A Book for All Readers by Ainsworth Rand Spofford

One neat thing about library school is finding out about a number of great books. Librarians do a number of fantastic things. They review and select books for the libraries - shopping! They provide reader's advisory services, which means they can help recommend your next book to read. This is by far the coolest thing because you're expected to learn about a number of different genre's and expected to help connect people to books they may enjoy. Also, they learn about the world of books and are an excellent resource for anything reading or nerdy.

I plan on posting a bunch on reader's advisory stuff for future blogs. Today I have an item to add to my wish list. It's called A Book for All Readers by Ainsworth Rand Spofford. I had to study him and do a biography paper about him for one of my classes. In my research I came across his book on the Project Gutenberg website with a full online version of A Book for All Readers. I started reading it, and absolutely love it. It's basically a guide about what to read, who to read, as well as library collection development, book business stuff and other things.

The book was written in the 1900s and although it has some older classical stuffy Victorian views on it, he writes really well and has really intelligent insights into reading and books. I enjoyed reading it online, so I want a print version to keep and have for always. He's a very good writer and somewhat funny in his musings and anger about certain books. He writes very passionately, for example, he wrote:

"We are told, indeed (and some librarians even have said it) that for unformed readers to read a bad book is better than to read none at all. I do not believe it. You might as well say that it is better for one to swallow poison than not to swallow any thing at all. I hold that library providers are as much bound to furnish wholesome food for the minds of the young who resort to them for guidance, as their parents are to provide wholesome food for their bodies." (Spofford).

His introduction is even better. I'll post it here too.

"When we survey the really illimitable field of human knowledge, the vast accumulation of works already printed, and the ever-increasing flood of new books poured out by the modern press, the first feeling which is apt to arise in the mind is one of dismay, if not of despair. We ask—who is sufficient for these things? What life is long enough—what intellect strong enough, to master even a tithe of the learning which all these books contain? But the reflection comes to our aid that, after all, the really important books bear but a small proportion to the mass. Most books are but repetitions, in a different form, of what has already been many times written and printed. The rarest of literary qualities is originality. Most writers are mere echoes, and the greater part of literature is the pouring out of one bottle into another. If you can get hold of the few really best books, you can well afford to be ignorant of all the rest." (Spofford).

This is all due to Project Gutenberg. Although this was written in the 1900s I truly enjoyed it. Haven't read through the whole thing though and want a print copy so, either I get an exact reprint which may have typos, errors and other old-timey stuff in it. Or I get a translated clean copy? Should I get a Kindle version? Also you can't just go to Barnes and Noble, you have to buy it online somewhere. Anyway just adding this to my wish list and sharing my fondness for this.

The reason I did my bibliography on this guy and enjoyed reading and writing about him, is he basically turned a room of reference books for Congress into the national Library of Congress. He advocated for the copyright act so that the library had copies of all new publications. He helped get funding for the Jefferson building for the library. He did a lot of neat things that stood the test of time and created the Library of Congress. I have a lot of respect for him and his work, and well so far am liking his writing too. He used to be a writer, book publisher and book seller. Did I mention he didn't have a formal college education. He just had a love and respect for books and knowledge. So, rather than reiterate my biography essay, which I may post one day, I'll just add his book to my wish list. Cheers!

Some resources below, if you're nerdy like me.

Nix, Larry T. "A Postal Card from Melvil Dewey to Ainsworth Spofford." The Library History Buff. N.p., 12-01-2009 . Web. 24 Apr 2011. <http://www.libraryhistorybuff.org/postalcards-dewey2spofford.htm>.

Rapp, David. "America's Librarian." History Channel Club Articles. The History Channel Club, Web. 20 Apr 2011. <http://www.thehistorychannelclub.com/articles/articletype/articleview/articleid/1222/americas-librarian>.

Spofford, Ainsworth Rand. "A Book for All Readers." Project Gutenberg. Project Gutenberg, 15-09-2007. Web. 20 Apr 2011. <http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22608/22608-h/22608-h.htm>.

United States. Jefferson's Legacy, A Brief History of the Library of Congress. Washington D.C.: Library of Congress, 2006. Web. 20 Apr 2011. <http://www.loc.gov/loc/legacy/loc.html>.

2nd Sunday

Happy Easter All!

My 2nd Sunday post. So the past week in an attempt to eat healthy 70/30, 70 being bad and 30 being good, I think I did ok. Some days I was closer to 90/10 and some days 60/40 so maybe it evens out. One new unexpected development was the creation of a standing desk.

One of my coworkers was talking about how people who sit the majority of their day, no matter how much they exercise after work, still had raised risk of heart disease than people who stood or walked the majority of their day. It got me to start standing at my desk, typing and working standing up. It started halfway through Tuesday. At first they were making a bit of fun of me, but then I got 2 other coworkers in the office to set-up their desk to "standing" position. We recently moved our stuff temporarily for new carpet, so we had some extra boxes lying around, and we fashioned some raised monitors, keyboards and mice. Friday I was very tired and sat for half the day, but Wednesday-Thursday was standing most of the day.

