Earlier this year, I was trying to explain one of the differences between a primitive variable in Java and an object variable. I said that if a and b are both ints and you say a = b;, you make a copy of the data. Changing b's value will not affect a's value. Not so with objects. If a = b then a and b point to the same object, and a.somefield = x; is the same as b.somefield.x; has the same effect.
To make the point, I used a book analogy. I said that if a and b are primitives and you say a = b;, you have two copies of the same book that are independent from one another. Writing your name on copy a will not write your name on copy b. On the other hand, if a and b are objects, to say a = b is to say that you are sharing an book. To highlight copy a is to highlight copy b.
I then recounted that I cut my copy of Prisoner of Azkaban. I was about to leave on a long trip and was several chapters away from the end. Goblet of Fire had just come out and I wanted to bring it along. I didn't want to carry both copies, so I cut out the remaining chapters of book 3. Oh, and yes, my copy was hardbound.
My class freaked. How can you do that to Harry Potter?!
But this is how I am with my books. I dog-ear them. I highlight them. I make marginal notes. My cookbooks have it much worse. They're floured, oiled and sauced. I've dropped them. I've broken their spines. I've undone the binding. (The stains on my cookbooks are a logfile of my development as a cook.)
The Rizal Library recently quotes Neil Gaiman as saying:
“[D]on't ever apologize to an author for buying something in paperback, or taking it out from a library (that's what they're there for. Use your library). Don't apologize to this author for buying books second hand, or getting them from bookcrossing or borrowing a friend's copy. What's important to me is that people read the books and enjoy them, and that, at some point in there, the book was bought by someone. And that people who like things, tell other people. The most important thing is that people read... ”
Well, Neil, I hope you feel the same way about how I abuse my books. This is how I show them that I love them.
