Welcome to the Bougainvista Library

The Bougainvista Library is my personal collection of books, as well as other media such as magazines, CDs, DVDs, etc. It is the result of a lifetime of acquiring materials, a process known as "Tsundoku" (積ん読) in Japan. However, this is not merely the hoarding of books, but also the enjoyment, as known as "Bouquiner" in France. The collection currently contains 3803 items.

This website serves a specific purpose. As a collector of books, I am, of course, often gifted books by friends. On several occasions I have been given books which I already owned. This is inevitable when you have a large collection. Using this website my friends and family can see what I already have. It would make gift giving so much easier if everyone had a database online of everything they owned, but I guess that's not practical.

The collection began when I was a child. I purchased books through school, as many others did, through Scholastic Books and Tab Books. Many of these books remain in the collection. When I was a little older I discovered books that my mother had saved which used to belong to my late Uncle Tony. He was interested in Medicine and Engineering, and had several books on the subjects from the early 20th century, which I found fascinating.

In junior high and high school I used to buy books an an annual church bazaar at St. Alphonsus Church. People would donate old books, and there was always a large selection. Here I found many unusual and old books. These included a 3rd edition of The Physician's Desk Reference from 1949, as well as many medical, technical, and math books.

Some other interesting and unusual books include an old high school algebra text which some student defaced. In my high school years kids would scribble the names of their favorite music groups in their textbooks, like Led Zeppelin, Kiss, etc. This algebra book shows that the practice is not new, but this book was published in 1926, so the bands were a bit different, as you can see.

The collection also contains some books which are controversial for various reasons. A prime example is the "genetics" book seen here, published in 1935. You might look at the title and think the material in it is pretty horrible, and you would be right. Such books are of historical interest, giving insight into what some people were thinking at the time and why events played out as they did. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

A somewhat less controversial book is the chemistry book shown here, published in 1963. As noted in the book, "It is not… a toy. It serves a serious scientific purpose and is intended for the intelligent and responsible youngster at the junior high-school level…". Like the Gilbert chemistry sets of several years earlier, which contained dangerous chemicals and, in some cases, radioactive materials, this book subsequently was regarded as a bad idea. See the example page included here, redacted for your safety, which is having the responsible youngster "sniffing" chlorine gas.

Other interesting books include a textbook on the treatment of infectious disease with radiation, which is no longer practiced for obvious reasons, and a maintenance manual for a Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber from WWII. Unfortunately, the manual did not include the plane itself.