USED BOOK STORES

I realize we are all pretty geographically removed from one another, but for anyone visiting western massachiusetts sometime in the next couple of decades, I would like to strongly recommend Book Bear -- WOW -- 16' of just classical studies, most in great condition at wonderful prices, plus tons of other stuff with great depth in the fields I am interested in

http://www.thebookbear.com/

I'm heading over there now!

Dude it's past midnight... haha

That place looks amazing though. Definitely have to make a visit if I'm ever in western Mass again (who knows when that will be).

Just got back. The place was incredible! Even at this hour, business was brisk. And all on less than two tanks of gas. I don't know why we can't have a store like that in the NY area.

you have some wild middle of the night fantasies Stellar ...

In the night, I come alive....!

Actually, I think a 24-hour used bookstore (perhaps with attached café), for those of us who are night owls, would be pretty cool. :)

I'm always hoping for federal legislation that would require ALL used bookstores to be open 24 hours.

Yeah, great thinking, that would force another couple of thousand out of business...

No, the gov't would pay for the overtime.

Beer must be served at all hours, of course...

>11 Garp83:

That floats right along with my idea of a brewery/bookstore. A brewkery, perhaps? That's actually something my fiancee and I have (jokingly) talked about. She can't see a reason why I don't combine the two, and I can't see a reason to disagree.

> 12 That's such an obvious idea that I'm surprised nobody has actually done it (that I have seen). Particularly here in the Portland/beervana area, where people love their books and love their gourmet beers. Yet I can't recall seeing any alcohol-serving cafés attached to any of the bookstores here. Coffee, juice, pastries, yes; but no alcohol, that I can recall.

Seems like there is a huge untapped niche market out there ... :)

Des -- I like the way your fiancee thinks

Essa -- yes "untapped" is the word!

Made another trip to Book Bear today. Beautiful autumn day for a ride in the country. Spent over three hours there and there’s still a lot more to explore. Picked up two cool books in excellent condition for $13 total – Brutal Journey: The Epic Story of the First Crossing of North America by Paul Schneider in first edition hardcover & Time Detectives: How Scientists Use Modern Technology to Unravel the Secrets of the Past by Brian Fagan in trade paper. Both volumes were very lightly handled & in wonderful condition. Go Book Bear!

Time Detectives: A good book we now share! Along those lines, I also liked Timewalkers: The Prehistory of Global Colonization by Clive Gamble, though I have the sense that all books about human prehistorical whereabouts written before the recent revolution in human genetic origins (cf., and well known to Garp, Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project by Spencer Wells) may have serious gaps.

>6 stellarexplorer:
I will personally vouch for Stellar's nocturnal proclivities!

Naughty boy (or girl)! ;-)

>17 MtnSk8tr:,19
Guilty, and better to have it out than have it used against me!

Have any of you ever made a pilgrimage to the Book Barn in Niantic, CT? Some of us from The Green Dragon group here on LT met there last Summer. I'm fantasizing about moving there at some point. No joke...

http://www.bookbarnniantic.com/

>21 clamairy: Wow! I would spend so much time in there my family would file a missing persons report with the cops.

> 22 My family and friends wouldn't need to. They'd just figure that I was there and be resigned to it (and a few of them would be in there with me). :D

> 21 What a great place for a meet-up! Did you actually get any meeting-up done, though, or did you just shake hands and then wander, glassy-eyed, through the stacks of books? :)

If the rent in Niantic isn't enough to make you go hungry, the Book Barn might just take up the slack ;)

Yeah a number of is have. I think we should organize a LT pilgrimage there in the spring. Thee's a great restaurant/pub in town we could go afterwards to celebrate our good fortune.

#23 - We did. We met for breakfast first and then we went shopping. Let me see if I can dredge up a piccie or two of our loot for the day.

I think I'm going to cry because there is no Book Barn near me. There is only one used bookstore around here, and I hardly ever go because it never seems to have any books. Oh, the shelves are full, but I rarely find anything l want to read. I love used bookstores, but my local one just doesn't have the right atmosphere.

Fun!

#27 - Awww. :o/ This place is still over an hour away from us, and in almost 9 years living here I've only managed to get there once. So, please, don't feel too badly.

I am on vacation in a week and Book Barn is on the itinerary and one called Book Bear.

Went on the Haj to Book Barn this summer. Grew in spirit and in library, but I had to lock the kids in the trunk to quiet their protests. I did not think three hours was unreasonable, but they differed.

Children (and sometimes spouses) don't seem to understand that a used bookstore is a destination, not a stopover.

#31 - Didn't you let them run wild with the cats and the goat? I brought my daughter with me last year, and I had to pry her out of the place. She's as much of a book nut as I am, though.

>33 clamairy:
Well, stellargirl is six, and she did like the dogs, but isn't yet a bibliophile. stellarkid is 12, and is decidedly against anything that causes him to remain in one place for more than thirty seconds, unless it's a video game.

It's Ok, if it's a choice between books and being popular with my kids, the answer is clear!

#34 - Mine are a bit older. My daughter just turned 18 and has her own lifetime account here on LT. My son, who is 14, feels the same as your 12 year old. *sigh* Although he usually enjoys what they make him read at school, he has only read a handful of books on his own in the last couple of years.

When garpette was a girl, she loved books as much as I. We used to go to bookstores together all the time and she had her own little library. Alas, as she grew into a beautiful, intelligent young woman her interest in printed matter declined considerably. At 21, she still reads, but not with that same vigor.

As for Garpon, he is 18 and has never liked books on any level, especially if he was told he had to read them. As a freshman in college, he realizes he must actually deal with them, but I don't think he'll ever be into books.

As for Mrs. Garp, she reads occasionally, usually horror genre, but again she doesn't have a thing for books like me.

I give you all of this by way of explanation -- and empathy -- for why I never take my family with me on trips to used bookstores. On vacation, there are two alternate images: my family sitting forlornly in the car together in front of a bookstore bored and complaining while Dad struggles to contain himself during his allocated minutes there, or Dad looking forlornly out the window as we drive past the bookstore.

That image is me, Garp!

So sorry to hear that, Garp & Stellar! I am very blessed in having a husband who is as much a book nut as I, though our areas of interest differ. He looks bemusedly at my purchases of dense tomes on history, while I mine his science fiction collection with great enjoyment!

My kids are around the same ages as the Stellarkids, and they are both full blown bookworms. However, they just don't have the staying power to spend hours on end in a bookstore. My husband reads newspapers, farming magazines, and tractor manuals. There don't tend to be many of those at used bookstores.

If we're travelling (which occurs infrequently), my husband always stops if we see a used bookstore. But I just can't get very absorbed in it when I know they are all waiting for me.

>38 staffordcastle:
Oh staffordcastle, stellarwoman is completely on board and loves books. It's the little brown dwarfs that are the problem!

Glad to hear it, Stellarexplorer! Hopefully the stellarkids will grow into it - there's still time!

Went to a huge antiquarian book fair at a high school in Northamption that was ... well, bloody awful. This after I spent most of yesterday trawling used bookstores and came away empty handed. But, afterwards we went to The Raven, a cool used bookstore in Northampton and: GREAT SUCCESS!

