Low-Tech Information Storage

In this age of smart phones, tablets, and 5G internet, my favorite medium for information storage is paper. I do enjoy surfing the web and bingeing how-to vids but I think there is still a place for books. They don't require batteries or wifi, their white balance is always optimized and the book marks are always easy to find.

I have note books galore from trade school, reference books for automotive and household repairs, cook books, and of course Permaculture books. Not to forget fiction for the occasional escape or kids books for the little ones. I have so many books that I seem to be on a neverending quest to build more book shelves.

I have some books that are over one hundred years old and they are still legible. I'd like to see any smart device last that long. My record is less than five years for a cell phone and less than ten for a computer.

I have reams of sketch paper, graph paper and piles of note pads. I find drawing or writing to be the best method of expressing my ideas and putting them in some permanent form. I have also found that the physical act of writing or drawing helps me remember more than typing or photographing.

I do admit to using mechanical pencils for a lot of my writing or drawing but I do use standard #2HB wooden pencils often. A charcoal stick or lump is the most basic writing device and quite easy to make and use. Charcoal art is a fun project for the kids. They can decorate the sidewalk without having to buy chalk.

Ball point pens I use for making shopping lists and other things that will be handled a lot. On the rare occasion I pull out my calligraphy set to make something special. There is a unique pleasure to dipping a nib in the ink well and creating beauty from humble letters. The quill is about the most low-tech pen there is and I have made a few in the past.

I have ten years' worth of "The Home Garden Magazine" bound in magazine binders (custom for the mag). This magazine dates from the 1940s. Still  useful, and interesting article specific to the era (WW2, postwar.)

I agree. I have an extensive library. To me it's more important than a lot of other things. Ranks up there with my tools for things that matter to me.

I love my books. There is also something special about knowing someone else held and read the (old vintage) book before I did that is nice.

I also noticed how my mind operates differently reading a 'book' than it does reading 'online'. The fidgety, constant pull to 'switch screens' or 'look something up' is there, and it takes a week or more to lose that and read a book without those intrusions that the interwebs put there.

I have always preferred to have information on "how to's", financial, etc in paper form aka books.

My go-to books on how to identify plants and animals are books.  The how-to's on gardening are books.

I have medicinal books and then of course cookbooks.

For financial I use notebooks with page pockets.

Our house is small so I only have the best of the best when it comes to books.

I love that you have a romance book in your maintenance section. That truly speaks to me.

I have a wonderful conflict between keeping and minimalizing that makes sure my library is present, useful and relevant to me. I'm a big fan of unloading books we don't use and picking up books we might.

The longest it has taken me to get a book read from the time I received it was about 20 years, it was an armchair treasure hunt called Quest, I regret having that in the back of my mind for so long, it wasn't worth keeping for me. Usually if I'm interested I read them in about a month or so. Otherwise I let them go. Even reference books occupy an interesting space between... do I need this now? do I need this in an emergency? do I want to have this on my bookshelf to encourage my kids interest... and should I just look this up on the internet?

My lovely wife thinks we have too many books. I think we have too few bookshelves... and maybe the wrong books in some cases, but too many? not yet.

I am amazed at the lack of reading in so many people of any age!

I have tons of them and love them.

L. Johnson wrote:I love that you have a romance book in your maintenance section. That truly speaks to me.

Relationship maintenance is so important and should be worked on by all parties.

L. Johnson wrote:I have a wonderful conflict between keeping and minimalizing that makes sure my library is present, useful and relevant to me. I'm a big fan of unloading books we don't use and picking up books we might.

I am going through that myself now too. Having moved recently and now sorting boxes of things I haven't used in ten years but my kids might.

L. Johnson wrote:The longest it has taken me to get a book read from the time I received it was about 20 years, it was an armchair treasure hunt called Quest, I regret having that in the back of my mind for so long, it wasn't worth keeping for me. Usually if I'm interested I read them in about a month or so. Otherwise I let them go. Even reference books occupy an interesting space between... do I need this now? do I need this in an emergency? do I want to have this on my bookshelf to encourage my kids interest... and should I just look this up on the internet?

I'm not sure what my time frame is but I have books of a certain genera that were gifts but I have no interest in reading. A conundrum for sure. A lot of my books I intend on keeping for my kids and eventually grandkids. Some reference books are outdated and they will go but most of the trades based ones will always be useful as well as the novels for entertainment. There will always be room for the classics like  William Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, and Jack London etc.

L. Johnson wrote:My lovely wife thinks we have too many books. I think we have too few bookshelves... and maybe the wrong books in some cases, but too many? not yet.

I don't currently have a wife so I can build as many bookshelves as I want. 😉 One can never have too many books or stationary supplies.

John C Daley wrote:I am amazed at the lack of reading in so many people of any age!

I have tons of them and love them.

I remember in highschool (early 2000s) there were classmates that couldn't read but were still being moved up each year. I was appalled and it is still going on. Not my kids though. They read or are read to every day.

I love books too. 2 years ago when I finally had to give up and sell my wonderful 35 year old Chevy van. I cried as I handed over my Chilton manual for her. I miss them both very much. But I mostly have been relying on something different for low tech information storage. It doesn't work as well as it used to but I've had it forever and I'm very attached to it. It's my BRAIN!

Right now my brain is like a web browser... I've got 21 tabs open. 5 of them have crashed and I can't work out where the music is coming from.

