Where do you get your books from?

[Grisu]

Just out of curiosity: Where do you get the books you read?

 

[Pillager]

My father owns a bookshop as a kind of hobby, so I get most of mine there. Alternatively, either at a local bookshop or from Amazon.

 

[duke o' york]

I voted for the option "get friends to buy them and then borrow them" but I really don't like the wording of this option. It makes it sound as if I am being really mean and calculating when all I do is borrow a book off a mate. They either offer me a book or I ask them if I can borrow one and I borrow it. It's as easy as that. Some people may be borrowing books on "How to construct a nuke" from their friends or employing bizarre mind control techniques to make thir friends buy books that they want but I sure as hell ain't.

 

[MrPresident]

I have nothing to add to this topic but I would like to say that the option on the poll called 'can't read' was one of the funniest things I have read in ages.

 

[Hamlet]

I borrow them, buy them from local shops and sometimes go into the library to find something etc.

 

[Damien]

True,if the guy can't read,he can't read "can't read".

 

[S.P.Q.R.]

I used to buy them at the local bookshop. But since I'm rarely in the city center at the moment, I buy most of them at Amazon now.

 

[amadeus]

Half Price books in Maplewood, Minnesota. That's where I get most of my stuff, they carry lots of neat things like a bio on Saddam Hussein that was written before the Gulf War.

 

[Logain]

I borrow them off friends, buy them in the local discount store and local book stores.

 

[Jimcat]

In the "other"category, I inherited a huge stock of books from a friend who unexpectedly passed away in 1990. Still haven't finished reading them all. I also borrow a lot of books from the local libraries, since my library card will let me borrow from about half a dozen excellent town libraries.

I used to buy a lot of books, but with shelf space and budget limitations, it has to be a pretty important book for me to actually purchase it these days. My main exception is science fiction paperbacks, which I stock up on two or three times a year at science fiction conventions, and usually re-read several times. I also occasionally search through used bookstores for antique books, preferably history books from before 1920.

When I do buy new books, I'm forced to go to a Barnes and Noble down on Route 22. The town I live in and those nearby, although their shopping is otherwise excellent, have not a single bookstore. I'm puzzled as to how this could happen in an area with one of the highest concentrations of advanced degrees in the nation (the former Bell Labs, now Lucent research, is about three miles from my home).

 

[Eli]

E-books.

Unlike many people out there, the only problem for me when reading from the monitor is that you cant take it to the toilet.

 

[Jimcat]

Originally posted by Eli
Unlike many people out there, the only problem for me when reading from the monitor is that you cant take it to the toilet.

Get a laptop and a long cord, silly.

 

[Perfection]

Originally posted by Jimcat


Get a laptop and a long cord, silly.

I use that technique to post in bed.

 

[Orioles3386]

Bookstore. I don't go to the library unless I need an encyclopedia and have research to do. For just general reading I buy the book. The library usually either doesn't have it, has a beat up smelly copy with missing pages, or is taken out.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

I have to go with the local bookstore. There's something fun to me about going to a store and book browsing. While you're there if you see something you like just get it. Just my 2 cents.

 

[floppa21]

Bookstores, amazon.com, and EBAY!!! Wow, can't beat some prices on ebay! And where else you gonna find a Bible handprinted on pages of sheep's uterus in the 1200's?!! This can be yours for a minimum bid of 50,000 USD...

 

[dannyevilcat]

I usually go to used book stores and libraries. And I also find good articles to read online, like one I read yesterday about the illusion of power of modern aircraft carriers.

 

[knowltok2]

The library. I read way too much, and also listen to too many books on CD to even consider buying them all. The library is one little bit of socialism that I am all in favor of. We have a very good system that pulls from the main library and about 50-60 branches throughout the city and the suburbs.

 

[Hamlet]

Originally posted by knowltok2
The library is one little bit of socialism that I am all in favor of.

Public libraries are hardly an invention of socialism or even terribly socialist in nature.

 

[magic-monkey]

Charity shops, mostly. If you can be bothered to look through them you can find classics for 20-50p a time, which is nice. When i want a specific book I'll usually get it online.