Item Number 4: Text Book, Philosophy

Time in possession: Since first year University, so over 5 years.

Cost: The excat number has been lost to me, but I want to say 100$. Apparently I can buy it on Amazon now for 25$. Jerks!

Description: Black textbook, paperback, 1039 pages. Well worn and slightly water damaged. Contains the writings of a lot of very smart people, most of which cannot hold my attention for very long. My first year philosophy grade attests to this.

Story: I really shouldn't still have this book. I didn't really need it in the first place. It was purchased for some ungodly amount of money in first year and used amazingly seldom. Also, it bears mentioning that the classics of western philosophy are rather popular and as such pretty easy to obtain at your local library. But, I was young and in first year, so how could I know any better?

While my prof for this class was fantastic, my self discipline for reading various treatises and writing responsive essays was not. I cracked it as seldom as I could manage, party because it's a huge ass book and a real pain to tote around. Also, I really let my girlfriend at the time Erica do most of the heavy lifting in the class (intellectually I mean) and so this further makes the possession of the book silly.

But still, I bought it. If I was smart, as soon as the class was done I would have sold it back to the bookstore for a pittance, but for a small amount of money none the less. But I didn't. And not because of ignorance. No, the reason I did it was because I decided that I would actually read them someday. Yes, some part of me assumed that I would just suddenly decide to rip open the Leviathan one day, and the need to do so would be so strong that I couldn't hop over to the local library or borrow one of my several philosopher friends' copies. No, I would need to have this book in my possession and at the ready! It currently sits in my bookshelf with a bunch of theatre reference books, waiting for that fateful day.

It's been 5 years. I don't think that day is coming anytime soon.