Another insight on burning books for heat:
Over coffee one afternoon in the summer of 2001, András reminded me of
another way to burn books, explained to him by a colleague who survived the
siege of Sarajevo. In the winter, the scholar and his wife ran out of
firewood, and so began to burn their books for heat and cooking. "This
forces one to think critically," András remembered his friend saying. "One
must prioritize. First, you burn old college textbooks, which you haven't
read in thirty years. Then there are the duplicates. But eventually, you're
forced to make tougher choices. Who burns today: Dostoevsky or Proust?" I
asked András if his friend had any books left when the war was over. "Oh
yes," he replied, his face lit by a flickering smile. "He still had many
books. Sometimes, he told me, you look at the books and just choose to go
hungry."
Excerpt from Library by Matthew Battles:
http://www.wwnorton.com/catalog/spring04/032564excerpt.htm
Elisabeth M. McKechnie, J.D., M.L.I.S.
Associate Librarian
UC Davis Law Library
(530) 752-3327
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