Revised: Peacocking Bookcases
I take great pride in my bookcases, each shelf a testament to my own appetite for learning, as well as a hope of nurturing a lifelong love of learning and reading for my own daughter.
Each yard of bookshelf space is driven by my personal hunger for learning. They serve as a well-stocked refrigerator for the mind, where my appetite can be served from a variety of sources without the need of an electronic screen or a passing loan from a library.
Certain books, like my family Bibles written in German dating back over 150 years, hold deep sentimental value even if they are incomprehensible. Fragile and fading, they include the history of my ancestors and their arrival in this country and their struggles to survive.
A more current example linked to family includes my father-in-law’s “Heroes All: Race to the Pole,” written to capture the stories of the forgotten heroes who raced to the South Pole with Scott and Amundsen. He brings this history to life from his own personal experience during a winter spent in Antarctica. This book holds a special place in our shelves as it embodies the spirit of exploration and intellectual curiosity we’ve deeply valued across generations1.
It is not just the books on the shelves, but also artifacts that represent the pursuit of an intellectually fulfilling life. The dried flowers near the family Bibles serve as a thoughtful reminder of my wedding day. Scanning the rest of my shelves, I see a mug given as thanks for a lecture for Rose-Hulman students, a Rodin statue from a trip to France, and an award I received for artificial intelligence research. These items are more than symbols of intellect; they represent a life of action…lectures given, journeys taken, and lives touched.
I admire bookcases of others…the authentic ones, not the Zoom backgrounds…especially those that also incorporate a few artifacts of a life well lived. For instance, I encouraged a friend to take a Ferrari experience around a track for his bachelor party. You can see he has a model of that Ferrari on his shelves to commemorate a joyful and memorable experience in a dream car.
His shelves, curated with an impeccable eye for detail and thoughtful aesthetics, transform his guestroom into an experience of its own. One feels both wiser, more serene, and inspired for a richer life before resting among his volumes of eclectic interests that reflect his own curiosity and dedication to learning. Waking up surrounded by them has a similar effect.
One of the most beautifully curated rooms I may ever see is the Enlightenment Exhibit at the British Museum in London. There is something that resonates within me when I see leather bound books and marble statues, and I will admire these things in one place with very few exceptions.
This is what we do now, collecting souvenirs and awards for what we did, placing them by books we read or hope to read but it all lacks the provenance of a more prestigious collection. I have enough family knickknacks to know that we all have our brand of minutiae that in the moment really matters and warrants purchase and accumulation. At home, it takes effort to balance what is truly meaningful versus decorative or impulsive acquisitions, ensuring what we bring into the house reinforces our intellectual values. Regardless, it could cynically be all seen as clutter even when it is something meaningful.
While my study may never rival the grandeur of the Enlightenment Exhibit or other renowned libraries, I am content to add and subtract from it as my own intellectual sanctuary for myself and my family. That is a happy outcome to me, serving its purpose to showcase my lifelong love of learning…even if it means only my family enjoy it and it all lands on thrift shop displays or Brooklyn stoop sales in time.
It remains something I enjoy in my own surroundings, admire in others, and in a small way kindles hope for the future. I hope these shelves, brimming with diverse knowledge and wisdom embellished with mementos of an intellectual life in action, will inspire the same love for learning in the next generation as an initial step to establish an intellectual legacy within my family. 2
For those interested in the untold adventures of intrepid explorers, my father-in-law’s book, Heroes All: Race to the Pole, is available for purchase on Amazon. Drawing from research and personal experiences in Antarctica, this book brings to life the forgotten stories of those involved on the Scott and Amundsen journeys, and is a captivating read for anyone who enjoys history and adventure.