A Quick Thought....

It's a good thing that one can hunt for and purchase used books over the Interwebnet at very reasonable prices. Today, for example, I ordered the three Gardner F. Fox Kyrik sword & sorcery novels I don't already have, and two planetary swordplay books by Charles Nuetzel (after reading about him on Charles Gramlich's blog) and not one of them cost more than two bucks.

The shipping, on the other hand... well, let's just say that once everything was tallied up, they didn't seem like such a bargain anymore. Postage was around $4 a book.

Ten years ago, there were dozens of good used book stores in Central Maine, and I would often take a Saturday afternoon and hit as many as I could, which was usually about six or so. They're pretty much all gone now. Aside from the fun of hunting among the shelves for cool stuff and rare treasures, there was the instant gratification of just buying the books you found and going home to read them.

Buying online just isn't as much fun.