Welcome back to another bloghop, with #OpenBook. Here’s this week’s prompt.

Don’t forget to click the link to see what everyone else has to say on this week’s subject. It’s at the end of my post.

What section of the library would we find you hanging out in?

I have an obsession when it comes to knowledge. If I have (or develop) more than a passing interest in a subject, I have to know ALL about it. I’ll quite happily spend a ridiculous amount of time on the most minute details, just so that I understand all about whatever it might be.

That attention to detail proved to be very useful when I had to run a ship.

In my school days, long before the internet was a thing, I’d quite happily spend a Saturday morning at the local reference library, reading all that I could about whatever had piqued my interest that week.

I might have even used the reference books to help me with my homework, at a push.

In general, whatever I was reading about was rarely anything to do with that week’s lessons. I was only interested in the acquisition of knowledge regarding things that were outside the mainstream.

You see, I wasn’t academic, at least as far as my teachers were concerned. I can see now that they just weren’t teaching me what I wanted to know.

I was always more interested in learning about what wasn’t being taught. Usually triggered by something I’d heard or seen, or had noticed in my father’s newspaper.

And, in the true tradition of the internet rabbit holes that I still frequently disappear down, reading encyclopaedias in the library would lead me to discover one fascinating thing after another, and so on until it was time to leave.

Very often, I’d lose track of time, miss the bus and have to walk home. Once, my father came and found me because I hadn’t turned up for a meal.

I guess that’s where the determination that while everything I write might not be true, it all has to sound true. All the science in my stories of the future and the alternative now is based on a solid foundation of fact. All the events and places in my contemporary fiction can be traced on a map. More importantly, the distances and timings all add up.

It all takes me ages to research, at least I don’t have to go to the library so much now. Although I do miss the atmosphere.

There was a feeling in the air, that here was an important place.

What do you think about this week’s subject?

Let me know by leaving me a comment.

While you’re here, please click the InLinkz link to check out what my fellow writers have to say about this week’s topic.

I’ll be back with another post on Thursday. See you then. Meanwhile, have a great week.

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