I'd like to make a quick plug for Library Used Book Sales. I have spent the last couple of months boxing and sorting books for my library's first ever used book sale. I ended up buying quite a few books over that time. (The volunteers got first dibs, so I had to show some restraint!) You can check out most of my loot here: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=EG+Library+Sale&view=clam...

Between my daughter and I we probably brought home a total of 65 - 70 books, for about $45.

If you live in the US and have no idea where to find library books sales in your neck of the woods you can check here: http://booksalefinder.com/

I agree, clamairy. A large portion of my books are from library book sales. Probably about 80% of the hardcovers. There is a big sale next weekend in London, Ontario, and I'll be there, come hell or high water. Last year they started charging by the bagful.

Library sales are one of my favorites!

Library sales are wonderful - at some libraries. Thelibrary in my town has nothing, but I used to live near Southport CT & they have a huge book sale every year at the Pequot Library -- it is awesome. Another good one is often at the Belchertown MA library. I agree that those can be the most exciting sales, because professionals are rarely involved & the picks are great.

#43 - There's a listing of all the library book sales!!!! My wife will curse this day.

#47 - Yes, by the state/date!

I 'saved myself' this year for the one in my own town. It was our first, but I have been going to them since I was 13 and living in Southold, NY. It was one of the bright points of the Summer for me as a yoot.

That's funny, they have my schools "ongoing sale" on there... but unfortunately all they have is utter trash ... I looked through the "for sale" shelf the other day and there is absolutely nothing even remotely interesting haha

Oh wait... :-(

#49 - Ongoing sales are a mixed blessing. Once in a while I find something wonderful, but mostly it's already been picked over and over and over. :o/

Library book sales can be wonderful.

I've discovered that as a stamp collector (who's just started to get serious about it in the last couple of years), the big city library's fall sale is treasure trove: get there early and you can find the previous couple of years stamp catalogues on the cheap.

Other than that, though I by far prefer used book stores: if I find I don't care for a book, I can pass it on or sell it back. Library booksales are primarily library discards, and none of my local used bookstores will take them (even the thrift stores are starting to turn up their noses at them).

#51 - I guess it depends on which libraries' sale you are frequenting. Most of the ones I've been to have donated books for sale and only about 10% of the books are discards.

#51. You can also donate them back to the library so they can resell them at the next sale.

Thank goodness! You guys just reminded me of a big library sale near me tomorrow!!

Mine was today. I got about 40 books, mostly hardcover. I had to stop when I reached the limit I could carry out to the car.

Good hunting, stellar!

Thx -- I'll try to be the early bird!

SylviaC, let us know when you add them to LT. I get a thrill out of looking through other people's loot.

Same with you, stellar. Good luck today. (I'm guessing you've already filled up a few boxes.)

Well, rain had a big impact on the sale. It was outdoors, under temporary large plastic structures. It was hard to put books aside, because space was at a premium and there was a danger of water.

So I felt fortunate to come away with 9 good books. The most satisfying acquisition was a nice hardback copy of volume 1 of Meier's A Marginal Jew, one of the best and more scholarly considerations of the historical Jesus. Also, the large and comprehensive Rodale Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening. I'm moving more toward dietary reform. Just this morning finished In Defense of Food, the logical and almost obligatory follow-up to Pollan's earlier The Omnivore's Dilemma.

I read this thread this morning and felt somewhat jealous, then happaned to drive by a BOOK SALE at a senior center. Walked out with 9 solid books, most history hardcovers in excellent condition, for a grand total of $6.50!!! Yay!

You live a charmed life, Garp!

21 - A spring field trip to the Book Barn would be great!

62 --I'm in on Book Barn field trip!!!

61 -- Stellar -- you too buddy!

I'm in, but I might have to stop at this place on the way home:

http://www.catocornerfarm.com/cheese.php

Nice hauls, Grap (AKA Garp) and stellar.

Bravo, Garp & Stellar!

>64 clamairy: clamairy

Oh, right. You get cheese and Book Barn. I am definitely going to cry.

Sorry, SylviaC. You'd be with us in spirit, right?

The spirit is willing, but the location is wrong.

That cheese looks really good!! I want in! (I'm ordering some Womanchego!)

Library book sales around here are about the reverse: 80% discards and 20% or so donations, or so I've found.

Either way, I've missed the big one this year, I think.

You lot are finding some great books it sounds like.

> 62-69: Considering the costs of transatlantic travel - better spent on books - you'll have to count me out too. ;-(

I was at both Book Bear and Book Barn last week, while on vacation. WOW! I returned home with 70 books and probably half came from those two stores.

If you are in the area again, please let me know. I'll buy you a beer!

Here's the loot I got on Saturday at the local senior center for a grand total of $6.50:

Books from the book sale

 Daughter Of Fortune -- Isabel Allende (trade paper)
 The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story Of Those Who Survived The Great American Dust Bowl – Timothy Egan (trade paper)
 The Bonus Army: An American Epic – Dickson & Allen (trade paper)
 Titan: The Life Of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. – Ron Chernow (hardcover)
 Mystic River: A Novel – Dennis Lehane (hardcover first edition)
 Nixon And Kissinger: Partners In Power – Robert Dallek (hardcover)
 In Suspect Terrain – John McPhee (trade paper)
 The Best And The Brightest – David Halberstam (hardcover)

Nice haul, and can' beat the price!

I am now going to admit something on the morbid side. I'm not proud of it, but the fact remains. It's in my mind. I sometimes think about my parents' books. About the fact that neither of my siblings will have any interest in them, and that one day, hopefully a long time from now (my folks are both 75), I may be looking at the library and selecting which ones I will have. (I told you it was a morbid thought.)

I bring it up because I spoke to them today, and they are selling their house and moving to a smaller place. They indicated that "some books will be available". I think I may soon be freed of the morbid association I have at looking at their collection!

Hmmm ... yes morbid perhaps but it's nice to know the books will go somewhere where they will be appreciated. I don't have anyone looking forward to inheriting my books

Mine from Saturday, for $10, not including an extra dollar for a reusable environmentally-friendly tote bag to tote them off in:


The origins of Christianity: Sources and documents by Howard Clark Kee
Questions of the French Revolution : a historical overview by Jacques Solé
The Reformation by George L. Mosse
Luther and the Reformation by Heather Cubitt
Ivanhoe: A Romance (Modern Library Classics) by Sir Walter Scott (Spanking new paperback)
Those Who Prayed: An Anthology of Medieval Sources by Peter Speed
The First Moderns: Profiles in the Origins of Twentieth-Century Thought by William R. Everdell (hardcover)
A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus by John P. Meier (hardcover)
The Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening by J. I. Rodale (hardcover)

#75. Oh good, I'm not the only one. I thought perhaps there was something wrong with me.

Stellar -- now your list is eclectic, isn't it? From Jesus to Ivanhoe to Gardening .... well, there is a "hoe" in Ivanhoe so maybe its subliminal ...

My haul was almost all fiction. They had an excellent selection of children's books, all in great condition, but not much adult non-fiction. They were mostly library discards, which I really like. Many of them look like they've hardly ever been used, which is nice in a way, but makes me kind of sad to think that no one has been reading them.

