Should I seek professional help because I have a lot of math books? I’m a graduate student in mathematics. One day, there was a discussion between graduate students about how many books a working mathematician has. Then each student would talk about their personal math library and then they would name their preferred book in each area of math.
All the students had a relatively small library. When it was my turn, I simply said the truth that I have around 1,000 ebooks and 100 physical books and that I have bought all of them and have not downloaded any of them illegally. I also explained that I like to learn a lot of math and I’m passionate and enthusiastic about math. I also explained that I have not studied all of these books thoroughly.
Then suddenly a professor stated (when others were also present) that I have more books than the university library. He then said that I should immediately seek professional help.
I was very offended by what this professor said but I never discussed it with him because I thought that I was in an emotional state and I did not want to speak to him when I was not calm. After a while, I thought that it was my own mistake and I should not be so honest about my math library.
So I have now two questions:

Is the number of my books unreasonable compared to how many books a graduate student or working mathematician own?
If I need professional help because I buy math books regularly?
Personally, it seems to me that he was just making a joke. Awkwardly, perhaps, but still, just a joke. Your personal library seemed to him (and me) to be so &quot;over the top&quot; that it was hard to fathom. Had he said something like &quot;Wow, are you ever intense?&quot; it would have had about the same meaning.
It is possible that he had a negative feeling about it, but I really doubt it.
Or maybe a meaning like &quot;Wow, you need to learn to relax a bit.&quot;
But if you are so intense that you are ending up hurting your health, then professional help is actually advisable.