Looking forward to seeing the next few videos! I only recently(2 years) started reading a lot so I have one book shelf in my church office but I organize it with the commentaries and sets on the bottom, theological book in middle, and Christian living/healthy church books on top
My books are organized by the Dewey decimal system... except for my commentaries which are grouped together by either series or book of the bible. The only fiction books I have are in my kids library section. They are homeschooled so they have a large selection of books in their school area. About 2 1/2 large Ikea bookshelves for them. This include picture books, chapter books, research books (history, science, art, other). In my collection I decided to go with the Dewey decimal system because then it's grouped by theme. I may know I have a book on say, heaven, but I can't remember the exact title or author I can remember the theme. This just made the most sense for my husband and I. My kids books are grouped the same way but without the numbers. They have about a quarter of the books I do.
I am actually in the process of reorganizing my theological library. I want to organize it according to the Encyclopedia of Theology. So it would be the four main categories of theology; that is, exegetical theology, historical theology, systematic theology, and practical / pastoral theology. And then underneath each of those would follow the various subdisciplines of their theologies respectively, and then within those, the books would be categorized by author. That is how my library is categorized now, just not under the four main categories of theology.
I don't know if I'd be able to keep a handle on all of the books I have in those various subcategories! I've looked at my shelves sorted by name for so long that I've internalized a lot of it 🤣
I don't have an organized system at all, I have four bookcases (Billy ones like yours) but the books are crammed in partially by size partially "wherever it fit". Then I have boxes of books to be read 😅 too many books and not enough time
Currently have way too many books [huge TBR]... they're just wherever they fit at the moment. I really need to go through and categorise them all and plan how I want to sort them throughout the house (my wife and I have wildly different book tastes though😂)...
Okay, I am the one who organizes books by their color 🤓 Well, I find it pretty and it is much easier for me to find something I need right now. Since I do remember every book cover I have in my library, it takes me 5-7 seconds to find one. And 3-4 years ago I sorted out my books by their size 😅
I would hardly call my collection a library, and the ordering is only just getting there - things like a puritan section, modern section, collected works, commentaries or biblical study etc. I personally have a system of putting a number 1-7 on a set of books, then reading book #1 on monday, #2 on tuesday etc. I save Spurgeons sermons for Sunday haha. Looking forward to more great videos!
Enjoyed the video Walter! Thanks for sharing! - Question... how do you keep from buying books you already own? Like you are at the used bookstore and find agreat one but don't know if you have it or what edition you have (speaking from experience here). Have you experienced any problems with that in the past? (I have a spreadsheet, took a month and spent 30 minutes a day inputting stuff two years ago and have updated and used it ever since). Just was wondering if you have some system for that.
The short answer is I’m mainly only buying books that are new to me at this point, so there’s not a high likelihood of buying a book I already own. And while I do have five or so bookshelves worth of books, it’s not so many that I can’t trust my memory on it. A library filing system could definitely help and take the human error out though!
I completely agree physical books are way better, recently I have been building a theological library and the books that I started whith is Louis Berkhof's Systematic Theology, Mere Christianity, Screw tape letters, Works of saint Anselm, and the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. any others you might recommend for a beginner like me.
I have 4200 books divided by Supercategory, category, sub-category, organized within the category or subcategory by author's last name and publication date. I have 134 categories/subcategories, if I remember correctly.