>75 stellarexplorer: stellarexplorer
When I particularly liked one of my mother's books, she always used to say to me, "I'll leave it to you when I die." Naturally, I wasn't in any hurry to acquire her books that way, so I always tried to find my own copies. Unfortunately, that time came far sooner than anyone expected, and I inherited all of her books. It look me four years to whittle our combined libraries down to a manageable size. Where there were duplicates, I kept the copy that was in best condition, and if both were equal, I would usually keep her copy. I received some very good books, but I would have preferred to wait longer.

Fortunately, both my kids are readers, so I know that at least some of my books will continue to be appreciated after my time.

Those Who Prayed looks interesting, as does A Marginal Jew.

>80 SylviaC:
Sylvia, thanks for that. I believe my parents -- especially my mother, who is more the reader and book acquirer -- are very pleased that one of their children will appreciate their books. As I will be should one of mine prove to value books as I do....!

>79 Garp83:
A bit eclectic, maybe. But that is what I'd expect, as I'm an eclectic kind of guy. (I hope that doesn't sound like a boast? I pride myself on well-intentioned passionate dilettantism!)

>76 Garp83:
Garp, I would love to inherit your books!

> 75: Yes, I can see how you would think of that as morbid. But on the other hand, I'm sure - when the time comes, and may it still be many years away - your parents would rather see their books find a good home.

A couple of years ago, when he passed away at 89, I inherited most of my father's books (my brothers not being interested) - some of them even came down from my grandparents. And while not all of them are really my "cup of tea", I'll treasure them all.

> 76: Yeah, it's a bit sad to think that my library will probably simply be dissolved when I go. Sigh...

Ted I will keep you in mind!

>85 Garp83:
Uh Garp, I know we are about he same age, but I have good genes for longevity...give a look in my direction, if you would! ;-D

LOL

Stella, don't be proud. Claim your parents books while you have the chance. I told my parents before they moved what books I wanted, but they didn't remember when they actually cleared out the house. It took me years to find some of them again.

Good advice jennieg! I hope I won't return with the story that they were offended, and cut me completely out of the literary will! ;-)

No, you're doing them a favor! They won't have as much room in the new place, after all.

Put post-it notes in the books you want. It will make it easier for everyone.

Anyone remember the old TV show "Supermarket Sweep"?

92>

So, we should visit used book stores with a shopping cart and a large timer?

LOL. Maybe some modifications would be necessary.

Keep the shopping cart, can the timer. :-)

Went on a terrific used book shop crawl field trip with my buddy Steve today, including the amazing Montague Book Mill in Montague MA) where they serve great food and cold beer to boot! Also went to Amherst Books & Gray Matter Books in Amherst MA. I ended up with something from all three. Here's the eclectic haul:

The Rise And Fall Of Alexandria: Birthplace Of The Modern Mind -- Pollard & Reid
Black Sea – Ascherson
New World Coming – Miller
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story Of Greed, Terror, And Heroism In Colonial Africa -- Hochschild

Whenever you get around to Black Sea, let me know what you think of it. I've been interested in checking out some of these books recently that are kind of "travel musings" combined with historical info on the area. There's another one about the Danube I've had my eye on... but I think these kind of books can be kind of hit or miss.

I must have driven through Montague, Massachusetts, on I-91, but I've never heard of it. I can't make sense of it using Google. Is it like Brigadoon?

Robert

It is not near I-91 -- you need to get off I-91 and head towards Sunderland.

http://www.montaguebookmill.com/

#98 - Bwaa haa haa. :oD

I found a link to the place. Looks to be near West Deerfield and Lake Pleasant.

http://www.montaguebookmill.com/

Edited to add: Bah. Beaten by Garp. ;o)

Mr. Durick it is actually right next to the Big Kahuna Burger stand, located in Brigadoon and in:
Cicely, Alaska
Castle Rock, Maine
Hooterville, Illinois
Lake Wobegon, Minnesota
Peyton Place, New Hampshire
Mayberry, North Carolina
Mayors Income, Tennessee
Twin Peaks, Washington

My that is a tasy burger!!

http://www.bigkahunaburger.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Kahuna_Burger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOOo7tSDCUs

It might be better for me to scurry over to West Hartford (is that on I91?) for a 'burger at The Counter. Then I could look for that huge Connecticut book store.

Oh, is there still the Terwilliger's stand in Enfield?

Robert

Never heard of Terwilliger's, Robert ... sorry

The big bookstore in CT is in Niantic I believe, nowheres near West Hartford

If you live between Philadelphia or Pittsburgh and Richmond, the best used-book store is in Baltimore and all the books are free. It has been around for over ten years and has over 100,000 books on the shelves, all free! It is the BookThing of Baltimore (www.bookthing.org) and is open only only on weekends. All of the books have been donated for free distribution. Check it out.

Those who know me well enough know that one of my great pleasures is reading and collecting an eclectic range of book titles. To that end, one of my favorite pursuits is trawling the used bookstores of Western Massachusetts in my spare time. (I mentioned in passing to a bank teller that that was how I was spending my day off and he thought I was having him on: “Used bookstores? C’mon?”) In any event, I’ve picked up some new titles recently, including a nice haul on my recent birthday, augmented by a side trip on that day to the superstore of used books, Book Barn in Niantic. Great success!

New Books I Got

For My Birthday (4-7-10):
 The Lost World Of Old Europe: The Danube Valley, 5000-3500 BC by David Anthony
 From Egypt To Babylon by Paul Collins
 From Shane To Kill Bill by Patrick McGhee

Birthday trip to Book Barn, Niantic CT:
 The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
 Time Before History: 5 Million Years Of Human Impact by Colin Tudge
 Abraham Lincoln, Volume 1, The Prairie Years by Carl Sandburg
 Quentin Tarantino: The Man And His Movies by Jami Bernard

In my Easter Basket:
 Homer's "Odyssey": A Companion To The English Translation Of Richard Lattimore by Peter Jones

Other Used Books Stores Trawled during the Last couple of weeks:
 The Perils Of Peace: America's Struggle For Survival After Yorktown by Thomas Fleming
 Athens From Alexander To Antony by Christian Habicht,
 Egypt, Canaan, And Israel In Ancient Times by Donald Redford
 The Outbreak Of The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan
 The Archidamian War by Donald Kagan
 The Fall Of The Athenian Empire by Donald Kagan
 Cultural Atlas Of Africa by Jocelyn Murray

Also added:
 The Code Book: The Science Of Secrecy From Ancient Egypt To Quantum Cryptography by Simon Singh
 Traveling Heroes by Robin Lane Fox

>105 Garp83:
Nice haul! It certainly looks like you had a happy birthday.

There are some interesting looking titles there. The only one I've read is The World Without Us. I found that it provided a lot of fascinating tidbits about what it takes to keep our civilization going.

Happy reading!

Sounds like some good stuff! Happy Birthday, Garp!

