As a child i was one of those strange types like John Burroughs and Walt Whitman a "country boy" who read books. Little by the little the attraction to stamps grew stronger..joinning a stamp club, going to stamp shows, joinning the APS and it was hard to serve two masters..so the book reading (except stamp related) fell by the wayside. Lately i have rediscovered reading and it is again a great satisfaction. I can relate easily to Burroughs and Whitman,i can read 3 or 4 pages of their writing in the time it takes to read one page of Emersons. So now again my 2 favorite pastimes will coexist !