I inherited an extensive library from my Dad a few decades ago and I've been a daily reader ever since. I recently finished "Life" by Keith Richards. I highly recommend it whether you're a Stones fan or not..........

For the recommendation ! .

Unlike many (most I think) here, I'm on a fixed income so I spend little on books, I only buy used and mostly get free books I then share .

Diesel fuel, Mercedes and Motocycle parts are expen$ive, I gotta watch my $pends closely .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Books today are pretty expensive no matter what your income. Fortunatly they usually move around. I use many sources to find reading material. I always donate our surplus of previous read books and periodicals to others. We still seem to have a slew of them around. Remember in Canada because of the dollar difference and some distribution greed. We will pay substantially more as well.


I have often told students to try to get hold of a previous graduates text books as an alternative. Some things I will just not pay the price for. If truly outrageous. To me it is already all too bad for certain things we do buy. There is no value in them in comparison to their cost in any conceivable way imaginable. Many things for example are far more than a mortgage payment was in my time. Canada for example has the highest cell phone costs in the world I believe. So the bill we pay each month for internet, television and phones is substantial for what it is. Insurances and property taxes and utilities are almost always increasing year over year. These things do not present a financial obstacle to us as an old couple. They either already do to a lot or all too soon will.


Yet both the wife and myself have concerns about young people out there. We had a fair job getting started out together. It looks far harder today for that age group.


Most of them cannot even buy a house anymore with the new financial stress test the financial institutions are demanding in Canada. Plus they are demanding larger down payment percentages.


Easy credit is really showing the downside effect of the practice. It was the primary enabler of much higher prices in many sectors. Now the exposure the financial institutions are dealing with that is becoming a problem. They pull the rug out from the situation the practice created.


Speaking for myself. I still buy tools simply because they are almost the only thing I use once. Then they have paid for themselves over getting someone else to do a job with their tools. So are free essentially for the remainder of my life. Now at my age I only usually buy for almost immediate use. On many tools this formula would not work anymore. If I were Younger again. I hit two garages sales of tools by appointment only this year. The prices were acceptable. On one the wife was selling her reciently divorced husbands tools. I did not ask any questions. He only purchased really good tools. Tools at this time seem to have little salvage value at the end of the rainbow. Perhaps because the young are not engaging their use enough.

You probably do this... hit up garage sales, thrift stores, goodwill outlets... and even libraries that sell off their old books (our local library has a shelf dedicated to old books being sold cheap)

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One day the greater consciousness of humanity will ask of itself... "How many Einsteins and savants did we destroy to satisfy the wants of women in their lawful genocide upon the unborn?"

Thanx .

I do hit up used book sales, in my area there are some "Little Free Libraries' :

https://littlefreelibrary.org/

When I was a child Down East I'd always find wet books discarded, carefully dry them out and read....

Sometimes Public Libraries have box fulls of free books, the local ones here used to sell them cheaply but a "knocker" forced them to quit by complaining to City Hall so most used books now get sold as scrap, be proud, you who have to complain about everything .

I also get books and occasionally magazines from others who don't want to just toss them in the recycle bin .

Last night my Councilman had a neighborhood walk, I noticed another little free library and after the walk went by on my Moto as I rode home, grabbed three new (used) books....

Reading is good for the mind, wards off dementia and other bad things .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Yes!

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I do not know if it has anything to do with it in my case. A young girl a few years older than me. Used to play school with me and taught me to read before I went to school. I have no reason or knowledge of why she did this. They moved away a few years later and I have never seen her since.

I do not know where he got the ideal. In America Carnagie [probably not the correct spelling] the owner of a very large steel enterprise sponsored a large amount of free libraries.

Strange man as he worked his employees very hard with no time off for lunch even. It may have just been the convention of the times. It did bring unions to get a quarter of an hour lunch break eventually. Yet he sponsored all those free libraries.

I suspect our local library will remain open. I seldom use it anymore.

unless your wounded,or hurt in the military, no dental,or vision care. I've needed new glasses, since 2007. So can't read,but watch alot of documentaries.
Years of supporting other families,put us in alot of debt.

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran

Glasses no excuse...books on tape for you, my friend.

I spend a lot of time hunting for used books. Half the fun is the hunt. Now that summer's coming, we'll probably make a couple of pilgrimages to the Niantic book barn:

https://www.bookbarnniantic.com/

Books and cats, good combo. Like all readers, I always have more on my shelf than I can ever get to. There's a certain guilt that pushes my reading, like what if something happens to me, and all this stuff remains unread?

Sorry to hear that Nate ~ a guy I know had to wait over TEN YEARS to get dentures, he was old and near the end by then, he was -so- proud of his VA dentures.....

No excuse for not honoring the contract Uncle Sam made with every Service Person , none .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

I was a bookworm as a kid and still am. My good fortune was to have no TV in the house till I was about 10 and in South Africa there wasn't much to watch early on in any case. We had lots of books in the house. Three significant series were a large collection of National Geographic's going back to the 30's. Encyclopedia Britannica, (missing two editions during the war years which went to the bottom in a ship which was a victim of U-Boats) and Time Life geography series. I always was an avid sci-fi reader though less now as I now mostly concentrate on history. Asimov and Clark are my two favourites, I also devoured Terry Pratchett's "Discworld Series". I managed to prevent having a TV in our house for eight years but eventually had to give in. Fortunately I have managed to ensure it's almost never turned on.

- Peter.

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2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

Good on you Peter ;

T.V. -can- be very educational but the primary purpose of it these days is to sell things and warp the mind, a sad thing .

Too many parents use it as a free baby sitter then wonder what the hell happened when their children go wildly off the path of a decent life .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Totally agree, Nate.

And it can get insanely worse with unguided Internet access.

Winston Churchill was also an excellent writer. His book History of the English Speaking People sounds offputting but is actually a fascinating book.

Yes, history is fascinating and -so-important- ~ sadly few teachers seem to be able to make it come alive so the student's interest is captured then you get citizens who have little grasp of how things actually work on this world .

I hit another Little Free Library last night, got five hard covers....

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better