It was an unexpected development. My knees and feet hurt, and I shift around a lot, but overall it's increased my energy levels and feels better. I can dance at my desk which is fun but I need to make sure no one is watching. I don't feel overly tired at the end of the day. Sometimes I lean on my arms which is probably good "exercise" too.

Anyway that's last week. I'm going to try to keep the 70/30 healthy food ratio. I'm also going to continue standing at my desk more often. On top of that, I want to buy a large water bottle and try to drink one full one every day. That will be this week's experiment. I've eaten a ton of bad stuff because of that time of the month, as well as Easter feasts :) So I'll admit, it hasn't been the best start. So we'll see how it goes.

Next week I will post my weight. I predict it won't be good, but we'll see. Next week are my finals and after that hopefully I can have more time for gym and such. Maybe I'll do a bit of exercise while watching tv now. Hum? Maybe.

Photo from http://fatpets.net/2010/fat-bunny/

Home Stretch!

I just turned in my 2nd to last project and checked my list of assignments and am 2 weeks away from Finals. Although I'm still up to my ears in reading and homework, with another major paper still needed to punch out, it's really nice to be able to see the finish line. I cannot WAIT to be on the other side. Just gotta make it, and hopefully with a good grade.

LA Times Festival of Books

I want to go! I've been dying to go ever since I found out about this, but every time it comes up we're out of town or busy. Not sure still this year if we'll make it, but alas. One day I'd like to go.

LA Times Festival of Books 2011

Blah

First Sunday healthy living post.

I was planning on being all motivated to start a new trend of exercise or diet, but then my own body's cycle kicked in and, well, I'm out of commission until about 5 days from now. There goes my week of starting off strong in my new active and healthy lifestyle.

Since I'll be feeling pretty worn out and tired the next few days, I suppose it's a good chance to work on my will power versus my physical capabilities. For example, instead of going 100% healthy, I thought maybe I should start eating oh, 70/30. Considering that today I probably eat about 80-90% bad, I can start by slowly increasing my healthy to 30% good, 70% bad. Just bought a bunch of veggies and fruits, and this is achievable for me right now. This way, there's pressure to eat some healthy, but not all and not too drastically.

As for physical exercise, honestly I probably really can't do much until next week. Sorta nice having one thing to focus on, just the diet ratio. Maybe try one new healthy habit a week to see if that works. So how about, just try to hit the 70/30 for healthy foods, and we'll see what I can do next week. I definitely should try to get more iron in the diet as it will probably help with the energy levels.

As of this morning, 144 lbs. With my healthier lifestyle, the pounds should trim off slowly. I'm trying to focus on the healthy lifestyle over the pounds, as I've never lost weight focusing on pounds. I lose weight when I focus on healthy lifestyle. Starting off slow - blah. But I'm hoping slow and steady wins the race.

Body, Mind & Soul - Sunday

I feel gross. I feel tired. I feel fat. I am run down and burnt out. These are all feelings I've had the past few weeks. I had a milestone birthday recently, and I didn't really feel like I had the energy to enjoy it. The past few weeks have been rough.

Anyway I've been doing some reflecting and I know I am not living up to my potential.

Today we were driving home and it occurred to me I might be anemic with that time of the month coming up and the exhaustion I've been feeling. So we grabbed some In and Out burgers, I got a double double for the first time, and it was good and I was more energetic but I also felt really gross. The grease, I can feel it, but I think the iron helped.

I think I need to reflect more. I need to change what I've been doing, slowly. I didn't get like this overnight. I saw my post from last year, Naked, and I've gained 10 pounds since then.

Real change has to start with the body, then mind, then soul, and maybe skip around a bit. So this is the first post of all 3 topics. I plan on writing and reflecting more on these topics.

So I think I'll start Sunday. Sundays I will post. That's only 52 Sundays in a year. We will see. I know I'm terrible with finishing and following through. I should use the blog post as a time to reflect on what I'm doing and what I want to do. To address my mind, body and soul the way I want to. To become the person I want to be, instead of someone else.

Plus, the sun is like the beginning of things. The light and the start of life. It's our closest star. I sort of want to treat this part of the blog like that. Let's give it a shot.

Photo from Science Photo Library

Arabian Nights

So I'm reading through Arabian Nights. Husband got me this for my birthday as I love stories such as Aesop's Fables, Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Beatrix Potter Tales and other kid's stories. This is more adult and what really sold me was the beautiful cover and the art on the inside. The pages have beautiful decorations around the borders and the inside has some great illustrations. Even the beginnings of the chapters are beautifully decorated. Can't get that on an e-book.

Anyway slowly going through it it's very different from what I was expecting. It's very adult and almost graphic in the sex and violence depicted. I suppose that's the old style of story, almost Bible like, and not really kids tales. There's a very negative depiction of women but there's also the heroine Scheherazade who is wise and faithful and loving. There's a lot of magic in the stories. People are often turned into animals and magical creatures such as ifrits and jinns or genies appear. I almost want a dictionary with this, because this uses much older language and there is a whole mythology behind the magical creatures that I want to learn more about.

