Books, Books, Books

When I was a lad I lived in a lower middle-class home that contained love, respect, discipline, humour and a regard for educational values. Though money was often scarce, there was little in life that made us feel deprived. We were adequately fed, suitably clothed and encouraged to " look good " when leaving the house, and we lived in comfortable, clean surroundings.

Yet, like so many homes at that time, there was one singular omission. There was not one bookcase or book shelf in the place. Books were valued, but were rarely purchased, probably because there were other " more important " calls upon a limited purse. A Christmas present of a book became an exciting, valued treasure.

One of the few permanent book inhabitants was a thick, well-worn tome called Pears Encyclopaedia, a single volume -- unlike the multi-volumed sets which were produced in later years to grace the shelves of many homes, perhaps to be read, perhaps not. Pears was a soap manufacturer and the book may have been a cheaply priced advertising vehicle. I remember many evenings spent lying on the floor absorbing all the exotic knowledge packed into this drab looking but magical book. I needed to be persuaded to do homework, but willingly immersed myself in Pears. Its print was small and tightly crammed on the page, allowing lots of information to be squeezed between its collapsing covers. Pictures were rare, but there were lots of maps, tables and graphs to break the text. And what information there was in the text ! Every reading meant a new discovery. History and Geography seemed to hold a prominent place, but there was also Literature, Grammar, Mythology, Science and Mathematics ; a miniature university.

Maybe this smorgasbord of information was the genesis for my still strong obsession with collecting and enjoying all kinds of valuable and valueless snippets of information. That's my excuse, at any rate. A lifetime of pleasure has developed from Pears and a few other books into the thousands of volumes that have accompanied me through the years, hundreds of which at any time threatened to overwhelm me with stolen space in most rooms of the house. Some people are lucky !