I started celebrating mine early with a visit to Black Oak Books:

The Complete Pyramids
Women of the West
Five Centuries of American Costume
Cowboy Culture: A Saga of Five Centuries
Wild West Shows and the Images of American Indians, 1883-1933
The Last of the Mohicans

Dratted touchstones ...
The Last of the Mohicans
Wild West Shows and the Images of American Indians

Quite a mighty haul there, Stan! I meant to pick up the Anthony book when I was in NY, but they weren't selling it at the museum, or else I just didn't see it. It was down to about 30 bucks on Amazon for a while, but now I see that it's back up, consarnit...

I'm kind of torn on feeding my book addiction lately. I'm going to be moving for at least a year in a few months, and I will hardly be able to take any of my books with me. I'm not sure if it's prudent to get a bunch of books that are going to sit here while I'm gone and risk them getting ruined somehow (may sound unlikely if you don't know my family).

Terrific acquisitions Garp -- you've been busy! It'll take longer to read 'em!

I found a good used bookstore yesterday. It's a Goodwill charity bookstore, in London, Ontario. It is good sized, but not huge, has an excellent selection, and is very clean and bright. I only had twenty minutes, so I didn't even make it to the fiction section.

My most notable purchase was A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, in trade paperback for $4.99. It appears to be unread. I also got Life and Leisure in Ancient Rome by J. P. V. D. Balsdon, and Stephen Hawking, a Life in Science by Michael White and John Gribbin, both also looking brand new. On the lighter side, are It all Started with Hippocrates by Richard Armour, May Your First Love Be Your Last by Gregory Clark, and Selected Letters of James Thurber. All six, three hardcovers and three trade paperbacks, cost a total of 16.95.

When I get a chance, I'll have to make a dedicated book run to London.

I didn't go to any used book stores, but since this is kind of the default "haul" thread, I'll post what I just got :-D

In a few separate hauls, I picked up:

(For School)

The New Testament: Its Background Growth and Content by Bruce Metzger

Germany Since 1945 by Pol O'Dochartaigh

Xenophon's Anabasis Books I-IV with vocab and notes by Maurice Mather and Joseph Hewitt (*touchstone is wrong, but you get the idea*)

Slavery: A World History by Milton Meltzer

Slavery and Society at Rome by KR Bradley

(The last two aren't *technically* for class, but will come in handy for the paper I plan to write for it...though I didn't buy the books for that class yet because it doesn't start till July, and profs have a habit of changing their minds on the books for these 6wk summer classes sometimes)

Then for my own purposes (for cheap) I got off half.com:

Warhorse: Cavalry in Ancient Warfare by Phil Sidnell

The Face of Battle by John Keegan

Lords of the Sea: The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy and the Birth of Democracy by John R. Hale

Greece in the Making, 1200-479 BC by Robin Osborne

A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War by Victor Davis Hanson

Rome and the Enemy: Imperial Strategy in the Principateby Susan Mattern

Travel in the Ancient World by Lionel Casson

Rick Steves' Scandinavia (2010 ed)

Let's Go Germany, 15th Edition

Nice haul, Feicht. I noticed your Casson book yesterday -- it popped up in my Connection News, and I've always liked that book. One of those books that gives you a vivid picture of real life long ago...

I'm looking forward to getting to it eventually. It comes highly recommended by a former professor and a handful of his current students

Josh you have as much of a book problem as me I see ... I got the
Lords of the Sea: The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy and the Birth of Democracy by John R. Hale
some months back because Hale taught a really good Teaching Company course I took in '09. I haven't started it yet, but its on the ever widening TBR.

At your suggestion I bought The Horse, the Wheel and Language today -- not from a used book store unfortunately ...

Well that's okay, it's an amazing book worth any price. I think I actually pre-ordered it from Amazon before it came out because I knew who Anthony was and he was of the JP Mallory school and so on. Though now that you've finally picked it up, I imagine I should probably point out that you might want to read it with a "companion" book. Perhaps the book from the ISAW exhibit can be it! But like I was saying last year as I read it, parts of it can drag slightly because as an archaeologist, Anthony can be a bit heavy on the detail, and sometimes light on the context. But when he brings it all together it's like someone smacked you across the face. Good stuff! (You might appreciate the part(s) where he talks about the horse's head maces that the Indo-Europeans might have used as signs of their power...the power to crack the skulls of their underlings! :-D They had one of these at the exhibit, which I why I bring it up)

In other news, the fruits of my various hauls have begun to trickle in! :-D I love this part, it's like Xmas every day! Should go on for a while too because I did a nice music/movie haul a couple days after I ordered my books :-D

I will let you know what I think when I sink my teeth in it.

For those who live in Tennessee or may be visiting soon Mckay's is an excellent used book store with three locations: Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville.

A friend of mine recently said over lunch that if you looked at a book I was reading you might likely only find six other people in the world reading that book. It's true! Today I trawled a user bookstore in Amherst MA and came away with The Leopard's Tale: Revealing the Mysteries of Catalhoyuk by Ian Hodder ($8.50 in hardcover, very good condition). Later, on my deck with a cold Harpoon beer, I became the sixth person on the globe reading that book ...

Varry nice!

"Varry nice!"

Let's have a look at the other five before we decide! :D

Nice find, Garp!

Spent a couple of hours yesterday at Grey Matter Books, a relatively new awesome used bookstore in Amherst MA. I picked up The Persians in a Folio Edition that was almost new for $15 and a trade paper edition of The Third Chimpanzee. All was well in the universe.

The incredible legendary ancient Troubadour Books formerly located in Hadley has relocated to an adjoining space to the incredible newcomer and soon-to-be-legendary Grey Matter Books in Amherst MA. My second trip there since the two engaged siamese-twin like and captured my addictive soul. Today I walked out with The Other Greeks by Hanson and A History of Greece to 322 BC by Hammond in really good shape for under $20 total for both volumes. Nice additions to my classics collection.

I absolutely love while doing required reading for my Masters' course to see references in footnotes to books I have on my shelf. I'm sure these will fall into that category now that they are in the picture.

>124 Garp83: I absolutely love while doing required reading for my Masters' course to see references in footnotes to books I have on my shelf.

I adore the fact that my library has grown big enough that, these days, most research questions that come up can be answered at home, without making a trip the my local university library. Pure luxury!

ahh ... wonderful isn't it! I don't have a lot of categories that qualify for that, but the classical greece section is rapidly approaching that level

Indeed it is wonderful when one needs only consult one's own library for reference!

Anyone see this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/garden/06books.html?ref=style ?

A guy makes a living procuring and designing books for people's libraries.

Um. Wow. Okay, that's just weird. How many people have 4000 books? Well, I have over 7000 myself; sounds like I wouldn't be any better off in that house than I am here! LOL!

Yeah, that part was less applicable to many LT users....but a cool job nonetheless. And it goes without saying that the numbers tell only a small part of the story.

Also, while happily married myself, I was intrigued by this article http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/fashion/06Niche.html?scp=1&sq=dating%20sit... on niche dating sites, particularly the one called Alikewise.com which allows users to date those whose libraries appeal.

OT: This line was humorous:

"VeggieDate.org is one of the oldest, and its members’ diets run the gamut from vegan to “almost veg.” Subscriptions: $9.95 for three months; $19.95 for one year; $69.95 for lifetime membership. (Note to singles seeking long-term love: it is not advisable to pursue people who buy lifetime memberships to dating sites.) "

LOL! Ya think?

