It struck me the other day how much everything has changed since I sold my first book in 2002.
This picture shows a mere fraction of my reference books, including dictionaries and thesauruses. And I realized that I haven't opened any of them in what seems like forever.
Need to find a synonym? Internet. Need to look up a word? Internet. Need a name for a secondary character? Internet. Need to research something? Internet.
When I first bought many of these books, I had dial up. It was painfully slow and it was easier to keep a thesaurus next to me rather than brave the internet.
Now? With fiber broadband? It's quicker and easier to hop online.
Which leads me to dwelling on whether or not I should prune my research collection and which books should go? Some of them do have information that would take time to hunt down online. It wouldn't be impossible, but it would take some digging. I should probably keep those books, but where is the line? And getting rid of books? Gah! I've done it before, but it still seems daunting.
I wish ebooks had been around when I amassed this collection because then the space they take up wouldn't be an issue. It for sure would have made it easier to move.
