Your Favorite Book Source

Bookstores should be messy...Or its just a shop....Nothing better than the smell of old books, and seeing a whole wall full of military type books..and thinking...I'll just be 5 minutes....

 

For a lot of my books, I use the "used book" feature on Amazon. I've bought about two dozen books this way and have not had any problems yet. Most of the ones I've picked up have been a dollar or less, plus $3.50 delivered to my door. I've also had good luck with the Goodwill stores, and local library sales. Just about the only time I buy from the big name stores is around Christmas and birthday time when I get gift cards. I don't get a whole lot of time to read, so a dozen or so books is all I need usually to get through the year. I still like building up a nice library though. I'm not one for those new fangled electronics - I like the big heavy books. It makes you look smarter!

 

I have gotten a lot of my books from used book sales. Last week I bought 16 books (im a little bit a binge book buyer), over a period of two days. Altogether they all cost $7. Used book sales are typically my favorite place to buy books. There's also Half Price books, in which the concept is you buy a book for half of its original price.

 

Closed its doors in January of this year after 34 years in business. I've had some real gems from here over the years. :S!

Also, for anyone visiting London, please note that 2014 has seen some big changes in that virtually all of the 'discount bookstores' ( eg Book Warehouse, Lovejoys, Bokks Etc, etc... ) have all ceased trading/closed ( the final big Book Warehouse on The Cut at Waterloo is right now having its closing down sale ). I guess that this is due to increasing rental costs in London but whatever, they're a sad loss.

Also, the 'World's Most Famous Bookstore', Foyles, has relocated to nearby premises on the Charing Cross Road. The bad news is that the premises are much smaller, and their military section seems to have taken a particular 'hit'. Quite honestly, it's now not much better than a large branch of Waterstone's.

So, that just leaves a tiny rump of battle-hardened dealers at the bottom of the Charing X Rd ( Quinto's, Henry Pordes and Any Amount ) huddled together like wagons circled against indians.........

 

Another place you can occasionally find a good book is a thrift store. They usually don't have a wide variety of books especially on history, but occasionally you'll find a gem. A a thrift store near where I live, I found a world history text book that was published around 1940. It's called "World History Today" by Albert E. McKinley, Ph. D, Arthur C. Howland, Ph. D., and Matthew L. Dan, A.B. I find it so fascinating because it talks about Hitlers invasion of Poland and other events in the first year of the war as recent events. There isn't usually a lot of choices of books at thrift stores, but occasionally you get lucky.

 

That is an interesting piece. Talk about living history.

 

I also discovered the book A Study of Communism by J Edgar Hoover, which was an edition that was published in October of 1962, the same month of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Thought it was pretty neat. Now granted some of his views on Communism are considered today to be controversial, but just back then I figured it might have been a bit of a hit with the crisis going on. And i found this in a used book store for 25 cents!

 

I go to the Abebooks website. Sometimes Amazon, Barnes and Noble, then Albris. I have a few E books on the computer. These are rare CW books, some are in print, but others are not, or will never be printed. When I write seriously it's CW, although I done have some writing about WWII subjects. Interlibrary loan is a sort of last resort.

 

I'm on Ebay quite a bit, so usually, stumble upon a long out of print WWI or WWII find. When I do, I search the old bookseller sites, and more than not find a good copy at a better price. Another source is Google Books. If I'm interested in a certain subject, I search their inventory. More often than not, you can't get detail, but if you do, or if you can get the title, you can do a search on old booksellers. Other sites include Internet Archive, and such.

 

Ebay is usually my 'goto source'... especially for older or more rare books.

 

I usually buy from a local used book store, Amazon used books or yard sales, if I can find anything on the War. Believe it or not, I never read "The Longest Day," so that is coming from Amazon (via seller in New Jersey) by August 2nd. However, I have read D-Day by Stephen Ambrose.

 

I use Amazon often as well to buy used books. Recently, I have needed some rare publications for my research so after a quick digital search I started contacting local universities. No idea why I never thought if it before but it is a treasure trove.

 

double post

 

Military History Shop in Kennett Square, PA.
But it has been some time since I have been there...Really need to stop in.

 

My copy of The Longest Day arrived today, used, but almost like new. Excellent service through Amazon and through www.wonderbook.com
You would never know it was used. (Simon & Schuster paperbacks)

 

Abebooks online is by far the cheapest source I've found. Just snatched an oldie but a goodie this week.