Dan Pelzer made it his personal goal to read at least 100 pages every day, and for 62 years he meticulously documented every single book he read, creating a hand-written list that totaled 3,599 titles. The retired Ohio social worker and Marine Corps veteran read everything from literary classics to popular fiction, theology to history, and almost all of them were library books. When Dan passed away at age 92, his family initially planned to print his reading list for his funeral, but at over 100 pages, they decided to create a website instead.
The Columbus Metropolitan Library was so inspired by Dan’s dedication that they digitized his entire collection, creating a searchable database and putting up a physical display called “What Dan Read” at the Whitehall Branch he frequented. His daughter Marci says her father didn’t keep the list to brag, but simply to remember and think about the books he’d read, and most people didn’t even know it existed. Now his reading journey, which began with Alan Moorehead’s “The Blue Nile” in 1962 and ended with Charles Dickens’ “David Copperfield” in 2023, is inspiring readers around the world. As Marci explains, her father read to connect with people and believed in the kind of dialogue that makes us more tolerant of each other.