Today during my lunch hour (yes I belong to a wonderful organization that actually gives their employees a whole hour for lunch!) I visited the Old Book Barn. Now I love books, and I love used book stores. I guess treasure hunting is in my nature, and I'm quite frugal in mindset, so finding good deals makes me happy. There are books that I've found at used book stores that cost me .50 cents or $2 dollars that can be sold on the internet for $80 dollars or so because they are out of print. Not that I would ever sell them because they belong to the Library of Sharkdom. I love how books are timeless, how they can seemingly transcend the barriers of time. Knowledge, ideas, and dreams contained in books are wonderful. I don't think any book should be banned, no matter how insensitive or vulgar its content. Nobody is forcing you to read the filth after all.
I also enjoy looking at old books to see how layouts and fonts have changed over time, and the old drawings that used to be in books. Nowadays there are more pictures, but in the old days there were more diagrams and drawings which are fascinating. About the only thing that I do not like about old books is that old book smell, which sometimes smells like mold. Other than that, I could find myself in a used book store all day.
2 comments:
Ohhh, man... I admit, I LOVE the smell of used book stores. Actually, it's not so much the smell as it is the thoughts and associations with that smell. But yes, I love used bookstores too. It's the only place where I will, on occasion, spend an hour walking around and not buy anything (though more often then not I walk out with my arms full).
yeah I just picked up an algebra book from 1946! It's got an awesome layout and the word problems make math look fun. I totally bombed at math in school, but now I'm learning more and more. I wonder how many people learned math from this one book. I'm probably gonna teach my kids math with this book too. Kind of neat.
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