A personal essay by Mark Dominus describing the seven books he keeps on the shelf closest to his writing desk. The books span a wide range: Roget's Thesaurus (with a detailed explanation of its proper use as a conceptual organizer rather than a synonym finder), the prose of Sir Thomas Browne, Boccaccio's Decameron, the mathematical logic anthology 'From Frege to Gödel', Comenius's illustrated children's book 'Orbis Pictus', the NIV Bible, and the 'Belles Heures' of Duc de Berry. Each entry includes personal anecdotes, unpublished blog article ideas, and reflections on why the book matters to the author.
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