep a wish list on an index card for those wanting ideas what to get you.
So, keeping in mind that, misguided or not, this is a humor tome. Give Biblioholism a try, but don’t take it too seriously. Except for the Fantasy Bookstore Chapter. Take that very seriously!

DD 016-020.999 tony; How to Identify and Collect American First Editions by Jack Tannen (020.75 TAN)

DD 016-020.999 Tony;
How To Identify and Collect American First Editions by Jack Tannen
020.75 TAN
Book Collector’s often prefer a book that is timely, dated, and a clear reflection of the taboos, morals, prejudices and sexisms of the era for which it is written. A person who collects books on slave narratives, for example, does not expect to pick up an edition written in 1955, open it up and read the following:“Yo, so this G had a musket in my face an’ he say “Drop it, homeboy!” So I dropped my glock, and chilled while the man was out picking cotton in the field...Yeah, Yeh!.”
Yet, when it comes to reading a book on how to identify and collect rare books, I recommend that the average collector find something more modern. How to Identify and Collect American First Editions: A Guide Book was written in 1976. While this book offers some great tips on how to start a collection, it was written during the beginning stages of serious book collecting. Many of the prices and profitable trends have changed. When the author wrote this book, children’s books were basically a dime a dozen. In todays market, Juvenile Fiction is one of the 3 most valued type of books to collect (along with autographed editions and illustrated books with their original plates and protection papers).
Even the standard how books increased in value has changed somewhat since this book was written. Tannen explains that a book value was rarely determined on age rarity, but on the inflation of paper currency.( though the author admits there are some exceptions to this rule) Since inflation is more valued now on debt than the amount of money printed, I am sure a books value is due more now to how scarce and old the volumes are. However, Tannen’s advice to buy books printed in the Civil War South or Old West Territories, and other areas no longer in “existence”, will probably always be hot commodities to look for.
This book offers a extensive but not exhaustive listing of American publishing companies. I took great delight coming upon listing for Duke University Press and The University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill’s printing company. Yet, I noticed other North Carolinian publishers curiously absent from the author’s bibliography; such as The University of Wake Forest and North Carolina State University.
While this listing is not exhaustive, it is quite tiring to read. In a thirty-eight page bibliography of “American Publishers and their Methods of Denoting First Editions” (page 18), the phrase “The first edition can be identified by identical dates on the title page and verso” is found so many times, I gave up counting after 40. In a book with 10 chapters, each with it’s own bibliography, one should expect repetitive narrative throughout this volume.
Reflecting on the age of this book, the author, Jack Tannen writes in his foreword, that he hopes to live another 25 years. Written almost 30 years ago, I wonder if he made it to his goal. Tannen is co-owner of the Biblo-Tannen Book store on New York’s Fourth Avenue, if it is still there. The author’s knowledge of books could mean that his store was a haven to bibliophiles. It would be interesting to visit the store if it was still in existence the next time I go to New York.
More than likely, the casual reader will not take much out of this book, unless they develop the urge to start collecting rare book. Like any buyers guide, age dates this work, leaving much of its information worthless. The only value a book like this have might be to a collector of bibliographies. Which is funny, since the author claims that too, is a growing genre interest of collectors. Author's Note: As I was looking for an image of the book, I discovered that Jack Tannen wrote a second revised edition of this book. My library only had the first edition. Thus my review is only pertained to the edition I read.