Bookshelf Report: Punk Rockers Read Books Too

The Bookshelf Report is an ongoing series where a Bushwick reader invites us into their home and shares a little bit about the books that occupy their shelves.

Today’s bookshelf comes from Josh Hammack — punk rocker and Bushwick enthusiast. He hearts books (he has the the t-shirt to prove it). He also has a bookshelf full of books and miscellaneous doodads. Stay tuned, he will tell you all about it below.

When Josh isn’t reading or doing boring homework he’s rocking that bass for his punk band Proud Failures.

How do you organize your books?

I typically just throw my books on my shelf, not a lot of organizing involved. But sometimes I like to make sure my comic books aren’t touching my textbooks. (Its bad luck)

Be honest. What percentage of the books on this shelf have you actually read?

Well, if you don’t count all the text books, a good 85%. I’ve got a few stragglers I haven’t picked up yet, mostly gifts or free books I’ve found.

What’s your favorite book on the shelf?

My favorite books on my book shelf is The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. The count is my idol. And well, I lent my Harry Potter books to a friend…

What book do you plan on reading next?

Statistics for Psycholgy, It’s got some great stuff in there about partial correlations, and regression analyses.

Nah, just kidding, but with the whole busy student life thing I’ve got going on, it’s been difficult to just sit down and read something that wasn’t assigned to me. I’d really like to jump on the Game of Thrones bandwagon though. I bet they’re better than the show!

Those are some pretty snazzy trophies – what’s the story behind them?

Okay, so, the trophies. Yeah, right, they’re pretty great. Everything on that shelf is a trophy in some way or form, but I assume you mean the two actual trophies. Yeah, so everyone’s got that crazy uncle that you only really see at X-mas, thanksgiving, and Seahawk games. I’m no exception. He must think I’m pretty great or something, he gave me those trophies (probably from his own collection). The one on the left is for the fastest gun in the West, 1995, and the other one is for the most improved member of the football team 1993. Like seriously, I don’t know where they came from, but hey, I’m not one to turn down a trophy. I was pretty quick with a rifle when I was 2.

It looks like you have more video games than books. Care to explain?

Yeah, the video games… Every single one is in Japanese, and I can’t speak Japanese. If it doesn’t have subtitles I certainly won’t be playing it. If you’re going to rot your brain playing video games you might as well do a little reading while you’re at it right? Who can say no to a vintage copy of Samurai Death-match Uber Duber Monster Slayer?

I see you have a copy of R.E.M.’s Green on your shelf. What’s your favorite song on the album?

Dude, Orange Crush. I don’t care if it’s overplayed or whatever. So simple, and so powerful. Plus I can 5 star it on guitar hero, so I’ve got that going for me.