TITLE: The Annual Book March
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: May 08, 2009  6:31 AM
DESC: 
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BODY:
There is a scene in the television show "Two and
a Half Men" in which neurotic Alan has a major
meltdown in a bookstore.  He decided to use some
newly-found free time to better himself through
reading the classics.  He grabs some books from
one shelf, say, Greek drama, and then from another,
and another, picking up speed as he realizes that
there aren't enough hours in a day or a lifetime
to read all that is available.  This pushes him
over the edge, he makes a huge scene, and his
brother is embarrassed in front of the whole
store.

I know that feeling this time of year.  When I
check books out from the university library, the
due date is always next May, at the end of finals
week for spring semester.  Over the year, I run
into books I'd like to read, new and old, in
every conceivable place: e-mail, blogs, tweets,
newspapers, ...  With no particular constraint
other than a finite amount of shelf space -- and
floor space, and space at home -- I check it out.

Now is the season of returning.  I gather up
all the books on my shelves, and on my floors,
and in my home.  For most of my years here, I
have renewed them.  Surely I will read them this
summer, when time is less rare, or next year, on
a trip or a break.  At the beginning of the last
couple of Mays, though, I have been trying to be
more honest with myself and return books that
have fallen so far down the list as to be
unlikely reads.  Some are far enough from my main
areas of interest or work that they are crowded
out by more relevant books.  Others are in my
area of interest but trumped by something newer
or more on-point.

Now, as I walk to the library, arms full, to
return one or two or six, I often feel like poor,
neurotic Alan.  So many book, so little time!
How can I do anything but fall
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2007-10.html#e2007-10-19T16_42_59.htm">
   farther and farther behind</A>
withe each passing day?  Every book I return is
like a little surrender.

I am not quite as neurotic as Alan; at least I've
never melted down in front of the book drop for
all my students to see.  I recognize reality.
Still, it is hard to return almost any book
unread.

I've had better habits this year, enforcing on myself
first  a strict policy of returning two books for
every new one I checked out, then backsliding to an
even one-for-one swap.  As a result, I have far fewer
books to return or new.  Still, this week I have
surrendered Knuth's <EM>Selected Papers on Analysis
of Algorithms</EM>, David Berlinski's <EM>The Advent
of the Algorithm</EM>, and Jerry Weissman's
<EM>Presenting to Win</EM>.  Worry not; others will
take their place, both old (Northcote Parkinson,
<EM>Parkinson's Law</EM>) and new:
<A HREF="http://www.pragprog.com/titles/cfcar2/the-passionate-programmer">
   The Passionate Programmer</A>
and
<A HREF="http://www.pragprog.com/titles/gwpy/practical-programming">
   Practical Programming</A>.
The last of these promises an intro to programming for
the 21st century, and I am eager to see how well they
carry off the idea.

So, in the end, even if something changed radically to
make the life of a professor less attractive, I agree
with Learning Curves on the
<A HREF="http://learningcurves.blogspot.com/2009/05/real-reason-that-i-will-never-quit-my.html">
   real reason I will never give up my job</A>:
the library.
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