I typically have 2 books in daily reading at any given time, plus 2 monthly magazines--QST (ham radio) and Consumer Reports.

I thought that when I retired two years ago that I would get more reading done and reduce the queue of purchased, but unread, books. But it's grown, not shrunk. I think I'm spending some of the additional free time buying additional books instead of reading them! I'm a semi-compulsive book buyer, and I suspect that many on this forum share that "disease."

My heyday was as a kid -- had a lot less $ to spend, but books were cheaper, especially used books. St. Louis (my childhood home) had an annual bookfair for charity -- books were collected all year and sold during a week-long frenzy staged in a large hall. Starting prices were 5 cents to $3, with a few new books a bit higher. On the last day, everything went for half price. I usually managed to buy 30-40 books with my pocket money. I had a pretty good library by the time I got to high school, and still had every book I ever bought until 1997, when we started downsizing our home as part of pre-retirement planning. And I still miss the ones I gave away.....

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Standing on the shoulders of giants...