#127 Stellar -- I read most of this article about designer libraries and the vacuous people that want to decorate their McMansions with coordinating books but then I had to stop before I threw up in my mouth ...

Best to open the mouth prior!

Excellent advice. LOL

But I want that job, and the clients would get those 'color-coordinated regional histories' and I could keep all the rejects. (Too bad I live in an area were no one would pay me to do such a thing.)

The first time I read of this nonsense was when Martha Stewart was decorating the homes of idiot millionaires with complete collections of Loeb's for the red and green cover contrast. On the plus side, it was infusing money into Harvard Classics so they could continue to publish the volumes and for that I'm grateful. Intellectually, however, I am appalled.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I agree. It goes against all my personal book-worshipping beliefs. But, if it means I could use it as an excuse to spend my days in used book shops, AND make a living, I would try it. Plus there's always the chance that kids raised in those houses might actually (if allowed) pick up some of those books and *gasp* read them.

I too would probably end up nauseated. But the very idea of a high-paying job dealing with the objects of my fetishistic interest has appeal...

Same here, though I'm not sure I could deal with the one where the books had to be cut to half-depth ...

A few months ago I watched a DIY/decorator show where they used books to make shelves and a table. I wanted to cry.

I dunno. I think some books were written to become building blocks for furniture. Consider Dan Brown or Stephanie Meyer.

GENE -- add Sarah Palin & Glenn Beck & George W. Bush's books --LOL

Re Stephanie Meyer and Dan Brown I can at least say this for them... It's better for people to read just about anything rather than nothing. I can't think of any exceptions though I suppose theoretically some books might be so dangerous that it would be better not to read (I'm thinking serial murderers and pedophiles.)

And if I were to actually decorate with books as furniture I certainly wouldn't want Twilight as I'd be ashamed. After all, as every fan of Buffy knows vampires don't sparkle because it would only allow her to find and kill them more easily.

Garp83 at #124: The incredible legendary ancient Troubadour Books formerly located in Hadley has relocated to an adjoining space to the incredible newcomer and soon-to-be-legendary Grey Matter Books in Amherst MA.

Thanks for the tip. Is this somewhere back in town?

If you're local, it's near exit 19 off I-91

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?rls=com.microsoft:en-us&oe=UTF-8&start...

Anyone in London looking for a great bookshop for history - I recommend Joseph's Books in Temple Fortune, Golders Green. It is a good shop generally and the staff are very helpful and pleasant, plus there's a cafe in the room next door. But for anything to do with the Middle East it's a superb place. Any possible gaps in the shelves will probably be well served at the Persian bookshop a few doors away!

I found an amazing cool little used bookstore in Reading Station across from City Hall in Philly when I was there on Sunday. Bought two books! Epic win!

>146 Garp83: I get down that way now and then, Garp. I think I know the one you mean. I've picked up a few volumes there myself! Emphasis on "little", right? Nice selection, but very small place.

Anyway, sounds sadly better than the show...

Yeah it is owned by an African American family that has managed it for 20 years and it is a little larger than my bathroom but it is stuffed with tons of books in that little space. Section markers mean nothing, you have to look at every title, and don't wear a heavy coat or you'll knock whole sections over as you pass. Good selection, prices a little high. I did well there.

Book Bear West Brookfield Mass today – Awesome Used Bookstore – I netted:

People Of The Stone Age: Hunter-Gatherers And Early Farmers (Illustrated History Of Humankind, Vol. 2)

Archaic Greece: The Age Of Experiment – Snodgrass

Carthage – Warmington

Great Success!

Another great London bookshop is the Notting Hill Book Exchange (W11) - I had a couple of hours to kill yesterday and trawled the shelves of the used books and many unread reviewers' copies they seem to often stock. 12 great books for £12. Great value always when I go there.

Went on a used-book-store tour yesterday, and came home with two books off my wishlist and a copy of one I had been kicking myself for passing up last October. Cheers!

I was looking at books from the AASLH (American Association for State and Local History) and after browsing several scholarly publishers I found this clearance site.

http://www.basementbooks.com/catalog/Multibook.shtml?command=Search&db=^DB/B...

I am not connected with them in any way but some of the titles might interest people here.

I visited some nice used book stores in Madison, Wisconsin today. Three to be specific. I don't remember what they were called, but hey whaddya gonna do. One of them had a nice selection of Loebs though, which is pretty rare, but they were all still pretty expensive.

how much were the Loebs?

All between 17 and 20 bucks. If they were like 10 I would have nabbed a couple, but for that price you may as well pick up a new one, ya know

ridiculous for used ... $10 is the used standard

Yeah, though IIRC the ones at Book Barn were pretty much the same price range.

At Troubadour in Hadley they are $10, but some are moldy & I won't buy those, and many of the others are only sold as sets which puts them out of my price range (even at $10 all of Aristotle is well over $200; I use that only as example since I don't think all of Aristotle, or Plato for that matter, are worth owning)

That's because we're historians, not philosophers ;-D

...since I don't think all of Aristotle, or Plato for that matter, are worth owning.

Blasphemy! Unbeliever! (But don't look at my library. I only have one Aristotle and a couple of Plato's). :-D

Of all the Greek philosophers, Plato & Aristotle seem to me the most silly or the most disturbing -- which is why the Christians latched on to them I suppose ...

Ouch. Well, I suppose there is enough silliness to go around. I can't speak in favor of Aristotle having never read any of his works -- yet. I enjoy much of Plato though I certainly don't agree with some of the Greek social practices I find in Plato... "Come here, boy, and let me 'mentor' you...."

I enjoyed Plato's Republic though I wouldn't want to live in that particular society. Interesting that Plato proposed equality of the sexes.

Anyway, I find an understanding of Greek philosophy is foundational to understanding Western philosophy in general. Frankly, though, I'm an amateur and I need to balance philosophy, history and literature to keep from burning out on any one subject.

Reading Plato & Aristotle are indeed essential to an understanding of Western philosophy, of Western Civilization. You are correct in that we need to know it, but we do not need to like it. While certainly some of Plato is worth reading, I find his overall point of view disturbing and his theories of form ridiculous. Aristotle is one of the most boring writers of all time, unless he has never been translated properly. Both of them represent anti-democratic ideals and thus have been employed to justify the rule of the one for thousands of years, which makes me even less enamoured of their points of view.

Plato's theory of forms may be ridiculous, but it is still deeply embedded in the way we think. The knowable is not as perfect as the absolute. Everything in Heaven is perfect, on earth, not so much. We are fallen creatures. The ideology is perfect, practicality requires compromise which adds dross to the ideal. If only the ideal could be attained! We must struggle to reach and hold the ideal. Where do we see that dynamic at work today? Isn't this the dynamic that drives power relations? I'm right and you're not? The Tea Party? Communists? Daddy-Staters? Anyone whose allegiance is to an ideal. Straight out of Plato and his forms.

I'll agree with you in as far as : yes, Plato's theories are still with us.

Ridiculous his idea may seem at this long divide, Plato posed the great questions that have motivated and invigorated human thought ever since. "Footnotes to Plato" and all that -- most apt.

