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Books are not too expensive

millersbookreview.com

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Re: Books are not too expensive

#161

Post by rahimnathwani »

jmcqk6 wrote: post #152
rahimnathwani wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AFAICT, publishers don't donate books to public libraries. Those public libraries use our taxes to buy books. So if books are expensive then our taxes buy fewer books. San Francisco public libraries spend $200m per year, of which 15% is spent on 'collections', including books, ebooks, magazines etc. That's $35 per resident. The denominator includes newborns, infants and others that can't read or don't like to read.

Libraries also do a lot more than just provide books. $35 per resident per year for everything that libraries do provide is forking cheap, and we would be greatly impoverished if they were to disappear.

The $35 is just the 15% spent on collections.

The total is $235 per resident per year.

But my point above wasn't about whether that number is high or low. It's that the price of books is paid by us, even it's funneled through taxes and librarians.

Re: Books are not too expensive

#162

Post by flumes_whims_ »

jmcqk6 wrote: post #152
rahimnathwani wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AFAICT, publishers don't donate books to public libraries. Those public libraries use our taxes to buy books. So if books are expensive then our taxes buy fewer books. San Francisco public libraries spend $200m per year, of which 15% is spent on 'collections', including books, ebooks, magazines etc. That's $35 per resident. The denominator includes newborns, infants and others that can't read or don't like to read.

Libraries also do a lot more than just provide books. $35 per resident per year for everything that libraries do provide is forking cheap, and we would be greatly impoverished if they were to disappear.

Unless I am misreading the GP, that is $35 per resident on purchasing books. The amount for everything would be $233 per resident.

Re: Books are not too expensive

#163

Post by rahimnathwani »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #156
rahimnathwani wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AFAICT, publishers don't donate books to public libraries. Those public libraries use our taxes to buy books. So if books are expensive then our taxes buy fewer books. San Francisco public libraries spend $200m per year, of which 15% is spent on 'collections', including books, ebooks, magazines etc. That's $35 per resident. The denominator includes newborns, infants and others that can't read or don't like to read.

>That's $35 per resident. Seems like good value to me.

That's the amount spent on books etc., not the total library budget.

What do you think is the mean number of library books read by a San Francisco resident per year?

Re: Books are not too expensive

#165

Post by carlosjobim »

oliyoung wrote: post #28
A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #5

At some point you just have to move to Ebooks. It's way cheaper (usually ~6x cheaper) and it's much more convenient, as you always have your entire library with you. Sometimes even in duplicate, i.e. on more than one device at the same time, in the same place. I was very reluctant to make the move at first, as I love everything about physical books -- their feel, the way they smell, the cover art -- but I was accumul…

> At some point you just have to move to Ebooks. This is a parallel story for me to vinyl / streaming for music There are some books and albums I want as physical artefacts, their aesthetic and tactile presence in my world means something more than just the content, you're right, the smell, the art, their feel Then there are some that are _just_ content, they get streamed and bought as ebooks for just convienence and…

That's just fetishizing a mass produced object. Books have never been about the physical object, they have always been about what is written.

It's like guys buying fancy cars and motorbikes to polish them in the garage, rather than riding them.

And same thing frankly for vinyl collecting vs digital music files.

Re: Books are not too expensive

#166

Post by carlosjobim »

mananaysiempre wrote: post #9
A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #5

At some point you just have to move to Ebooks. It's way cheaper (usually ~6x cheaper) and it's much more convenient, as you always have your entire library with you. Sometimes even in duplicate, i.e. on more than one device at the same time, in the same place. I was very reluctant to make the move at first, as I love everything about physical books -- their feel, the way they smell, the cover art -- but I was accumul…

> At some point you just have to move to Ebooks. When I can get a godsdamned file and view it on whatever I want with whatever program I want, sure. But I usually can’t.

Can you do that with a physical book?

Re: Books are not too expensive

#167

Post by so-cal-schemer »

cyberpunk wrote: post #81
Brajeshwar wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

During its early days (2009), an investor showed me a white Kindle reading a book. This was India, long before Amazon was even introduced to our country. I decided to get mine a few years later. I decided to move bag and baggage to ebooks. After some time, I got one for my daughter too. Then the Kindle Oasis was, to me, one of the best ways to read books. But I realize that I have a better and cozier feeling holding…

There’s this great feeling standing infront of a couple loaded billy bookcases trying to pick what to read that i just don’t get from looking at the directory listing on my kobo. (I can reccommend a kobo, it runs linux and with koreader you can even open a terminal emulator on it, ssh into it etc). I like and use both, but yeah the feeling just isn’t the same reading on a screen vs a nice folio society hardcover.

Agreed.

I grew up having a lot of books around, mostly non-fiction, mostly from library book sales, garage sales, and used bookstores. There is a magnetic pull to a large well sorted bookcase. Pair it with a comfortable chair free of distractions. The best entertainment to my mind.

Re: Books are not too expensive

#168

Post by presbyterian »

vhanda wrote: post #4

The bigger problem for me is buying Ebooks without DRM, which are cheaper than the paperback. I see no reason why I should be paying the same (or often more) than the paperback version. Just let me buy the ebook and let me own it. Right now, after pirating it, I have to find the author's patreon / something and contribute some money that way. It shouldn't be this hard to give someone money.

> I see no reason why I should be paying the same (or often more) than the paperback version.

I rarely see the ebooks cost more than print, they're usually slightly cheaper. But the reason they aren't drastically cheaper is that a significant portion of the cost of a book isn't actually in the paper or the printing, it's in paying the author, editors, designers, marketers, etc. All of those people are crucial to the book publishing process, whether it's print or digital or, usually, both.

Re: Books are not too expensive

#170

Post by neonstatic »

randusername wrote: post #84

It's nice to own books. Read them multiple times, dog-ear the pages, scribble in the margins, risk reading them in the pool. But for the price conscious general reader just inter-library loan. If you want to buy To Kill A Mockingbird or The Hobbit be my guest, but any library in the US would have a few copies of those. Public libraries are awesome. Use it or lose it.

My issue with borrowing books was the logistics of it. Showing up, borrowing, returning on time, remembering to return. I'd rather own. Plus, I really like Kindle. It eliminates the largest annoyance I had with books - keeping them open while reading. It introduced an annoyance of its own though; it has to be charged. Once a week or two. So not that bad.
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