Cleaning Alphabet for Indexers: A-B

The less important the book, the more it qualifies for the Get Rid Of Pile.

Next, bookshelves are the stories of our lives. That's why I think there are psychological meanings in books. What do your bookshelves say about you?

Do they reflect your level of anal retentiveness in life? People who alphabetize their bookshelves, or have them arranged by the Dewey system, make me verrrrrry nervous!

We all need to exercise this level of detail in our work, but not necessarily in our daily lives.

My bookshelves reflect who I am. I keep the subjects together: business, personal, cooking, health, and so on. But, that's it. No alphabetizing by title or author. That pretty much sums up my philosophy, as you've noticed by now. Organized, but not fanatical or anal retentive about it.

But, if you are obsessive in life, make sure your bookshelves reflect that.

Are your bookshelves so jammed packed there is no room for intellectual growth? Are you stuck in intellectual muck?

I have (and like) breathing room on my shelves. Jammed packed shelves upset me. Too much going on, and no quiet space between. And, if you want to bring home a book that has a fresh outlook, or new and current information, there's no room for anything new if the shelves are jammed packed!

However, until I got rid of all those books and the extra shelves this year, my shelves didn't have breathing room. So, along with that 25 feet of bookcases and shelving the left my home, even more books left because I wanted breathing room on the remaining bookshelves!

These shelves used to be jammed packed and overflowing with just books. Well, not anymore! I know have room for "doggie" toys on the bottom, telephone, and a sculpture. I've always loved those types of sculptures, but they are usually of men. This one is of a lady, and I love it! She holds center stage on the top shelf. She used to be tucked away in a closet because there wasn't room to display her--until I decluttered my bookshelves!

I was really ruthless when decluttering my books. I wanted to get out of intellectual stagnation and have room for intellectual growth.

You've got to be ruthless. There's always a reason to keep a book. And remember. If it's just a book you've bought, and not a special edition or something, you can always get on the Internet and replace