Bibliomaniac vs. Bookworm

There are different types of people in the society; people who hate books, people who have to read books (like it or not), who like reading books, who love reading books and people who see books in between physiological needs and safety in Maslow's hierarchy of needs. In the last category, you will also find that there are some who are addicted to buying books. 

If you fall into the last category, you are the type of a person who happens to visit a bookstore every couple of weeks just to check the latest arrivals. When you visit the bookstore and see new books, you feel overwhelmed and have the urge to buy a new book. So, you will buy, glance through few pages and put it aside to read it when you finish whatever you were doing before you bought the book. Your schedule will be hectic, you will come across many things and your new book will wait for you, wherever you put it. Although you are busy, deep inside you will always know that there is a book waiting for you to read.

But, over the next couple of weeks your feet will drag you to the bookstore on your way home. Although you still remember the book you bought last week, which is waiting for you, you will see another must-have book on a shelf. You will do the math in your head, make a schedule that you will have a plenty of time to read and reason out yourself why you should be buying this new book. Ultimately, your rationale will win. You will buy this new book and the book you bought last week will have to shift into your bookshelf.

If you too are like this, it is time to admit that you are addicted to buying books. I know this because I am an addict. I have so many books just sitting in piles around my house waiting to be read, and what do I do several times every single month? I keep buying new books. I keep buying although I know that I should finish what I already have before buying anymore, but I just can't!

I also learnt that I am not alone. If you’re like me, and you too are addicted to buy more books than you can read, you too must have wondered how you are going to stop this habit. It is not like that we can stop this habit at once. Every month I think of ending this habit, considering the financial aspect of it.  It is really hard, but no one can afford to be broke in the middle of each month.

Interestingly, while surfing the net to seek for a way to control my habit, I came across the word, bibliomania. Bibliomania is one of the several unusual behaviors associated with books and it is characterized by collecting of books which is neither useful to the collector or to any great intrinsic value to a genuine book collector. Bibliomaniacs are different from bibliophiles. According to Wikipedia, bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Accordingly a bibliophile is an individual who loves books. A bookworm (sometimes pejorative) is someone who loves books for their content, or who otherwise loves reading.

However, bibliomania is different from just hoarding your bookshelves with books.  Bibliomania can be a symptom of obsessive–compulsive disorder which involves collecting books to the point where social relations or health are damaged. Surprisingly there are more abnormal behaviors involving books including book-eating (bibliophagy), compulsive book-stealing (bibliokleptomania) and book-burying (bibliotaphy).

Experts on the internet suggest that making a rule that you will read some number of books you currently own before buying another one could help my bad habit. This will let you control your book purchasing habits without requiring that you wait several years until you've read the entire existing selection. It also encourages you to read more, knowing that you can reward yourself with a new book soon enough, and not feel guilty about it.

Also, make a list of books you want to buy. Try to stick to it. This will also help you to reduce the number of books you buy. You can also try the Kindle or e-versions of books. But, some people find it difficult to read the e-versions, therefore they stick with the ordinary books. If none of these are helping, try out the ‘buy one, get rid of one’ rule. If you buy a book, immediately get rid of a book you already have and have finished reading. Either donate it to a library, one in need or give it to a friend. Best of all get a library membership and borrow books to read. Visit the library instead of visiting a bookstore. Keeping away from the bookstores will surely help you.