Am I incredibly weird?

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I'm not really a "germ freak" although I am SLIGHTLY more cautious than other people. However, ever since I was about seven years old, I have simply REFUSED to touch library books. Something about those brown, stained pages and that dreadful smell completely turns me off from the idea of free books.

I suppose I'm the only one, right?

― Lee is Free (Lee is Free), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 02:19 (nineteen years ago)

I'm a librarian, and I say you are making a wise decision.

― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 02:21 (nineteen years ago)

Of course, not all the books are that bad, but it's amazing how filthy many of them are. I feel as though I can never wash my hands often enough at work.

― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 02:24 (nineteen years ago)

i'm a bit squeamish about library books. sadly there are a lot of nose-pickers in this world of ours.

― estela (estela), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 02:36 (nineteen years ago)

What are your thoughts on paper money?

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 02:54 (nineteen years ago)

the same as for books but i try not to think about it. recently i was given in change a 20-cent coin that looked as if it had journeyed through a colon, it was terrible.

― estela (estela), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 02:58 (nineteen years ago)

yup.

― jay blanchard (jay blanchard), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 03:31 (nineteen years ago)

I worked in libraries all through college and it never occurred to me to even worry about it. In fact, whenever I came across an especially old and musty book I would stick my nose in its pages and sniff in the booky aroma. I never worry about germs and the sickest I get is a cold once a year.

― Okeigh, Wednesday, 1 March 2006 04:00 (nineteen years ago)

I'm with Okeigh on this one. The smell of old, read-to-shreds books can be telling in a very surprising way, especially if the book itself is old. This goes for library books as well as for books you find at a bookfair, in second-hand bookstores etc.

― Gerard (Gerard), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 04:22 (nineteen years ago)

I used to shy away from library books--never knew where they had been--and during my college years when my friends bough $2 books on Broadway I deemed them "peed upon" and refused to touch them. Later I noticed you could find good books off the street, libraries were often useful, and someday I may even make my living proffering these wretched objects. Best is to get in on the ground floor--be the first in line for the new book (helps if you work at the library) and it's like having your very own brand new book that you won't have to make for after you've read. Shockingly sinister when you're the first one to break the paperback spine though, or drop some bits of dinner in the midst of a hardcover, or spill water on top of stack of borrowed books. . . .

― Mary (Mary), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 05:21 (nineteen years ago)

As my father said happily and repeatedly, "You've got to eat a peck of dirt before you die." I'm probably working on my second or third by now. This makes touching library books seem like child's play.

― Aimless (Aimless), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 06:09 (nineteen years ago)

remember - germs hate knowlege!!

― Mr Jones (Mr Jones), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 08:38 (nineteen years ago)

I'm with the peck of dirt thing. I was a bit shocked to find people in library school who wouldn't borrow books from libraries because of the GURMS.

You may as well fear door handles or internet cafes.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 09:44 (nineteen years ago)

I think people these days are way too obsessed about germs and hygiene. Our body is not some delicate machine that will instantly break down if it has some contact with dirt/germs/whatever. I wouldn't have even though library books are something to be afraid of. Think about how people used to live 100 or 200 years ago: compared to that things are ultra-hygienic these days. Also, too much hygiene makes us more prompt to allergies, since people aren't exposed to allergens and don't get resistant to them. When I was a kid I sometimes used to drink water from puddles, yet nothing came from it.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 10:05 (nineteen years ago)

You think?!

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 10:11 (nineteen years ago)

Have kids and stop worrying about germs. Once you've scraped dogcrap out of your kids trainers a couple of times a few oddly stained books are going to hold no fear.

― Ned T.Rifle (nedtrifle), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 10:38 (nineteen years ago)

When I worked in a public library many years ago, I was OK about most of the books but I'm afraid the Westerns section (patronised by old men) was kind of vile to touch.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 10:43 (nineteen years ago)

Oh god yeah that's true actually. I did used to have fear of Westerns. Especially the ones with the weird matte hardback covers that always felt greasy to the touch. Ew.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 11:12 (nineteen years ago)

I'm with the peck of dirt thing.
what is a peck of dirt???

― bobpeck (bobpeck), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 15:19 (nineteen years ago)

A peck is an old imperial measure of dry weight - I'm not sure how much it is, but it is a fair amount.

― Stone Monkey (Stone Monkey), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 15:30 (nineteen years ago)

A peck is a quarter of a bushel!

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 15:32 (nineteen years ago)

When I was a kid I sometimes used to drink water from puddles, yet nothing came from it.

Oh yeah? Well, I used to put WORMS in my mouth when I was a kid. It made the other girls scream and scream. Just a couple of years ago I touched my tongue to one, just to see if I still had my chops. NO PROBLEM. Poor wormie. He probably died from my GERMS.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 15:34 (nineteen years ago)

(16 pints)

That's quite a lot of dirt really. Maybe just a tablespoon for me.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 15:34 (nineteen years ago)

Good to hear that everyone is so cool with booklice.

http://www.uoguelph.ca/%7Esamarsha/STEVEweb/images/Pscoptera.jpg

― NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 15:39 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.exn.ca/news/images/1998/11/05/19981105-bugcover.jpg

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 15:40 (nineteen years ago)

That's so obviously a woman eating bugs.

― Stone Monkey (Stone Monkey), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 15:41 (nineteen years ago)

keyboard dirtier than a public toilet?
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/18/1330244

― bobpeck (bobpeck), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 15:43 (nineteen years ago)

I hope she's just doing a shadow-puppet rabbit on the cover there and not trying to make some sort of naughty gesture at the gentle reader.

― NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 15:44 (nineteen years ago)

Heh, I've mostly bought used books. Some of them are sticky. A couple of them I can smell several from several feet away.
But they were so cheap!

So, ah, I guess I don't have that hangup.

Weirdo.

― Øystein (Øystein), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 16:33 (nineteen years ago)

I was sure this would be a jaymc thread.

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:15 (nineteen years ago)

One peck in one lifetime works out to less than one cubic millimeter per meal.

― Aimless (Aimless), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:22 (nineteen years ago)

I like how germophobes get sick because they don't build up a resistance. I said "achoo" to my father over the phone the other day and put him in the hospital for a day, HAW.

― pixel farmer (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:24 (nineteen years ago)

I hope you have spent the last two hours painstakingly calculating that, Aimless.

I guess it depends what you classify as dirt - one man's mould is another man's tasty cheese after all.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:25 (nineteen years ago)

What's to worry? Wash your hands, germophobes, and don't touch your eyes/nose/mouth/other mucosa before you do. And - don't lick the used books or rub them on your face! Your skin is for keeping germs out; let it do its job.

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:30 (nineteen years ago)

This thread is making me hungry.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:31 (nineteen years ago)

I'm not a germ freak at all and barely wash my hands, but I ate lunch with my uncle/godfather who is a physician and he carries hand sanitizer with him!

I've alway felt that you need to keep your immune system in training, like an olympic team, so I let wounds get infected and I'm constantly challenging my immune system; therefore I never get sick.

Library books don't bother me; the library bathroom does, people shower in there and whatnot.

― andy --, Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:50 (nineteen years ago)

Library books?!? God help us if there's a war.

― Raw, Uncompromising, and Noodly (noodle vague), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 18:36 (nineteen years ago)

i hope i'm not being categorised as a germophobe; i am only 'a bit squeamish'.

― estela (estela), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 20:42 (nineteen years ago)

How long do germs live? Specifically, how long do they live on a library book?

― Dave will do (dave225.3), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 20:45 (nineteen years ago)

A few seconds to hundreds of years, depending on what it is.

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 21:07 (nineteen years ago)

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