Books v. Cigarettes in 2014
Chris Gordon reflects on George Orwell’s memorable essay from the ‘40s, Books v. Cigarettes, in relation to our lives today.
I recently read a wonderful essay by the great man himself, George Orwell, where he disputes with great aplomb the idea that books, and book buying, are a luxury. Granted, he wrote this essay in the early 1940s and he used himself as an example. He looks loosely at his own book purchases over the preceding 15 years and acknowledges that he has a wonderful collection. (I imagine Orwell’s collection of books would have been tremendous.) When making his calculations, he looks at the cost of sharing books, buying books as presents, having collectable books and holiday reads. He takes into account his appetite for newspapers and journals. Note: in this essay he is not trying to examine the use of his purchases, nor the absolute value that his reading habit gives his life, but rather the monetary aspect.
Orwell confesses that he spends, roughly, 25 pounds each year on his literary pursuits. He spends, in comparison, around 40 pounds a year on tobacco. His argument, of course, was that book buying was not a sumptuous spend and that in the end, (after listening to the radio) it was the most economical and most fulfilling of all entertainment available. It was cheaper than heading to the local pub with a mate.
But, let’s translate all that Orwell has worked out into 2014 figures.
Let’s assume that 25 pounds from 1946 is now worth, in Australian cash, about $1,000. That means that the average spend Orwell would be making now would be, per week, around $20 on books, newspapers and journals. If he spent $20, on average, per week on a book to read, his personal library over 15 years would be as substantial in number as it was in 1946. However, he would be spending, now, around $140 on tobacco per week, given that his consumption of said product was around a packet a day. He would be spending over $7,000.00 per year. That’s ridiculous …
Let’s examine those figures in relation to ourselves.
Obviously times have changed and not so many people actually smoke a packet of cigarettes per day. We know too much to do so. But just say, hypothetically, as we move into the crazy festive season, that one spends $20 per day on a bottle of booze, or even, for those with self control, a bottle of great Australian sparkling wine per week at, say, $25. Even at just one bottle per week we would still be spending around $1,300.00 annually.
Spending $20 per week on reading matter that lasts well past the festive season suddenly doesn’t seem so much money. After 15 years of spending $20 per week on a good book, one could assume, I think rightly, that one’s library would be significant. It would be, after all, around 12,000 books. There’s something tangible to be shared, passed down to one’s offspring and to be celebrated. There’s a lifetime of thought. (And it’s cheaper than it was 70 years ago.)
Orwell is right: in the end, there is more long-term economical merit to spending money on your library. It’s not such a luxury after all, it’s good financial sense! Clearly smoking and drinking are not, making those items more luxurious than the great Australian novel.
