B.C. man losing vision needs to find home for treasured book collection

globalnews.ca:

Vancouver, B.C.Right now, that involves glasses and a magnifying glass with bright lights to illuminate the pages.But he says it’s time to say goodbye to much of his collection, about 3,500 books.“Aside from going blind, I’ve had four spine surgeries and my doctor has warned me on numerous occasions to stop lifting things over five pounds. Well, some of my books weigh five kilos,” he said.William said many of the books he owns — from a massive tome on the human cell to a rare first edition laying out the history of the Korean War — aren’t available in large print or audiobook form.

It’s part of what’s motivating him to sell so many.“When that book disappears, there aren’t any other books that I think are anything like that book. I don’t want that to disappear because I die or I go blind,” he said, referring to the book on the Korean War.“I would like to pass it on to a hopefully a 30- to 40-year-old.

And then they will keep it for 20 or 30 years and hopefully pass it on to somebody else. It’s an optimistic view, I understand.”William posted about the sale of his collection in a local buy and sell Facebook group, complete with a massive spreadsheet detailing each title up for sale, and he said he’s already found homes for hundreds, mostly going to families who home school and university students.Perusing the more than a dozen bookshelves that line most walls in his apartment, you might come across a profile of the oil giant ExxonMobil, books on the Cold War, or even a pocket guide to trees.The fiction options are much more sparse, it’s something he mostly avoids, unless you want to chat about the classics like “War and Peace” by Tolstoy.“Real life has so many unbelievable stories, and twists, that anyone who reads fiction