Books: Keep or Toss?

Do you keep your books after you've read them, or do you get rid of them? Apparently, this is a pretty hot topic, based on the blog posts and articles I've found about it (here, here, here and a cool one here). I understand it; books can be powerful, so tactile and evocative. I love them. Historically, they've been potent stuff. Just think about a time when every book had to be hand written. Or when printing became feasible (thanks, Gutenberg!) and to own a single book was heretic.

So, clearly, we're a keep family. My husband is an even bigger book addict than I am. When we moved into our little loft, we downsized everything except books. I got rid of two or three books that were in pretty bad shape, and my husband was startled that I would even get rid of that many. Now, we have 5 very large bookshelves, and our collection keeps growing.