There are great profundities in Aristotle's Nichomachaean Ethics:

"Now each man judges well the things he knows, and of these he is a good judge. And so the man who has been educated in a subject is a good judge of that subject, and the man who has received an all-round education is a good judge in general. Hence a young man is not a proper hearer of lectures on political science; for he is inexperienced in the actions that occur in life, but its discussions start from these and are about these; and, further, since he tends to follow his passions, his study will be vain and unprofitable, because the end aimed at is not knowledge but action. And it makes no difference whether he is young in years or youthful in character; the defect does not depend on time, but on his living, and pursuing each successive object, as passion directs. For to such persons, as to the incontinent, knowledge brings no profit; but to those who desire and act in accordance with a rational principle knowledge about such matters will be of great benefit."

touchstone edit failed

Thank you for underscoring my point of what a tedious narrative Aristotle spins, all profundities aside. (Although the Nicomachean is among the better stuff he wrote) Of course it may simply be the translations that are out there. I only recently found a translation of Plutarch that was readable and not the typically clausal somnolent stuff that is in the standard Drydan translation.

And I would add that Aristotle thought himself to be some kind of scientist and rationalist but much of his science was erroneous; so much for his being a judge of that he is educated in! (Galileo did a great job of using Aristotle's own reductio ad absurdum against him quite successfully!) In fact, many of the pre-Socratics were far closer to the mark than he was, and most were much humbler. On the other hand, Aristotle does deserve more credit than Plato in his focus on the science of observation and his celebration of natural science overall.

I tend to think Aristotle's over-confidence was inspired by his ego-issues with his old tutor Plato, the much admired intellect who developed the "allegory of the cave". Sure, all tables are really just a shadow of the perfect table that exists in the world of the divine ... Perhaps he had access to drugs in his day that we've never heard of ... And Plato's Republic is either a satire or a celebration of totalitarianism. In any event, I've never understood why this work has received such stress. The good stuff is the "Death of Socrates" trilogy and Symposium.

Look, I'm not saying there's no value to reading these guys --they are each highly influential in Western Civilization and you can ignore them at your intellectual peril. (You must read them, just as you must read the bible and Dante and Shakespeare and other salient works.) On the other hand, I believe their importance is sometimes exaggerated.

Finally, on the quoted passage from Nicomachean Ethics I suspect that Aristotle was attempting to discredit the more democratic & egalitarian tendencies of those youthful passions he references, although I can't be sure, but it is clear that like his mentor he had a great disregard for the Athenian democracy, which was far more admirable in what it represented than what his musings were to offer to his initiates. IMHO

And you consider yourself a historian rather than a philosopher. I'll give you points for both because you've summarized them very well. Let me know when you open your own school and I'll apply -- until then I'll be hanging out at the painted stoa with Professor Zeno.

In the passage above, Aristotle was drawing attention to the distinction between passion and Reason. The latter is the path to real knowledge, he wrote, the former an obstacle. Objects and ideas ought to be judged—not by our likes and dislikes—but on their own terms. The hard part is figuring out what those terms are.

#169 pmackey ... wow ... thank you! And yeah Zeno was cool ...

#170 colukben ... indeed ... although I tend to think that for us humans the one often defines the other, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse ... now that I'm older I have a lot more reason than passion and I have to admit I don't necessarily celebrate that ...

Oh, the point is Aristotle’s, not mine. I go with Hume.

I've always been partial to Diogenes the Cynic, for the obvious reasons.

You live in a barrel?

Yep it's always been my dream to live in a gigantic amphora and m********e in public.

HAHAHA

Wait ... that was you?

Whew! and I thought I was the only one that Philosophy made hot....

Not many used book stores out here in the desert, except for the Goodyear Goodwill store ... which is only 15 miles away. Needless to say I'd rather shop there, now-and-then, for a few good finds than have some professional book-hound buy me colour-coded books enmasse, as has been related above.

As for architects designing houses with acres of bookshelves for the rich ... for "show" .... Architect Frank Lloyd Wright assumed his middle-class clients read books, and he designed accordingly. Indeed, his Usonian houses of the 30's and 40's were designed so carefully that the client's books helped stabilize the book shelves, and the bookshelves helped stabilize the wooden walls, which in many cases were only 2 1/2 inches thick ... 2 - 3/4 inch thick Cypress boards screwed to both sides of a 3/4" thick plywood core.

See the photo of a typical hallway in the article below:

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/travel/stories/2010/09/12/oberlin-2-art-gd2...

The Wright house design is fascinating -- great stuff!

#168 - "Perhaps he had access to drugs in his day that we've never heard of ... "

Thank you for that. I almost spit tea all over my keyboard.

#180 ;-)

My wife took me to Boston for my birthday weekend (hotel overlooking the harbor) and of course I fit in a used bookstore crawl – the wife sits in the sun in the park while I explore dark corners of literary wonders. One of the stores I visited is Brattle Bookshop, one of oldest used bookstores in the country.

Also had a blast in Boston that included a night at a comedy club and a beer tasting at the Harpoon brewery where they make my favorite IPA. Woo-hoo. Also visited a memorial for Colonel Robert Gould Shaw (the guy from the movie “Glory”) and revisited lots of American Revolution and Civil War stuff – it’s all over the city.

And I picked up a pretty eclectic selection of books to add to my collection encompassing ancient history, American history and anthropology. Anyway, here’s the complete list of book loot.

Birthday Presents from the Family:

The Age Of Alexander: Nine Greek Lives – Plutarch
Return To Nisa -- Shostak, Marjorie
A War Like No Other -- Hanson, Victor Davis

Products of Boston Used Bookstore Crawl:

Wealthy Corinth -- Salmon, J.B.
From Democrats To Kings: The Brutal Dawn of a New World from the Downfall of Athens to the Rise of Alexander the Great -- Scott, Michael
Union 1812: The Americans Who Fought The 2nd War Of Independence -- Langguth, A.J.
Lincoln President-Elect: Abraham Lincoln & The Great Secession
Winter 1860-1861-- Holzer, Harold
Complete Pompeii -- Berry, Joanne

Happy Birthday, Garp!
Looks as if you had a good one.
:o)

Edited to add: Nice haul!

Nice haul again, as I said elsewhere. And happy birthday, as I did not! ;)

Sounds like an excellent birthday! Many happy returns!

I remember Brattle with great fondness; I only visited it once, but got some good stuff.

Used Bookstore Haul 5/21/11 – Heritage Books, Sage Books and Cherry Picked Books

1. Mr. Lincoln’s Army (Army of the Potomac Set) – Bruce Catton
2. Glory Road (Army of the Potomac Set) – Bruce Catton
3. Stillness at Appomattox (Army of the Potomac Set) – Bruce Catton
4. The Ancient American Civilizations – Frederick Katz
5. The Civil War Battlefield Guide – Frances M. Kennedy, editor
6. The Ancient Greeks – M.I. Finley

Stopped at Opa Opa Brewery/Tavern for a cold beer, read the current issue of Lapham's while sipping. And got home and found a package from an old friend with:

7. First Lessons in Greek – Adolf Kaegi

You are a lucky guy, Garp.

