New Year makes me think about clearing things out. I need to get rid of a lot of old books – at least so I can make room in my bookcases for my new ones.  Though when I say old books I really mean books that I will never read again even if they were only bought last week.

This year most of the Christmas presents I received came from my Amazon wish-list.  This does mean I got to pick my own books.  (Though I did notice that people preferred to buy me DVDs over philosophy books.)  Presents included:

• Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future, Friedrich Nietzsche
• The Book of Loss, Julith Jedamus
• Shakespeare: The World as a Stage, Bill Bryson
• How to Win Every Argument: The Use and Abuse of Logic, Madsen Pirie

I read every day and I have been making an effort to add more non-fiction to my reading.  Today I read Bertrand Russell’s “In Praise of Idleness“.  Not sure what I will read tomorrow but hopefully it’s something inspiring.

There are many sorts of books; but good ones are the sort for the young to read. Remember that. They are a great, an inestimable, and unspeakable means of improvement.

Mark Twain