Used Book Sales

I love used book sales held at libraries. I live in a metro area that has about a dozen public and college libraries within a twenty-mile radius of my house. I went to a sale this past weekend and will go to another next weekend. Fall seems to be book fair season around  here. Yay for me!

I want to share with you some of my (old) new books, but before I do that, let’s take a look at some that I didn’t buy.

How Not To Read: Harnessing the Power of a Literature-free Life, by Dan Wilbur. The blurb boasts of techniques on how to fake your literature knowledge. Additionally, it states that if you must read something, tips on how to read fast and cut corners are within the books pages. That’s one hundred-seventy-six pages a non-reader has to slog through to learn how to fake having read. I love it. It’s so ridiculous!

Next up: How To Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading, by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren. This book, dubbed “a living classic,” was first published in 1940. It’s a guide for comprehension techniques for a variety of reading materials, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and so on. It’s a hefty book, four-hundred-twenty-six pages of information.

And, while I’m sharing “opposites,” how about this one?  The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living as If He Doesn’t Exist by Craig Groeschel. This title’s a toughie. I think we all can relate to this kind of behavior. I know I can. Groeschel, a minister, reflects on his life when it does not match up with scripture. The word atheist turned me off to this book. It caught my attention because of the oxymoron in the title. Now that I’ve done a little on-line research, I kind of wished I would have picked it up.

Oh, and one of my all-time NOT favorites: Who Moved My Cheese? By Spencer Johnson, M.D. I hate this book so much because I once had a principal who made it ‘required reading’ for the staff. The worst of it was that she was a lunatic and expected us to follow her lead. Every time I see this book, I cringe. And I always seem to find several copies at library book sales.But then I found Who Cut the Cheese? By Stilton Jarlsberg, M.D. It made me happy to see a parody on my most hated book ever! (It too, is a self-help book, but with a sense of humor.)

Now, on to my great buys: I found three first edition books this time! That doesn’t happen very often. 

I’ve done some research; these first two are only worth a few bucks in the book market. All The President's Men by Bernstein and Woodward and First On The Moon, by Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin. I’ll hang on to them because of the subject matter. I’m sure at some time the asking price will rise. (Who knows if I'd sell, anyway...)

The third book was a flash-back to grade school. I remember studying the Kon-Tiki way back in the day. I looked this book up on-line and it seems to be selling in the $300.00 on up range. I hit the jackpot on a seventy-five cent investment. (But I’m not selling just yet.)

I purchased four other books of interest, for a total of $6.75. A very good investment I think.

Visit your local libraries’ book sales. They’re great fund raisers for your public library’s programming and you’ll get all the really good stuff in return! Now excuse me while I read a new (old) book.

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself.

~Nadine