asimov
Ask HN: You've got $300 to fill an empty library. What do you choose?
11–20 of 33 posts
Re: Ask HN: You've got $300 to fill an empty library. What do you choose?
#12Dude go to half priced books or your local secondhand bookstore and just clean house. Classics in particular are a dime a dozen. Here's a list of "classics" to give you some ideas: * A Hundred Years of Solitude * Crime and Punishment * East of Eden * Moby Dick * Shakespeare's collected works * Bible, Koran, etc - keep as many sacred tomes as you can * Plato's Republic, maybe some other philosophy classics like Thus S…
Second hand bookshops are amazing things - sometimes goldmines can be found!
Re: Ask HN: You've got $300 to fill an empty library. What do you choose?
#13Consider creating a Street Library that way you will have a constantly evolving book collection and probably make lots of connections with your neighbours.
https://streetlibrary.org.au/
Re: Ask HN: You've got $300 to fill an empty library. What do you choose?
#14Well depends on what you consider classics :-)
Go to a second hand shop, bookstore where they sell used books and get whatever you like.
Here is a small list that IMHO would appeal to many HN readers:
- Isaac Asimov (foundation trilogy, robot series, short stories compilations)
- William Gibson (nauromancer, bridge trilogy)
- Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
- Alfred Bester (The Demolished Man, The Stars My Destination)
- Neal Stephenson (Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon)
- Orson Scott Card (Ender’s game, Speaker for the Dead)
- Fyodor Dostoevsky (Crime and punishment, the idiot, notes from the underground and many more)
- Plato (apology, the republic)
- Bible, Torah, Quran and any other sacred text
- Mythology (Greek, Indian, Norse and o5hers)
And a last one, completely unrelated...
- Clive Barker (Hellraiser series, books of blood)
Re: Ask HN: You've got $300 to fill an empty library. What do you choose?
#15Dude go to half priced books or your local secondhand bookstore and just clean house. Classics in particular are a dime a dozen. Here's a list of "classics" to give you some ideas: * A Hundred Years of Solitude * Crime and Punishment * East of Eden * Moby Dick * Shakespeare's collected works * Bible, Koran, etc - keep as many sacred tomes as you can * Plato's Republic, maybe some other philosophy classics like Thus S…
> Bible, Koran, etc - keep as many sacred tomes as you can
what makes them sacred?
Re: Ask HN: You've got $300 to fill an empty library. What do you choose?
#16Get pg's essays printed in hardcover, its one of my favourites in my bookshelf (though its missing some of the more recent ones)
Re: Ask HN: You've got $300 to fill an empty library. What do you choose?
#1730 copies of Dune
Re: Ask HN: You've got $300 to fill an empty library. What do you choose?
#18What is the purpose of the library? Display? Reading material for you? Reference material for cultural standards? Something else?
Re: Ask HN: You've got $300 to fill an empty library. What do you choose?
#19They only publish US authors, and their books aren't cheap ($30-50), but Library of America [0] has a great collection. Each book is actually a collection of writings, so the value proposition is the high quality binding, paper, and substantial collection in one book with each purchase. They have fiction starting from the colonial days to the recent past, along with a lot of non-fiction content (essays, journalism, p…
In this vein, ‘The Everyman’s Library’ collection excellently assembles classics on thick acid-free paper, cloth bindings, and essays introducing/contextualizing the work
Re: Ask HN: You've got $300 to fill an empty library. What do you choose?
#20They only publish US authors, and their books aren't cheap ($30-50), but Library of America [0] has a great collection. Each book is actually a collection of writings, so the value proposition is the high quality binding, paper, and substantial collection in one book with each purchase. They have fiction starting from the colonial days to the recent past, along with a lot of non-fiction content (essays, journalism, p…
In this vein, ‘The Everyman’s Library’ collection excellently assembles classics on thick acid-free paper, cloth bindings, and essays introducing/contextualizing the work
Thanks. I’d not heard of them before, and looking at some of their collection I think I’ll be adding them to my list of books I want to buy.