|
|
Post by Clipper on Dec 3, 2009 16:18:30 GMT -5
Hey, just lay down the whip and get out the big paddle, stir the pot, and then run like hell, hahahaha! ;D
|
|
|
|
Post by rodwilson on Dec 3, 2009 16:23:25 GMT -5
I don't see as many used book shops as I used to. May be my imagination, or just where I go, but I think the current economic condition has made it more difficult to prosper in a business that isn't that profitable anyway. We had an interesting case here in the village this year where a bookseller gave his bookstore away. He took the historical publications portion with him (home, to run from his house), but for a dollar sold the store to a young woman who got the books and furnishings, good will, etc. She started paying the rent, added a few chairs and tables for a reading area and hoped to make a go of it. She didn't. She had a great location, great ideas and a great deal of enthusiasm. She sponsored reading groups, and even provided a meeting place for our writing group. But the business just wasn't there. Most people now days don't consider buying much used. It goes against the whole American consumption idea. I've been by the library when they hold their used books sales and the crowd consists of folks a generation or two ahead. Hell, independents can't even survive selling NEW titles and NEW books. It's all about chains and mass buying. I used to manage a Lauriat's when they came to Sangertown. The mall signed them to a big $$$ lease and gave them exclusive rights to be the only booksellers in the mall. B. Dalton and Waldenbooks quickly exited and Lauriat's about 2 years later. Lauriat's was deeply flawed in it's planning and even worse in higher management. So now we have B&N where there's an air of artificial appreciation for books and you can get a $12 cup of coffee and none of the staff know who Samuel Clemens or Jack Kerouac is but they can point you to the latest Danielle Steele release. I loved the thought of going to work in a bookstore. The environment, working with like minded people who appreciated the craft and knowledge shared. The access to volume upon volume of information, stories and histories. Boy did I feel a whole lot different a few months in. It quickly became just another product. BTW Dave, I'm pretty sure Wal-Mart sells books  . Heck, I was waiting for a friend in B&N once and watched this guy find a book he was looking for, call his mother, had her look it up online and decided it was cheaper online so he walked out. |
|
|
|
Post by stoney on Dec 3, 2009 16:27:26 GMT -5
Clipper, remember I said in another thread that I take everything personally? HENCE, I'm sure as hell not going to bring up those topics! People will be down my throat & up my butt.
I've been buying used books on-line. Very cheap & it saves the environment.
|
|
|
|
Post by bobbbiez on Dec 3, 2009 16:35:28 GMT -5
Hey, just lay down the whip and get out the big paddle, stir the pot, and then run like hell, hahahaha! ;D  Hey Stoney, I do that all the time. It's fun. Ya can then sit back and read the guys go at it. ;D |
|
|
|
Post by stoney on Dec 3, 2009 16:38:51 GMT -5
But I get myself all worked up into a frenzy!! AAAAaaarrrgggghhhhh!!!!!
|
|
|
|
Post by bobbbiez on Dec 3, 2009 16:50:42 GMT -5
lol!!!! The object is to get the guys in a frenzy, not yourself. 
|
|
|
|
Post by stoney on Dec 3, 2009 16:58:24 GMT -5
"The object is to get the guys in a frenzy, not yourself."
I haven't done that in awhile.. 
|
|
|
|
Post by gearofzanzibar on Dec 3, 2009 19:30:40 GMT -5
I buy hard cover editions for anywhere from 3-6 dollars apiece and when I trade them back in I get about half of that amount in credit. There's the problem. Every time I think I need to get rid of some books I start going through the shelves and discover them all over again. Once in a while I can bring myself to get rid of some entertaining dreck, but I just can't bring myself to toss anything I like. And damn my love for "The Destroyer". I know it's trash, but it's snarky, self-aware trash that's in on the joke. How can you not love books with lines like "Invisible time-travelling cyborg ninjas? Again?". |
|
|
|
Post by gearofzanzibar on Dec 3, 2009 19:42:19 GMT -5
Ppppbbbllltt!!!!! You just want to see me get flogged again! Don't take it personally in the slightest. Your intentions were good, but I think you took the wrong approach in your rebuttal. It's dangerous to make an appeal on facts unless you're absolutely, 100% sure you can back up your facts with source citations. It not only makes you a better advocate for any cause you believe in, but you get to challenge your own assumptions by rigorously fact-checking yourself. As an example, Dave was right to point out that the Founders may have been well aware of evolutionary principles, if not the concept of evolution itself. It was a silly mistake for me to even open that line of debate up. Now I'll be better prepared for it the next time it comes up on Slate or, heaven forbid, 4chan. |
|
|
|
Post by gearofzanzibar on Dec 3, 2009 19:51:48 GMT -5
Most people now days don't consider buying much used. It goes against the whole American consumption idea. I've been by the library when they hold their used books sales and the crowd consists of folks a generation or two ahead. Ixnay on the ibrary salea, savvy? The fewer people that know about used book sales the better. I've found tons of fantastic books at those sales, including three Lovecraft first editions from Arkham House at the Frank J. Basloe library in Herkimer years ago. I think the pendulum could swing back in the other direction when Print On Demand and ebooks mature just a little bit more. |
|
|
|
Post by bobbbiez on Dec 3, 2009 22:06:33 GMT -5
Aw, come on Gear! When it comes to discussing anything to do with religion there aren't too many "facts" one can prove their point on. It still comes down to just that person's interpretation of what they choose to read and decide to believe, so whose to say the other's opinion is wrong.
