The author correctly rejects the term “antilibrary” but then goes off in the weeds trying to find a new term to replace it.
It is claimed that the typical university library has at least 2 orders of magnitude more books than a person could ever hope to actually read in their lifetime. I accept that, but take it further. This library contains at least 3 orders of magnitude more books than an extraordinarily literary person will realistically read in their lifetime, and 4-5 orders of magnitude more books than the average person will read in their lifetime.
Therefore, a “personal collection” of books isn’t a “personal library” until it has grown far beyond what the owner has or possibly even will read.
The author correctly rejects the term “antilibrary” but then goes off in the weeds trying to find a new term to replace it.
It is claimed that the typical university library has at least 2 orders of magnitude more books than a person could ever hope to actually read in their lifetime. I accept that, but take it further. This library contains at least 3 orders of magnitude more books than an extraordinarily literary person will realistically read in their lifetime, and 4-5 orders of magnitude more books than the average person will read in their lifetime.
Therefore, a “personal collection” of books isn’t a “personal library” until it has grown far beyond what the owner has or possibly even will read.