It's a disease, man

We're all talking about healthcare right now, right? And what a conversation! I'm not going to go into the endless frustrations I experience in even hearing the word "healthcare" at this point, as this isn't the venue. I'll just briefly say that Kai Wright nails it here over at The Root - thanks to Mr. Wright for it - and when you weren't looking, the Columbia Journalism Review started saying everything right about the media and the endless goings-on in this crazy new info-saturated world. In relation to the healthcare "debate," see this fine post from Megan Garber - and thanks to Ms. Garber!

But my concern is how is Obama's crazy new vision of healthcare going to deal with a little disorder you and I might just share? I'm talking, of course, about bibliomania. And Alan Bisbort is talkin' about it too over at the Hartford Advocate:

On many Saturday mornings, I load the trunk of my car with whatever used books are piling up in my basement and drive to Whitlock's in Woodbridge or Niantic Book Barn in Niantic. Some of this is a holdover from the days when I sold books at a flea market in Washington, D.C., and, before that, worked at a bookshop on Capitol Hill. Most of it, however, results from my chronic case of bibliomania. I don't want cash for the old books. I want to trade them for more books. I just can't seem to ever have enough books.

Ah, the confessions of an addict. I'm pleased he mentioned one of my favorite used bookstores, Whitlock's. It's a helluva barn!

I've always gone there with my partner, who glories in an image of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg looking "distinctly as though they might have just ducked behind the jetty for a quickie" on a book jacket on his blog here. More thoughts on book jackets to come, apparently. Consider yourself warned.