I just got a copy of Glory Road at the San Francisco Friends of the Public Library book sale a couple of weeks ago! Completes my set.

Just a point of information, as a diehard Bruin fan in Canada I may have to move to the state of Mass. within the near future. Perhaps there are positive reasons for leaving my wilderness abode for the city of Bostion. How difficult for a Canadian to get Green papers??

>188 staffordcastle:

I could have sworn that meant the Robert Heinlein Glory Road

>190 stellarexplorer:
LOL - no - it's the Civil War one - I discovered that, quite inexplicably, I had the first and third of the trilogy, but not the second!

Wow, I haven't read Heinlein's Glory Road in eons; I barely remember it!

I recently surveyed a bunch of Heinlein fans, seeking a recommendation among his novels that I haven't read. (I've read the 7 or 8 best known). Glory Road came up most often, so it's moved upward in The Pile.

I think his best one was The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress; and I say that clearly understanding how very sexist and dated it is. But it's still a great book. Other favorites of mine are Sixth Column, Starship Troopers, Citizen of the Galaxy, and The Rolling Stones (which is a distant sequel to The Moon is a Harsh Mistress).

Someone loaned me Moon back in college... I don't think I've read it yet. *blush*

When you reread old favorites does the Suck Fairy often visit? (That's what we call it over in the Dragon, when you reread a book you loved years ago only to find it no longer suits your tastes.)

Sometimes, but not yet for Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I got an audio book of it a few years ago, and that was good too. The end still makes me cry.

I too love MiaHM. Reread it pretty recently, and I didn't have that awful feeling that I get, for example, when I am expecting to find that Foundation is among the greatest books in the English language!

>12 deslni01: A combination brewery/library could be called a "Librewery." A combination bookshop/brewery could be called a 'bookbrewery."

Wouldn't a book brewery be a printing shop? But I would adore sitting somewhere sipping a beer while watching books get made.

#197, #198 - I once found a combination barbershop/used book shop, but it disappeared soon after I discovered it.

Shame, I quite like the idea of reading a book while having a haircut.

Shave and a haircut and two books, eight bits. Just doesn't have the same ring to it.

#193, sadly I forgot most of Moon and I definitely don't recall the ednding, but I remember that I really liked the book when it read it some 40 years ago or so

Return-to-America Book Barn haul, 13 July 2011:

Greek Realities by Finley Hooper
The Aryans by V. Gordon Childe
Handbook to Life in Prehistoric Europe by Jane McIntosh
The Decipherment of Linear B by John Chadwick
The Search for Alexander by Robin Lane Fox
Römer, Sklaven, Gladiatoren: Spartakus vor den Toren Roms by Helmut Höfling

All for under 40 bucks. Not bad!

Feicht are you back in the US for good or just visiting?

The wife has been away this week so I have been able to sneak a few more books into the house. On the way home from dropping her at the airport I stopped at a Half Price Books and found these.

Reveille in Washington, 1860-1865 went on my wish list only two days earlier. I found an almost unread slip case edition from the 1960s.

American Iron, 1607-1900

Learning Disorders: A Guide for Parents and Teachers

There is an antique mall where one seller keeps several booths full of books, virtually all nonfiction.

Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America

Rudeness and Civility: Manners in Nineteenth-Century Urban America

The American Earthquake: A Chronicle Of The Roaring Twenties, The Great Depression, And The Dawn Of The New Deal

The American way in taxation: Internal Revenue, 1862-1963

The Populist revolt; a history of the Farmers' alliance and the People's Party

Reconstruction; an anthology of revisionist writings

Speak out in thunder tones: letters and other writings by Black northerners, 1787-1865

Crime and punishment in American history

The first two were the only ones I paid more than a dollar for. Total spent was about 19$.

Good question, TLC... I am still at university, but am going back to BGSU in Ohio now. I will be going back to Europe at my next available opportunity, though, and would not be opposed to going back to Universität Salzburg for some kind of graduate work if I can do so.

So I guess my answer is "yeah, I'm back.... but...." ;-)

EDIT: Funny enough, I just went through my pictures on my harddrive and uploaded to LibraryThing the best ones I could find of me standing around books at bookstores, holding them, reading them, whatever... and none of them are in Ohio, where my university (and majority of my book collection) is! haha...

Well then welcome back to the mad house. These are interesting times in Ohio and the US of A.

Yeah it seems I missed a lot. And by "missed" I mean of course "glad I didn't have to deal with it for a year." The politics in this country are just infuriating most of the time.

> 204 That U Salz thing (I was going to say "that U.S. thing", but changed my mind!)sounds promising, since the last time I recall you sounded pessimistic about the prospects of grad school fo0r some reason, Feicht.

Feicht, I'd welcome you back but you sound conflicted so... ah... urh... Oh well, it's good to have you here.

Thanks for the sentiment ;-)

And yeah Stellar, we'll see. I'm going to try to do a better job applying this time around, but the odds are always against one in these situations.

Feicht, let me write your admissions applications for you for Chrissakes ... LOL

I know you told me not to use the word "cocksuckers" in my statement of purpose, but consarnit, sometimes it just makes sense!

Feicht, you would be okay using cocksucker if your application focused on alternative sexuality and its impact on development of culture in society. See, then if they turned you down it would be discrimination! So next time make sure you use it in the right context and you should be okay.

Then again, maybe you shouldn't attach your picture to your application. I've seen your LT home page and I think you intimidate them... You look like you might be channeling the spirit of a 9th Century viking. Not that there's anything wrong with it! I'm just sayin' is all.

The picture with the Bible, you mean? What's intimidating about that?.... HAHA

Well, yea the one with the lighter and the Bible. And the one with you holding the stack of books and glaring: If I kind of squint the books could be booty. On the other hand, the outhouse and the laundromat? Not so much.

How about reading the Greek texts as opposed to torching them? :-P

In an effort not to be one-upped by Feict, I uploaded a bunch of pics to my profile of my office library ....

Garp, how do I say this gently? Overachiever!

Forgive me, I'm just suffering from shelf envy.

HAHA Because of the LOTR & Kill Bill decor, my wife calls me the "Fifty Year Old Virgin."

Way to make me look like a rank amateur ;-P I don't think I even have that many pictures of books... but.. but.. but... my photos span 2 continents!! WINNING!

Garp83: thanks again for your tip back at #123/124 about Troubadour/Gray Matter -

it took me six months, but I finally got there. It's worth a trip.

220: Yeah Bob, great stuff! I actually created a spreadsheet of used bookstores in this area with hours and directions and such so I can regularly go trawling ...

219: Feicht -- My most mature reaction is: I have bookcases in the other rooms too! Nah-nah-na-nah-na

>221 Garp83:: Are you OCD, too? I make lists of lists to keep them organized. Okay, not really but now that I had the idea I'll probably have to do it. Seriously, though, on your spreadsheet of used bookstores, what's the distance criteria? 25 miles? 50 miles? If I did just my local area I'd have only one. Sigh. I work in Washington, DC but by the time I get out of work all I want to do is go home. And I ain't going all the way down there again on my day off!

