Books, etc.

I have a problem with books, in that if I walk into a bookstore I'm compelled to walk out with something new to read. And I go into a lot of bookstores, so many, that my ever growing to read pile has gotten to the point I've had to employ math:

B being the current number of unread books
H being the number of available reading hours per day (averaged over a week)
N being the number of pages I read per hour
R being the average pages per book

H/N = X, B/R = Y, Y/X = A really long time (as in years)

The formula may be a bit fuzzy, but you get the point, I have more books to read than I have time and yet I continue to amass more and more of these hardbacked, paperbacked and perfect bound lovelies. So it shouldn't be a great surprise that I love to talk about books. Seriously, bring up books with me and I'll lose all focus of anything else we're discussing, it's my weakness, my kryptonite if you will. And this was a strategy employed by one of my students last week, mid-class while we were discussing something (I don't remember what, we started talking books, i.e. my entire point here).

Books led to talking about libraries, which led to talking about great libraries and eventually to discussing the St. Louis Central Library, which is simply put amazing. I know, I know, I'm biased, so in the immortal words of Levar Burton, "But you don't have to take my word for it."

Photos of the St. Louis Central Library (via I don't know, where do you want to go)

Check out the photos linked above and I suspect you'll be all "hot damn" and "wowsers" or if you're in the area, stop by the library, maybe check out a book or even take the tour (and remember to bring your camera).