Give a kid a book

Having long ago run out of book shelf space I now have several stacks of books piled about my Kemp Town flat and I am fast running out of floor space. What started as pondering on where the latest additions to my burgeoning collection could possibly go, ended upon recollection of my first ever book.

My mother assures me that the book in question was a red, leather bound, revised standard version of the bible given to me as a gift from a great aunt who was known more for her spirit than her spirituality. A quick check and wouldn't you know it I still have that bible in my possession and I have to say for something that I've had for forty years it looks remarkably unread. 

My mothers memory alas is filled with unrealised hope and promise for the first book I can recall as being mine was not the bible but a large, green, canvas backed, hardback, encyclopaedia of animals given to me by my father. It was to be the beginning of a life long love affair with science. 


I devoured the book, memorised it, quoted from it with annoying frequency and to this day know more about the habitat, distribution and breeding habits of everything from the Kakapo to the Ocelot than I do about almost anything else including the bible. 

So how come that great green font of knowledge is gone and the red leather bible remains? Well I guess I like the smell of leather and that particular story is told and unchanged whereas the encyclopaedias keep having to be replaced as our understanding evolves