Heavenly Books

I have this habit of marking up my books and then passing them on. My hope is that when I give a book away to someone that they "pass it on" also.

On Wednesday as I was talking to S.W. about his new magazine, I mentioned Family Foundations, and reached over to pass on the book "The Foundation: A Great American Secret" by Joel L. Fleishman sitting on my office bookshelf.

I could feel conflict in possession/collection vs giving and releasing. Did I really need that book on my shelf in my office? As I turned it over to S.W., I wondered - will it be read again? will it be passed on? will it sit again on a shelf collecting dust forever on S.W.'s shelf? What path will the book take and who might it influence?

S.W. called me back the next day - thanking me for the idea; he was going to use it in his magazine. In a sense the book - "grew a limb" - a branch in it's journey of influence.

If there are not books in Heaven - do you really want to go there? C.S. Lewis answers:

"I don't see why there shouldn't be books in Heaven. But you will find that your library in Heaven contains only some of the books you had on earth. Which? I asked. The ones you gave away or lent. I hope the lent ones won't still have all the borrowers' dirty marks said I. Oh yes they will, said he. But just as the wounds of the martyrs will have turned into beauties, so you will find that the thumb-marks have turned into beautiful illuminated capitals or exquisite marginal woodcuts"