A Man Read 3,599 Books Over 60 Years, and Now His Family Has Shared the Entire List Online
Dan PelzÂer died earÂliÂer this year at the age of 92, leavÂing behind a handÂwritÂten list of all the books he’d read since 1962. His famÂiÂly had it digÂiÂtized, put it online, and now it’s gone viral, someÂwhat to the surÂprise of those of us who’d nevÂer heard of him before. But that, it seems, is how the unpreÂposÂsessÂing PelzÂer himÂself would have wantÂed it, accordÂing to the impresÂsion givÂen by his grown chilÂdren when interÂviewed about the popÂuÂlarÂiÂty of their father’s more than 100-page-long readÂing list. He began keepÂing it when he was staÂtioned in Nepal as a Peace Corps volÂunÂteer, and kept it up until the end of his readÂing days in 2023, long after he retired from his job as a social workÂer at an Ohio juveÂnile corÂrecÂtionÂal facilÂiÂty.
ExamÂined togethÂer, whether in the form of a comÂplete scan or a searchÂable PDF, the 3,599 books, most of them checked out from the library, that PelzÂer recordÂed havÂing read conÂstiÂtute a perÂsonÂal culÂturÂal hisÂtoÂry of the past six decades. Described as a devout Catholic, he cerÂtainÂly seems to have been conÂsisÂtent in his purÂsuit of an interÂest in not just the hisÂtoÂry of ChrisÂtianÂiÂty in parÂticÂuÂlar, but the hisÂtoÂry of westÂern civÂiÂlizaÂtion in genÂerÂal.
