Please settle an argument, am I odd?

[sashh]

So my carer has just come into my office and made a remark about my 'eclectic' book collection.

I responded that they are organised by Dewey-decimal system.

He claim this is odd.

In order not to drip feed my cookery books are in the living room and in spine colour order and fiction is kept on my kindle.

I do not think I am odd. I think it is completely sensible to have text books organised this way.

Not odd at all.

Might he have meant 'odd' in a good way? As in - you're not a sheep?

Well I just had to look up that system and it seems I have just done the Dewey decimal system naturally in my home
It makes perfect sense to group books like that
I also put the relevant art, nick nacks etc near the books too so I must be doubly odd! 😊

How any books do you have - if you have a high number it makes sense, if you have fifteen then yes that would be quite odd.

@emilyfrost

I think it’s odd. Most people don’t organise their books they just shove them on the bookshelf 🤷‍♀️

Speak for yourself.

I would have made the claim that 'most people' have an organisational system of some sort, even if simply by topic or fiction/non-fiction, and "just shoving them" would look messy and make it hard to find titles.

Mine are organised in the special 'clumps of similar subject matter with the exception of any ugly ones or hideous colours which are banished to upstairs' system.

Odd in the sense of “slightly unusual”, not “get away, you weirdo”

@emilyfrost

I think it’s odd. Most people don’t organise their books they just shove them on the bookshelf 🤷‍♀️

Re, no they don't!!! I organise mine by general subject, and specific topic. For example- history, and within that, different time periods. God, imagine Roman history mixing with early modern. ( shudders)

Oh I see.

I don’t think using the DD system is any more odd that arranging by colour.

I do still think it was small talk.

@PuppyMonkey

I feel I should know this but what is the Dewey Decimal system please? I bet someone on the thread is dying to explain it.

I do know that eclectic means though.

I only know it because my part-time job as a student was working in a library. It's nothing special, just a particular way of categorising books where each 100 has a meta-topic which is then broken down into smaller numbers within that topic (down to 2 decimal places, with author surnames afterwards). For example, anything in the 900s is History and Georgraphy; 940- 949 is European history; 942 is English and Welsh history; 942.4 is the history of the West Midlands; and any subsequent decimal place is a subset of it (e.g. Birmingham, Staffordshire).

As it literally affects no one but you organise your books however the hell you like but if one of them is a dictionary, look up the meaning of eclectic

Unusually organised abs methodical - but not odd

Thank you @Fink

()

I have mine alphabetically by authors surname. Obviously sequels then slot in next to each other before next author starts

My non-fiction is in Dewey order (with a separate oversize shelf, also in DD order) except for my English History books, because English History is 942 and British History is 941, which means that books on the Plantagenets come after books on the Georgians, which is daft.
My fiction is alphabetical by author on my shelves, but on my kindle home page is organised into folders by type. My cookery books are in the kitchen, arranged by size.
As you may have guessed, I'm a retired librarian...

How do you know the Dewey number though, do you look it up?

Eclectic = on a diverse and apparently unrelated range of subjects (common usage), or drawing from a diverse range of approaches and perspectives to address a particular subject (more technical definition).

Are your non-fiction books eclectic? Do they all relate to your field of work? Do they do so in an eclectic way?

Is it because they are so eclectic that you find you need to organise them by the DD system, as their themes and authors are so diverse?

'Eclectic' is usually used, in everyday speech, in a complimentary way i.e. 'what a diverse range of books, you must read widely and be a very well-informed and interesting person'. Certainly that's usually what is implied when anyone describes their own tastes as eclectic.

I tend to keep similar books together as well.

It's perhaps a bit OTT to organise your books as if your house is library, unless you have thousands of them. Mine are split into fiction (alphabeticised), non-fiction with a separate reference section and cookery books in the kitchen, but I don't make a song and dance about it.

You're clearly quite proud of this quirkiness. Not that there's anything wrong with it (the quirkiness, or the DD organising) but it's not really something that warrants adulation.

@FlyingBurrito

As it literally affects no one but you organise your books however the hell you like but if one of them is a dictionary, look up the meaning of eclectic

Dewey decimal is fine, it’s a sensible way to order books. But I could never understand doing it by colour. Books aren’t ornaments to look pretty.

@Pumperthepumper

How do you know the Dewey number though, do you look it up?

I remember most of them, certainly in as much detail as necessary - eg books on cars are 629, pets are 636 so cars come before pets on the shelf (I don't generally worry too much about the bit after the decimal point, though I do remember some of them in rather worrying detail.)😁

I remember most of them, certainly in as much detail as necessary - eg books on cars are 629, pets are 636 so cars come before pets on the shelf (I don't generally worry too much about the bit after the decimal point, though I do remember some of them in rather worrying detail.)😁

I do too but I’m also an expert-librarian. I’d be surprised if anyone who hasn’t had to do an entire unit on the DDS could though.

@Chamomileteaplease

Surely "eclectic" means of a wide interest, which is nothing to do with the Dewey Decimal system? .

So your answer was not related to the question, which in itself could be seen as odd.

With regard to the rest, everyone puts their books where they want and it's no one else's business .

agree, an odd question.

*ex-librarian hahaha, some typo!

It’s no more weird than organising them alphabetically.