Hi, my name is Chris and I’m addicted to research.

It started innocently enough, checking a word in the dictionary then spending the next hour reading through more obscure definitions for words long lost to society at large. This was followed by field trips to used bookstores in every town I visited, spending hours with my head titled to one side as I tried to read faded spines while constantly blowing my nose from all the dust and cat hair. By the time I hit university I was mainlining special order microfilm AND microfiche. But it didn’t stop there. I needed more. Always more. Each new nugget of information was a bright shinning light illuminating yet more dark pathways unexplored. Soon I was traveling abroad to go deep into the dustiest recesses of archives, sifting through documents written in languages I couldn’t always decipher, but nonetheless was compelled to try. When I started bringing my own white cotton gloves to the P.R.O. in London I knew I’d hit rock bottom.

I’ve since gotten a life (sort of) and have a hobby (running) that gets me outdoors. Still, each day is a battle. The temptation to pick up a thick, heavy book – only for a peek, just a quick scan – is forever there.

Oh, and the fact that I am writing this from the private membership library I belong to, on a Saturday, on a fairly nice day, is not a relapse. I just come here to look at the pictures…