@@wtsreads Apparently, i have 164 Supercategories and hundreds of Categories and Subcategories. Examples: Supercategory: Bibles Categories: ORTHODOX TRANSLATIONS AND STUDY BIBLES CATHOLIC TRANSLATIONS AND STUDY BIBLES PROTESTANT TRANSLATIONS AND STUDY BIBLES BIBLES - INDIVIDUAL TESTAMENTS AND BOOKS BIBLES - ABRIDGED AND OTHER FORMS Supercategory: Liturgies and Missals Categories: CATHOLIC EASTERN ORTHODOX Supercategory: The Liturgy of the Hours Supercategoey: Early Christian Writings and Early Heretical Works Categories: ORTHODOX HETERODOX AND HERETICAL Supercategory: Catechisms, Dogmatic/Magisterial Teaching and Doctrine Category: CATHOLIC EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF ENGLAND CHURCH OF SCOTLAND (PRESBYTERIAN) LUTHERAN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH U.S.A. PRESBYTERIAN AND REFORMED Supercategory: The Didache Series (This is a set of textbooks for Catholic schools and homeschools) Supercategory: Theology and Explanations and Expositions of Dogma, Doctrine, the Sacraments, and the Liturgy, not including Creationism or Sermons Category: CATHOLIC EASTERN ORTHODOX ANGLICAN BAPTIST: AMERICAN BAPTIST CHURCHES IN THE USA/NORTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION BAPTIST: FUNDAMENTALIST BAPTIST BAPTIST: SOUTHERN CHARISMATIC CHRISTIAN AND MISSIONARY ALLIANCE CHURCHES OF CHRIST GENERAL EVANGELICAL SUBCATEGORY: COUNTERPOINTS SERIES SUBCATEGORY: SPECTRUM MULTIVIEW SERIES LUTHERAN - GENERAL LUTHERAN - MISSOURI SYNOD MESSIANIC JEWISH PENTECOSTAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (U.S.A.) PRESBYTERIAN AND REFORMED SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH HETERODOX, HERETICAL, AND “SECULAR” RELIGIOUS
Gosh I wish I could do that and maybe I’ll try. I just feel like I’ll confuse my thoughts and when I refer a friend to a book I’ll mix up which book I read what from… I got so many books I need to read though!
Looking forward to seeing the next few videos!
I only recently(2 years) started reading a lot so I have one book shelf in my church office but I organize it with the commentaries and sets on the bottom, theological book in middle, and Christian living/healthy church books on top
Nice!
Great info. Thanks.
My books are organized by the Dewey decimal system... except for my commentaries which are grouped together by either series or book of the bible. The only fiction books I have are in my kids library section. They are homeschooled so they have a large selection of books in their school area. About 2 1/2 large Ikea bookshelves for them. This include picture books, chapter books, research books (history, science, art, other). In my collection I decided to go with the Dewey decimal system because then it's grouped by theme. I may know I have a book on say, heaven, but I can't remember the exact title or author I can remember the theme. This just made the most sense for my husband and I. My kids books are grouped the same way but without the numbers. They have about a quarter of the books I do.
Hooray for IKEA! We have the same bookshelves :-# Loved this overview, will help me get a bit more organized
I am actually in the process of reorganizing my theological library. I want to organize it according to the Encyclopedia of Theology.
So it would be the four main categories of theology; that is, exegetical theology, historical theology, systematic theology, and practical / pastoral theology. And then underneath each of those would follow the various subdisciplines of their theologies respectively, and then within those, the books would be categorized by author. That is how my library is categorized now, just not under the four main categories of theology.
I don't know if I'd be able to keep a handle on all of the books I have in those various subcategories! I've looked at my shelves sorted by name for so long that I've internalized a lot of it 🤣
I don't have an organized system at all, I have four bookcases (Billy ones like yours) but the books are crammed in partially by size partially "wherever it fit". Then I have boxes of books to be read 😅 too many books and not enough time
I think that when you do your video about tips for reading you should also include how you take notes for books and if you have an specific system
I only do very basic underlining, but I might do a survey of various note-taking systems!
Currently have way too many books [huge TBR]... they're just wherever they fit at the moment. I really need to go through and categorise them all and plan how I want to sort them throughout the house (my wife and I have wildly different book tastes though😂)...
Patsy and I keep our books mostly separate too 🤣
Good video, brother! Very helpful. I'm also working on a short series on library sorting and systems.
We sort our libraries very similarly.
Nice, I'm looking forward to watching! Thanks for the encouragement.
Okay, I am the one who organizes books by their color 🤓
Well, I find it pretty and it is much easier for me to find something I need right now. Since I do remember every book cover I have in my library, it takes me 5-7 seconds to find one.
And 3-4 years ago I sorted out my books by their size 😅
Oh no, it’s you! 🤣
I would hardly call my collection a library, and the ordering is only just getting there - things like a puritan section, modern section, collected works, commentaries or biblical study etc.
I personally have a system of putting a number 1-7 on a set of books, then reading book #1 on monday, #2 on tuesday etc. I save Spurgeons sermons for Sunday haha.
Looking forward to more great videos!
Love that numbering system! Haven’t heard of that before
I have my books in different categories. From female writers to make writers and then similar topics, (woman’s ministry, woman’s roles, ect)
That’s an interesting way to divide it up!
