Book It!

So, a few weeks ago my good buddy Thomas and I got into a discussion in which he stated that I have too many books. We went round and round and I told him I thought that I had read the majority of them but that I had probably read all but about 10 % of them. Well, I decided that I was going to figure out the exact number and in doing so, catalog the entire Vaughn Library for insurance purposes. So, what happened?

Well, first let me take you on a tour of the Vaughn Library. The Vaughn Library was established in 2008 when a young go getter by the name of Trinity Vaughn convinced his wife that it was time to get rid of the old book cases and move up to a larger set. After crunching some numbers it was decided that Billy the Bookcase, a staple of the retail giant Ikea, could be bought and in budget. Thus the Library was formed.

Notice in this recent photo the sculptures that adorn the shelves of the library. Characters such as The Thing, Spider-Man, and the Machine Man are littered throughout the shelves. But not to be trumped, Jack in the Boxes such as Popeye and Mother Goose keep a good balance to the shelves.



The Vaughn Library has expanded out into a curio cabinet/desk that is housing the classics library.

Also added was the Vaughn Children's Library. This small upstairs nook was established as an overflow library but was soon swapped to a Children's Library when it was too cumbersome for Diana to go up and down the stairs when Trinity needed a bedtime story.

So, now that you have seen the library maybe you agree with Thomas. So, lets get to the numbers. I broke down the 580 books we own into three categories. Books that are Diana's, books that I have read and are mine, and books that I haven't read and are considered mine. Here are the results.

On this pie graph we can see that of the 455 books that I own, I have read 369 of them. That would be a read rate of 81.09%. Now that is clearly not 10% so my estimate was slightly off but it is less than 20% which I think is acceptable.

But, the above graph counted my graphic novel collection which is a rather large amount and can be read rather easily. So, to make sure my numbers were accurate, I ran them minus the Graphic Novel counts. In that estimate out of the 307 books that fell in this category, I have read 225 which brings us to a read rate of 73.28%. So, I have read 3/4 of all the books on my shelf.

So, do I have too many books? Maybe. But at the same time I don't mind. Thomas' position on the subject was that I should just buy books and read them before I buy more. But I don't roll like that. Never have. I will say that with 25% of all my books still to read, I like the idea that I have a variety to choose from and don't have a limit to hit.

That is all,

Newt