Overall it's a neat book. It's more mature and it feels a bit older when you read through it. The poems are a bit tiring as I'm sure the translations don't do the verses justice. It's like learning about a different culture and looking into some eastern fairy tales.

Cubicle art

I call this piece "Fish Out of Water" as a statement on artificial life and living outside the box.

Agreeable

I'm not someone who needs people to agree with her. In fact, I respect differences of opinion. Although it is very reassuring to be agreed with.

For example, I was still debating whether or not to take 2 classes in the Fall semester. Part of me wondered if I was just disorganized, unprepared and procrastinating got me in this mess. Maybe if I tweaked and streamlined a few things, I would succeed much better with the 2 classes at once. Today is registration day so yesterday I emailed my adviser letting her know that I was thinking of reducing to one class per session, but still may take 2. She replied that it was refreshing to hear I was thinking of reducing and that many students rush through and don't get the full experience and enjoy or appreciate the class as much. She seemed fully supportive and that was really cool. Also I think that taking one class at at time allows me to focus, do more librarian interviewing and networking, maybe volunteer at a library and get more out of my class versus just doing assignments and keeping up with work.

I've found that the more important things about life and career isn't necessarily the work you do, but the people you know and the relationships you build. Of course the work is important, but that's not necessarily everything. There's a balance of relationships and work that must be kept.

Anyway on top of that my online group projects have stressed me out because honestly I'm behind on the work and research, and my group was suggesting to do their own thing and not really follow the professor's instructions on the project. I kept saying nicely that we should probably do as the professor assigned and not get creative and do something else. I finally had one of my classmates email an agreement with me - oh that was sweet sweet reassurance. I thought I was going nutts with the other members trying to pull the project in a different direction. Anyway we have a skype date this Sunday and we'll see if we can workout a good way to divide the work and get going on the project. It's pretty close to deadline so it's a bit stressing.

Of course my husband agrees with me a lot and I don't always appreciate it. I think he's biased, but of course, he and I are together because we think alike and are compatible with a lot of things. He agreed with me on both of the above, but there's something about a stranger or acquaintance agreeing with you - that makes you feel more validated. Like they have no vested interest and they're different or more removed from you so it's cool when you feel like you're not alone in your ideas. Anyway, so that's that. It must be the social animal in us that likes to have agreement and feel a common connection with people.

Back in the saddle again

I disappeared from blogging for awhile and after yesterday's post, I really miss blogging and writing. I may have overloaded myself with my other blog. For awhile I was trying "One New Thing Daily" and blogging about it. I wanted it to be more anonymous, and it was fun, but got really tiring after awhile. I found I wasn't reflecting or doing as much as I wanted because I kept having to find something new to try. It got too heavy to carry and in 2011 decided to let it go. Although there are a lot of great posts in there so check it out.

I think I'll go back to blogging intermittently with no schedule. I will try once a week, and for anything new I try I'll link it to my One New Thing blog - no longer daily. For my more thoughtful posts, I'll put them here. And I suppose I'm losing the anonymity with the new thing daily blogs, but oh well. At least, I will write once again.

Bandwidth

Long time no post. Freaked out earlier today. It was more a culmination of events. Basically I was stressed and overwhelmed at the amount of work I've been doing lately. It wasn't life work, just school work. Getting a Master's while working full time isn't easy. I did well with one class last semester Fall 2010. This semester I took 2 classes, and found that, I'm having a lot of trouble, stress, and not a lot or enough time to do it all. I didn't really admit I was having problems, but I suppose, the first step is realizing there's a problem.

Let's see, I suppose it boils down to bandwidth. Some of us just have more than others. Me, a perfectionist and overachiever, I overwhelm fairly easily trying to do it all and over-thinking it. I was thinking today about how much I over-think things and my husband started laughing at me.

Anyway with the quality of life I want, I don't think I can fit the 2 classes a semester in there. I did really well with one, and just pushing yourself doesn't always produce the best results. Sometimes you just get hurt and it sets you back. I think that's the case with school. I tried to do too much at once and the rest of my life went out of balance. I had less friend time, fun time, social time, family time, blogging time, cleaning time, exercise workout time, cooking and eating right time, and self-growth time. All this, it's a careful balance and I've lost it. My plants have suffered, and the house is dirtier, I feel fat and unhealthy, I don't hang out with friends, and it's just too much/a lot.

Anyway, I sort of made a weird New Year's Resolution this year, to fail. Yes, and so far I've been fulfilling it. I've failed at multiple things, but it's given me the freedom to try and to be ok with the results no matter what. I've been more open and adventurous and good with failures. Learning to be not so perfectionist and living a more buddhist middle road life rather than an attempt at a perfect one.

So balance is key and sometimes we just don't have the bandwidth. I think I've decided, one less class per semester, just one - and I'll have time, room and patience for all the other stuff in my life that deserves attention. Just gotta get through April and May.