Comment by knighthack
3 days ago
While I agree with the sentiment, I have hesitation in letting people see what I read.
In a way, you're letting people see the nature of things that you read - from which they might glean the nature of your thoughts, and privacy is something we all value. For that reason (and since I don't have any particular sentimental value for books, only their contents) I've long since preferred a digital library. As a minimalist, having a single Kindle on the table is aesthetics enough for me, which is complementary of the minimalist viewpoint as well.
However, I completely agree with the fact that having a physical library is a very conducive environment for kids to grow up with. I remember fun memories of my childhood reading from the home library, and thinking how pretty and colourful the shelves were too. But I think there should be a distinction between cultivating a library for your kids, versus that for the observation and assessment of strangers.
That, to me, is closer to a policy of isolation than privacy, which sounds unhealthy to me, unless maybe you're some kind professional spy or military strategist. Privacy is good; so are water and salt. We also value connection.
Minimalism is secretly about maximizing something, perhaps empty space and silence, or perhaps something else that you love.
Finally, life is layered on as we live it - that kid is still in there somewhere ;)
I'm not trying to prescribe necessarily, just giving a different point of view.
> While I agree with the sentiment, I have hesitation in letting people see what I read.
Woah there. Nobody* is showing off their playboy collection either. The visible bookshelf is just what you want others to see. You don’t even have to read those books. It’s like your Facebook wall - a facade of yourself.
* of course there are people proud of their playboy collection and showing it off
Do you not have human conversations with your friends and family? That's also a way for them to learn about you.
I like your view in this because it's just so different than anything I've thought before. Having books in common areas sparks conversation, real, substantive conversation with family, friends, and acquaintances. It's one of my favorite things to talk about at get togethers.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I share what I read, but only with very close friends. I'm hesitant to lend books out -- people are not great at returning them (partly my fault, I'm also bad at tracking the loans). I also have a hard time finding my books, as I live in a very small house (bookshelves are out of the question, it's numbered bins).
I am also wary of most of the cloud services in this domain.
So I wrote a little software to manage the situation -- just a simple CRUD thing that lets me manage a small personal library, or a small shared library between friends. It's not a "social network for books" or something grand like that. Just a simple self-hosted thing with minimal system requirements. There were some existing solutions, but none that really felt right.
It's published (open source) and has a few users, but I don't think I'll be able to manage it, if it receives a giant burst of attention. On github it's called 'ubiblio'. Perhaps I'll be ready to share it more generally in a few months.
Not sure if it's useful to you, but I hope it is!
Amazon through the kindle is storing massive amounts of data about your reading habits. Statistically, and inevitably, this information will be used against your best interests.
Maybe simply to sell you something you don’t need, to price up your insurance, or as a layup to a precrime you have yet to commit.
If reading privacy matter a kindle isn’t it. Imho.
To me “minimalism” is just a poor excuse for bad design and aesthetic sense, like dressing all black or white to avoid color coordination. It’s easy, but totally devoid of personality and expression.
>from which they might glean the nature of your thoughts, and privacy is something we all value.
I mean you let them into your house, privacy kinda goes out the window when you do that. You can always put books you don't want people to know you read in your bedroom or something.
> I have hesitation in letting people see what I read [...] privacy is something we all value.
Other people are replying to you acting like this is strange, but it's actually something normal people do all the time.
Every politician being interviewed from their home for TV news, every professor recording video lectures, every remote working CEO, and every twitch streamer has considered what is on display behind them.
If I choose shelves as my background, do I want eagle-eyed viewers to see my copies of playboy, my figurines of naked anime ladies, and my copies of the communist manifesto and mein kampf? As a matter of fact I don't.
I get that sentiment, it's not like I would put everything on display indiscriminately.
However, a statement like this "they might glean the nature of your thoughts", strikes me as .. lonely, if nothing else. I want privacy from Facebook and the general public, etc. But people that I invite into my house are people I am going to have conversations with and I want them to know the "real me", whatever that means, or at least a closer approximation of it. I certainly wouldn't want them to think that my political beliefs are something completely different from what they actually are.
How do you get along with communicating to others?
>In a way, you're letting people see the nature of things that you read - from which they might glean the nature of your thoughts
Nobody cares what you think. But if there are state-sponsored actors that do, they have way more insight into your life than the _nature of things that you read_ from physical texts you own. Digital library gives off a much resonant footprint in this regard.
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