MINDLESS MUSINGS

I mentioned in an earlier post how cut off generation Xers were in Australia regarding sports and martial arts. Well, the same goes for pretty much all information. The library was not high on our list of places to be, and the Dewey Decimal System was like a foreign language. As I also mentioned in the earlier post, the Encyclopaedia was almost always the first and last port of call if research was unavoidable.

Now and then myself and my uncool school friends would spend lunch in the library for a little peace and quiet, but it was hardly a scholarly endeavour. We usually gravitated to the books on weird stuff. I can’t think what the section would be called. Ghosts, UFOs and that type of shit. There was a large, illustrated Encyclopaedia of Horror we often went through. Pretty much anything about sex or with pictures of naked women would be scooped up. We weren’t studying the sciences or Shakespeare is what I’m saying.

It wasn’t a large library, and I can’t recall visiting any others out in the community where it wasn’t part of some school excursion. I was a bright kid, and I did pretty well in most classes, but research just wasn’t a big thing for me, and I cannot think of anyone who took it seriously; it just wasn’t important to us.

We learned what the teachers and the textbooks taught us. Independent research was something ‘smart’ people did, and critical thinking was an abstract concept. Everybody had a friend or relative who was rich enough to have an A-Z encyclopaedia in their house and if you had to research anything you would go over there. The other option was the 10c photocopies from the library: encyclopedias never leave the library!!!

I don’t believe anyone who grew up with Google can properly fathom the quantum leap in access to information that took place in such a short period. Google the Dewey Decimal System and see what search engine we were working with. It was fucking absurd! Come to think of it, the idea of Google would have been difficult to explain to any of us back then!

Our non-academic information came from TV news and current affairs; radio talk shows; Newspapers; and the only way to get more specialised info – magazines! If you ever wander into an old-style newsagency and wonder what all the shelves were for, there’s your answer. That small section in the back used to take up the bulk of the store.

Women’s and gossip mags were usually the biggest sellers: Woman’s Day, Cosmopolitan etc. ‘Men’s’ mags, so to speak, were the ones with the naked women and only for over 18s. “I only read them for the articles” was the standard line. People and Picture magazines were the softer version anyone could buy. There were magazines like Men’s Health and other boring stuff for blokes I can’t remember too. I was usually there for comics or the latest MAD Magazine.

There were music and movie magazines, a host of magazines targeted at teens. This was the era of the pin-up poster. The centre two pages was often a glamour shot of the latest celebrity idol. The ‘men’s’ magazines also had ‘centrefolds’ if that word rings a bell. Reckon I’ll do a few deeper dives into these artifacts of my youth (all of them, not just the nudie ones).

There was a magazine or two for practically any interest, and if there wasn’t, there would eventually be a limited series release: Fishing, fitness, sewing, guns, knives, cooking, camping, surfing, martial arts, sports, gardening, music, homecare, science, art, electronics and on and on. Some were monthly, others bi-monthly or only a few time a year depending on demand as always. If your avocation was not a popular one you may have a rather limited selection. Of course, you could try subscribing to magazines only available in other countries if you were really keen.

There were also a constant stream of collectors sets or something like that. They would advertise on television and would only be available for a limited time. “A new part every week, collect them all! Only at your local newsagent”.

Of course, if you missed out those you could always subscribe to a book company such as Time/Life and receive hardcover illustrated books on similar subjects:

• Animals from around the globe
• Greatest battles in history
• Discover the human body
• The most notorious crimes ever.
• Discover ancient Egypt.
• Uncover the unknown – Bigfoot, The Loch ness Monster, vampires: a new one every week!

There were plenty of how-to mags and collections too: woodworking, mechanics, computing (BASIC stuff), photography (the kind with film, darkrooms and chemicals), painting, drawing, magic, witchcraft and on and on.

I have deviated from my intended path yet again, and yet again I have stumbled on an unexpected gem! You often hear oldies saying that the library was our internet, and I was one of them. It has just dawned on me that those magazines were our internet! Nowhere near as wide ranging and seemingly infinite, but a shitload of specialised and eclectic information at your fingertips, for a price, however – another reason to appreciate the internet!

Hang around in the shop reading for too long and you’re sure to hear “hey, this isn’t a library you know! Buy it or put it back buddy!”.

All the smut and porn (where us kids had to sneak around), the celebrity glamour and dirty laundry. History, art, science and geography. Entertainment, obscure information, instructional stuff, geeky stuff, all kinds of weird and wonderful words and images…and almost none of it could be referenced in your essay. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, when Gen X was your age, our Google was the unscholarly sections in the library and those glorious magazines!

The library proper was more like Google Scholar…without that fucken Dewey Decimal System.