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| A Portion of My Memory Theater |
A slightly sad but lovely meditation here, ranging from from Plato’s “Phaedrus” to Google as “The Last Library”:
What concerns me about the literary apocalypse that everybody now expects — the at least partial elimination of paper books in favor of digital alternatives — is not chiefly the books themselves, but the bookshelf. My fear is for the eclectic, personal collections that we bookish people assemble over the course of our lives, as well as for their grander, public step-siblings. I fear for our memory theaters.
More from Nathan Schneider‘s “The New Memory Theater” in The Smart Set here.
Joseph Hutchison, Colorado Poet Laureate 2014-2019, has published 20 collections of poems and edited or co-edited three poetry anthologies. He currently directs two master’s-level programs for University College at the University of Denver: Professional Creative Writing and Arts & Culture Management. Joe lives with his wife, Melody Madonna, in the mountains southwest of Denver, Colorado, the city where he was born. 
Ed—I'm too old to worry…<br /><br />James—what a wonderful quote! I know the first thing I do (it's annoying, but…), when visiting someone in their home for the first time, is wander about in search of the library. Sometimes it's a solitary bookcase; sometimes whole room given over. I have to guard against spending too long, taking books down and putting them back. Something of an
Nothing makes a man more reverent than a library. ‘A few books,’ which was Lord Morley’s definition of anything under five thousand, may give a sense of comfort and even of complacency. But a day in a library, even of modest dimensions, quickly dispels these illusory sensations. As you browse about, taking down book after book from the shelves and contemplating the vast, infinitely varied store
HEY JOE<br />doughnut worry<br /><br />We were (mostly) lobotomized sometime in the 80's<br />AND<br />our National Culture became (no is) what we caught fro Ronald Reagan.. Alzheimer's or worst:<br /><br />Credentialism Ad Nauseum….<br /><br />looks like home/hand made pine shelve-ing not too may left who know hoe to build book-shelves…not too many left who know how to DO<br />