opinionI’m sure this topic will be one that res­onates with many readers: the mis­treat­ment of books. The impe­tus of my writ­ing this topic was because recently I vis­ited my local used book­store and wit­nessed an “inci­dent”. I had a lot of books to get rid of  and I needed some space. My local used book­store has always imple­mented this pol­icy that states that when you’re trad­ing in books, they have to be in fair to gen­tly read con­di­tion for credit.

While I was brows­ing the shelves, the patron at the counter was argu­ing with the owner about how unfair that pol­icy was because a) many she had traded for credit were that way already when she got them and b) she thought the pol­icy was unfair and ridicu­lous. The owner later told me that this woman always brings in badly worn and unread­able books.  Yep, a book abuser.

I just don’t under­stand why some­one would have to be told that their books are“unacceptable” for credit when they try to trade in their badly abused books at a used book­store.  I’m no book snob but I do try to take good care of my books. I have over the years devel­oped, what some might call,” book ethics.”

I know some of you like to read in the bath­tub or jos­tle your book around in your purse or read while you’re eat­ing din­ner. Great. For the really worst offenders,  you all really are the per­fect can­di­dates for read­ing ebooks because with the right reader installed, you can high­light all you want in what­ever color you want. You can make notes and book­mark to your hearts con­tent. All of this done with­out defac­ing the book and mak­ing it an eye­sore for the world to see.

Then as I was perus­ing the ‘net, I ran across this arti­cle, titled Con­fes­sions of a Book Abuser. Read it. It’s a hor­ror story. You might rec­og­nize your­self in it and if you do you should hang your head in shame.  I know I am some­times sur­prised at how many peo­ple deface their own prop­erty.  It’s good to know that libraries and other notable estab­lish­ments are say­ing NO who donate mis­treated books. Do you wanna know where mis­treated books really belong?  Mis­treated books belong where no one can ever see them. You know, down in the base­ment for no one to see…ever. My mes­sage: develop some book ethics. Here is a list just to get you started:

  • Read­ers should refrain from read­ing while bathing or eat­ing because of the high risk of their book(s) obtaining food stains and water dam­age. Note: If you had a ereader you’d be more dis­cern­ing of where you’re read for fear of your expen­sive device falling into a tub of water
  • Read­ers should invest in book mark­ers or book darts to avoid dog-earing pages; folded cor­ners are really unattractive
  • Read­ers should refrain from mak­ing spelling and gram­mat­i­cal cor­rec­tions to nov­els ; that’s what copy-editors are hired for
  • Read­ers should invest in mem­ory enhance­ment prod­ucts to pre­vent the urge to make note­wor­thy com­ments in the margin(s) of books (worst offense)
  • Read­ers should never deface their own prop­erty and should treat their prop­erty with the utmost respect and that includes books!
  • Never break the spine! (kidding)