Now that it is almost a year later, will we see the bookshelf tour of your library?
Enjoyed the video Walter! Thanks for sharing! - Question... how do you keep from buying books you already own? Like you are at the used bookstore and find agreat one but don't know if you have it or what edition you have (speaking from experience here). Have you experienced any problems with that in the past? (I have a spreadsheet, took a month and spent 30 minutes a day inputting stuff two years ago and have updated and used it ever since). Just was wondering if you have some system for that.
The short answer is I’m mainly only buying books that are new to me at this point, so there’s not a high likelihood of buying a book I already own. And while I do have five or so bookshelves worth of books, it’s not so many that I can’t trust my memory on it. A library filing system could definitely help and take the human error out though!
I have 4200 books, and I keep track of them in Microsoft Word, a copy of which is on my phone. Before I buy a book, I search for it in the document.
I completely agree physical books are way better, recently I have been building a theological library and the books that I started whith is Louis Berkhof's Systematic Theology, Mere Christianity, Screw tape letters, Works of saint Anselm, and the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. any others you might recommend for a beginner like me.
I have 4200 books divided by Supercategory, category, sub-category, organized within the category or subcategory by author's last name and publication date. I have 134 categories/subcategories, if I remember correctly.
How specific do your categories go? Could you give a few examples? That's a really methodical way to organize!
@@wtsreads
Apparently, i have 164 Supercategories and hundreds of Categories and Subcategories. Examples:
Supercategory:
Bibles
Categories:
ORTHODOX TRANSLATIONS AND STUDY BIBLES
CATHOLIC TRANSLATIONS AND STUDY BIBLES
PROTESTANT TRANSLATIONS AND STUDY BIBLES
BIBLES - INDIVIDUAL TESTAMENTS AND BOOKS
BIBLES - ABRIDGED AND OTHER FORMS
Supercategory:
Liturgies and Missals
Categories:
CATHOLIC
EASTERN ORTHODOX
Supercategory:
The Liturgy of the Hours
Supercategoey:
Early Christian Writings and Early Heretical Works
Categories:
ORTHODOX
HETERODOX AND HERETICAL
Supercategory:
Catechisms, Dogmatic/Magisterial Teaching and Doctrine
Category:
CATHOLIC
EASTERN ORTHODOX
CHURCH OF ENGLAND
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND (PRESBYTERIAN)
LUTHERAN
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH U.S.A.
PRESBYTERIAN AND REFORMED
Supercategory:
The Didache Series
(This is a set of textbooks for Catholic schools and homeschools)
Supercategory:
Theology and Explanations and Expositions of Dogma, Doctrine, the Sacraments, and the Liturgy, not including Creationism or Sermons
Category:
CATHOLIC
EASTERN ORTHODOX
ANGLICAN
BAPTIST: AMERICAN BAPTIST CHURCHES IN THE USA/NORTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION
BAPTIST: FUNDAMENTALIST BAPTIST
BAPTIST: SOUTHERN
CHARISMATIC
CHRISTIAN AND MISSIONARY ALLIANCE
CHURCHES OF CHRIST
GENERAL EVANGELICAL
SUBCATEGORY: COUNTERPOINTS SERIES
SUBCATEGORY: SPECTRUM MULTIVIEW SERIES
LUTHERAN - GENERAL
LUTHERAN - MISSOURI SYNOD
MESSIANIC JEWISH
PENTECOSTAL
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (U.S.A.)
PRESBYTERIAN AND REFORMED
SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST
UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
HETERODOX, HERETICAL, AND “SECULAR” RELIGIOUS
Simeon Zahl, "The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience" is a good "Z" author book for your library. :-)
Thank you for the suggestion!
So you don't finish a book before starting another?
That's correct, I pretty much always have a few books going at once!
Gosh I wish I could do that and maybe I’ll try. I just feel like I’ll confuse my thoughts and when I refer a friend to a book I’ll mix up which book I read what from… I got so many books I need to read though!
Author Zig Ziglar in my library 😆
Ahh there’s a “Z”
I’ve got one by Jesse Zink in mine (“Backpacking Through the Anglican Communion: A Search for Unity” still TBR).
@@amandaWL I don’t even know who that is! But maybe I need to add a Zink 😂
I thought this was going to be a walkthrough of your bookshelves. disappointed
Haha sorry for the disappointment, the bookshelf tour is forthcoming!