The brain is amazing.... It works 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, right from birth until you get your first erection. So I've been told.  

What's the similarity between my brain and a computer hard drive? Both are actively deleting memory and I have no idea why.

Ah, the human brain... Really makes you think, doesn't it?

When we moved a few years ago, we dumped massive amounts of stuff, multiple houses, shops, garages etc... I gave away all kinds of things. The only thing that I cried for were books.

I only moved around 1000 books, over 4000 went to a used book store. Sorting them, I cried, told my mom 'it's like having a lifeboat that can take two kids, and you have five, how do you pick which ones, to put in it?"

Some went to good places... My National Geographic collection went to a big Veteran's Hospital. When I talked to the lady I said "Not a complete collection, but the oldest is from 1906." She said "Yes!!"  "It takes up 40 linear feet of shelf space."  "YES!! I'll start clearing shelves!!"  I talked to her after she had them for a month or so, said they were some of the most popular things in the library :)

To me, good information is the most valuable thing, and having it in a format that others can learn from too is VERY useful.  Plus my books make me happy to see them. Almost all of them are currently still packed down, and I miss them terribly. I want my shelves to the 9 foot 6 inch high ceilings back again.

Just plugging a book in this thread that I think is worth a read for all avid readers:  "The Spell of the Sensuous" by David Abram.  The book examines the power of these written squiggles across a page (or computer monitor!) to invoke emotions and induce imaginations, while at the same time reminding us that even the origins of the letters were to be found in natural phenomena.  I found it a fascinating study on the birth of literacy(s),  

One quote that may help to gauge the book as your cup of tea:

"If we don’t recognize writing as a very potent magic — that is, as something that has much more than rational effects upon our experience — if we don’t recognize it as a magic, we tend to fall under its spell. The word “spell” has that double meaning, both to cast a magic within the world and also simply to arrange the letters. But those two meanings were once one and the same, because to learn to read with this new magic was to cast a kind of spell upon our own senses."  -- David Abram

A big fat yes.  Except for the part about bookmarks are easy to find...or maybe I just lose them so I can find others...i do love them so.  I much prefer holding a physical book to electronic forms.  Plus my new favorite way of organizing them...by color, is difficult on the kindle app.

I have a 5 shelf home library from a converted clothes closet. Gardening  beekeeping books, a lot of how to books.
I too noticed that writing helps me organize my thought better and also remember details.
In meetings, having a piece of paper really helps to synthetize the information and not write  'everything', only that which is important.
My minds works differently when I gather information on screen or from a book. The assurance that I can go back to this screen or that makes me sloppy sometimes, and then, I get mad because I lost the site after all AAaarrggh. Now, I can't print the info. I go to 'history', and it is not there either.
I tend to print out a lot of information that I find interesting, but then, I don't whittle it down, so I have reams of information that I may never get back to.
With a book, I can go back to the info I seek anytime. I also make a lot of annotations on my personal books, and I can go back to the information at a moment's notice. In the vastness of the Internet, it is actually not so easy.

I love books, printed books,  I don't like reading online, it harms my sight and I have to be connected to electricity and the internet most of the time. I have a huge printed library at home.

I am slowly increasing my reference library section of my book shelf. It is currently competing with fabric for shelf space, but over time hopefully the books will win. I am consiously trying to reduce the number of books I own since my partner and I will "soon" be moving in with my parents and my books will have to compete with the house full of books they inherited from one set of grandparents and we will inherit more books from my grandmother soon... 😳

Rex Reeves wrote:They don't require batteries or wifi, their white balance is always optimized and the book marks are always easy to find.

I have to disagree with the statement about white balance as I really struggle reading some books where the page is really white as the contrast is too high, at least on my computer screen I can turn the brightness down to reduce the contrast and that in turn reduces my headaches...
But I definitely do like the idea of being battery free which is why I'm increasing my SHTF reference section.

And when the grid goes down those with physical copies of books will still have access to their treasure trove of knowledge

Pippa Knight wrote: I am consiously trying to reduce the number of books I own since my partner and I will "soon" be moving in with my parents and my books will have to compete with the house full of books they inherited from one set of grandparents and we will inherit more books from my grandmother soon... 😳  

I am jealous of the book situation you speak of, lol. It's one of the only things I can empathize with where hoarders are concerned. If someone hoards figurines or fancy shoes, I no comprendo. Books that they can't quite part with, I get it.

A client came in with a t shirt that read "it isn't hoarding if it's books "

Saralee Couchoud wrote:And when the grid goes down those with physical copies of books will still have access to their treasure trove of knowledge

Exactly! I have long term plans of going off grid again, when I'm not tied to a school district for the kids. Being able to read and reference books without draining the limited power system will be a boon.

Emily Elizabeth wrote:I am jealous of the book situation you speak of, lol. It's one of the only things I can empathize with where hoarders are concerned. If someone hoards figurines or fancy shoes, I no comprendo. Books that they can't quite part with, I get it.

I hoard books, but I also hoard hand tools and garden implements. Once I'm off grid or if the grid goes down I'll have spares for me or things to barter. Craft supplies might also take up a portion of the basement.

Rex Reeves wrote: Repair Manuals

Yes, the Levine book Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma filed in Repair Manuals.  So true.  That's a great book.

We are also a very bookish house.  My husband is always quoting Erasmus who said "When I have a little money I buy books and if I have any left I buy food and clothes."