|
|
|
|
Post by gearofzanzibar on Dec 3, 2009 22:49:38 GMT -5
Aw, come on Gear! When it comes to discussing anything to do with religion there aren't too many "facts" one can prove their point on. It still comes down to just that person's interpretation of what they choose to read and decide to believe, so whose to say the other's opinion is wrong. Well, there are a lot of opinions based on "facts" that aren't true. It's pointless to argue about things like "Is there a God?" or "Was Jesus divine?", since they're matters of faith. When someone says something like "The Catholic Church thinks all pagans will burn in hell!" it's a whole different matter, since the truth or falsehood of the claim is easily determined. |
|
|
|
Post by dgriffin on Dec 3, 2009 22:56:27 GMT -5
Hey, Bobbbiez, where've you been? Haven't heard from you in a few days. We worry about you, you know! The topic was history, not religion, but even there your point might be well taken re interpretation. Rod, I'm not much of a fan of B&N, Borders or the Walmart Book and Banana Sales. Borders and BN have entirely too many titles to wade through. They might be useful if you know exactly what you want, but I seldom do. And besides, Amazon is always cheaper and I can wait 5 days. (Especially used.) Now, a REAL bookstore is usually small and always owned and managed by someone who reads. That's the full extent of the definition. You can tell you're in a real bookstore when you scan the shelves, because you won't find thousands of books, but just about every book you see is a great book and one you would want to buy. You might say to the man or woman behind the counter, "I'm not sure what I want." If the bookstore person looks puzzled, he's an out of work stock broker filling in today. But an owner/savant's eyes will light up when you ask for advice. He or she will kick off a marathon of suggestions and tell you something about every book he's read since he got his library card in the second grade. After a half hour or so, he may need to sit down and take a few extra breaths before continuing. The locally famous Golden Notebook in Woodstock has their history section back by the furnace room in the deepest reaches of the long and narrow 200 year old store. I have never been more cozy than curled up under the stairway back there, browsing through the small collection, which doesn't change that much. Don't tell anyone, but if I find something I like, I most often go home and order it on Amazon. Other days I buy it there, paying the full price and hoping the profits keep the place open a few more years. |
|
|
|
Post by clarencebunsen on Dec 3, 2009 22:56:42 GMT -5
I still have my father's CRC Math tables book that he bought when he was in college. I borrowed it when I was in High School and he hasn't asked me to return it yet. I will be useful if someone asks me for the sine of 37degrees and the batteries in my slide rule are dead. The disturbing thing is that I can't find my grandfather's math tables books. My father was going to throw them out when I objected & salvaged them. They must be in the attic somewhere.
I thought I had found the solution to shelves full of books that I probably won't read again but didn't wat to discard. I loaned many feet of them to my daughter's fiancee. Anything in which he expressed an interest would be loaned to him along with all books by the same author and anything else of a related style or subject. Not wanting to offend his future father-in-law he says "thank you" and takes a box home.
Unfortunately, my daughter reads them and then returns them. I think she is on to me.
|
|
|
|
Post by dgriffin on Dec 3, 2009 23:19:24 GMT -5
I have to be in the mood to get rid of books. Or radios. I'm lucky to volunteer in a place where I can just take the books (or practically anything) in and place them on the shelves of the Free Store.
The feeling starts late at night and I just know I'll be in a book-cleansing mood the next morning. I get up early, eat a hearty breakfast and then work my way down the shelves armed with an old cane my grandmother gave me on her deathbed, as she croaked, "Get rid of some of those books." (And I was only eleven.)
Acting like a fireman from Fahrenheit 451, I ruthlessly use the cane to hook any book with the color brown on the cover (or blue or green ... I choose the color during breakfast), roughly pulling it out of line like a tooth from its socket and slamming it to the floor. After a few minutes of such activity, I treat myself to a donut. Later, I sit down and go over the lot of pulled books and make decisions. Was it a gift from a dear friend? Will I ever read or refer to this book again? If yes, have I done so in the last 25 years? If no, is it only because I couldn't find it?
Finally, I might find 2 or three books that I'm willing to part with. And so, with the morning's work out of the way, it's time for lunch.
|
|
. 
Hey Stoney, I do that all the time. It's fun. Ya can then sit back and read the guys go at it. ;D
