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Hermes: I wonder if we are beginning to expereince, in our information-rich social structures, a certail thrill of aquisition. I had a co-worker proudly display his aquisition of Kill Bill on DVD, and it struck me that consuming has become a source of pride. Now, consuming information is somewhat more 'noble', but still an element of consumption. Any thoughts on this?
Totally with you on this. I think this is how consumption works. It's consumption for it's own sake, the satisfaction derieved from spending and acquiring, rather than any use or utility value derived from the objects involved. I actually think it's part of human nature to be eternally disatisfied and chasing after the next thing, and I think this is played out in consumerism. I always come back to this quote when thinking about these matters:
We humans have the capacity to create ever more elaborate products and services. We believe in their (our) promise that they will eventually satisfy our desire once and for all. Yet, elusively, they never do. As the psychoanalyst, Jacques Lacan, pointed out, no sooner do we possess our fantastical object of desire than the fantasy dissipates and it becomes an ordinary object again. The spell is broken, and desire passes on to a new object.
From here.
Anyway, this is all getting rather heavyweight for a flufferly discussion on book purchases. Interestingly, a few of the music blogs recently have been commenting about what they call the "IPodisation of music" which is with the advent of filesharing having more music than you can listen to. Probably soemthing for a different thread, there's a couple of threads on consumption and the mechanics thereof.
Possibly because I don't earn enough money to really indulge myself elsewhere, books are one of the few areas I do this. I'm reasonable sane here, but do end up acquiring more than I can read. I'm not that fussed about collecting novels, happy to scab 'em off other people, or use the library. Books outside my main areas of interest, I acquire a few, but I do have a fair to middling collection of occult books which I ponder over and read and re-read. I haven't been adding to this as much as I used to as I have deluded fantaises about reading every significant text in certain areas of academia that I have an interest in, and most of my "key" purchasing is directed here. I can't see me doing all this reading though, without becoming a professor.
Oh, and second hand bookshops... sheer joy. Though responsible for nuff unread tomes on my shelves. |
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But then I do have loads to re-read