Coincidentally, I also am a big collector of do-it-yourself books, especially the ones with lots of pictures. I’m a visual type. Although I am very comfortable writing and reading text, a demonstration of some sort, whether live or photographs and diagrams in a book, almost always is necessary. Maybe I am too comfortable with text. When I encounter written instructions only, the copy editor inside me often kicks in, and ambiguities and omissions begin to crop up everywhere. Questions arise faster than they can be answered. Illustrations almost always help. Come to think of it, maybe this isn’t strange at all. I do make my living putting together words and pictures.