I do have a local used bookstore that's actually pretty big, I just don't like the ambiance there. Or their trade-in policy which is really ungenerous on store credit. It's better than nothing. Thank goodness for Biblio.com (with which I have no affiliation except as a customer).

There were a ton of book stores in Salzburg (literally like one every few streets), but I never found any dedicated "used" ones. Here in CT there are the handful of Book Barns which are astounding. Once I get back to Ohio, though... slim pickins. There's a bookstore-slash-coffee shop in BG, but it's nowhere near as cool as it sounds :-P

#222 There are 16 used bookstores, of varying quality, within a 35 mile radius. The Book Barn Feicht frequents is unfortunately not near by, but we have a couple that are, if not quite as large, pretty impressive. Anyone who wants a copy of my spreadsheet just email me and I'll send it on. It even has ratings, which shows you how OCD I really am!

#223 Josh, when I see you I hope to do a drive-by of Book Barn. Were you planning on taking Rene there?

I hope you mean a stop-and-spend-a-few-hours and not riddling the place with bullets

Uh .... well ... yeah, that's it ... that's the ticket ....

Guess it would be a way to get free books. But when you factor in the cost of the bullets, it's probably a wash anyway.

I'm out of control: I posted more pics of my library ...

Garp, a room with a fireplace and no TV? Your wife gave you more room? Okay, so now you're just rubbing it in. To get even I grabbed the camera to get pictures of my library. I have seven completely full... boxes. Unfortunately, I couldn't get to them behind the winter clothes and under the Christmas decorations.

Other than that I have one bookshelf in the living room (no fireplace, one TV) on which my wife lets me cram books with no regard for aesthetics.

I need some new bookshelves myself. Right now I have biblioverflow covering the kitchen table and most of my bedroom. I am functioning with 21 bookshelves, and there is no room that does not have at least one.

#219: we also have a family room -- that is where the TV resides, but I rarely do

#230: 21 bookshelves? Show-off .... LOL

>230 stellarexplorer: Who are you, Garp's brother? You're both overachievers. 21 bookshelves? Does this mean that Mrs Stellar shares your obsession. Again, I'm a bit envious. I'm the bookaholic where my wife is into crafts. She tolerates piles of books not on a bookshelf only so long. One day too long and I'll find them on my side of the bed. So, yes, I envy anyone with multiple bookshelves and fireplaces.... But my wife being into crafts works out really well since I don't have a fireplace: I do have comfy afghans and quilts to huddle under while reading.

Separated at birth, could be. Anyway, the bookshelves aren't an achievement; they are a necessity. Books have to go somewhere.

Or are they the brooms in my family's Sorcerer's Apprentice?

>233 stellarexplorer: Yes, but as I said earlier mine are in boxes in the basement (other than the one bookshelf in the living room with the TV and no fireplace). Besides, what my wife and I identify as necessities are very different things. My necessities are books, air, food, books, coffee, books, beer... well you get the idea.

My necessities are quite similar (add in a bicycle and a place to ride it on my list), pm. But my necessities don't seem to conflict with those of my wife. No doubt because she is a highly agreeable person.

(I still regret that we had to disassemble her loom due to space considerations...)

(Am I a bad person?)

Stellar, you selfish fiend. I fear you are indeed a bad, bad person. There's hope, though, and I offer this only out of the most serious concern for your marital happiness. Take down your books and shelves, reassemble your wife's loom as a pledge of your eternal love and I -- as difficult a sacrifice as this is for me to make -- I will take your bookshelves, and, yes, your books. (Oh hear the angels singing, rejoicing that I could be so altruistic, so caring, so full of...)

pm

Wow PM, that's mighty decent of ya! ;-D

>236 pmackey: I'm thinking about what you say, pm. And thank you for the kind offer. I can't live with myself this way. I will offer to swap the kitchen table for her loom. I'll remove the books from the table in the bargain. Her choice.

Drats. Foiled again!

pm

Took a long ride to Great Barrington with my son today. Spent some time in this cool little used bookstore -- Yellow House Books. Bought Citadel to City-State:The Transformation of Greece 1200-700 BCE by Thomas and Conant. Great Success!

By car or bicycle? Either way, sounds good.

Car of course. Exercise is against my religion ...

Oh ye of little faith!

It would have been a long ride up hill by bicycle. Did you run into Arlo Guthrie? Or has he moved?

Robert

I didn't know he lived there ... that would have been interesting ...

Oh sure -- and you could've dropped in on Alice, who lives in the church nearby the restaurant, in the bell-tower, with her husband Ray and Fasha the dog.

You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant

'Cept Alice.

The church itself is now The Guthrie Center. The "About" page at the link tells much of the story.

And the Restaurant was actually over in Stockbridge...Alice herself left the Berkshires for Provincetown.

Managed to get down Niantic CT yesterday to the amazing and fabulous Book Barn to meet up for the first time with Mr. Feicht (and his fabulous female friend Calypso) & I happened to walk away with The Oxford History of the Classical World, by Boardman et al; Conquest: Montezuma, Cortes, and the Fall of Old Mexico, by High Thomas; and, Justinian’s Flea by William Rosen before heading off to a local bar to drink the rest of the day away with those two. Great success!

>250 Garp83:: Darn it, Garp, must you rub it in? Book Barn, books, beer and Feicht/Calypso. How cruel to mere mortals who only have the disappearing Borders for distraction.

#251 I'm a cruel man ... but fair .... LOL

A little late but yeah, had fun hanging out with Mr. Garp :-D It is a shame the public transportation in this country is so...well...nonexistent... much to the chagrin of tavern owners everywhere! haha

By the way, since this has sort of become the default "Haul Thread", in recent weeks I've picked up:

Makers of Ancient Strategy: From the Persian Wars to the Fall of Rome edited by Victor Davis Hanson

Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World by Adrienne Mayor

The Language of the Sea Peoples by Fred Woudhuizen

Mercenaries of the Ancient World by Serge Yalichev

The Provinces of the Roman Empire: From Caesar to Diocletian by Theodor Mommsen

The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Ancient Games by Tony Perrottet

Patterns in Prehistory: Mankind's First Three Million Years by Robert Wenke

Cro-Magnon: How the Ice Age Gave Birth to the First Modern Humans by Brian Fagan

How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein

Dividing the Spoils: The War for Alexander the Great's Empire by Robin Waterfield

The Landmark Arrian: The Campaigns of Alexander edited by James Romm

The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy by Adrienne Mayor

The Search for Alexander by Robin Lane Fox

Greek Realities: Life and Thought in Ancient Greece by Finley Hooper

Römer, Sklaven, Gladiatoren. Spartakus vor den Toren Roms by Helmut Höfling

The Decipherment of Linear B by John Chadwick

The Aryans by V. Gordon Childe

Handbook to Life in Prehistoric Europe by Jane McIntosh

I think that's everything I've picked up since coming back to the US... from a combination of Borders going out of business, Niantic Bookbarn, and the Strand bookshop in NYC.

EDIT: Dear god.... it looks like quite a bit more now that I'm seeing a whole list of them... hahaha

Nice haul, Feicht. Let me know how the Wenke book is.

Good on you, Feicht! Good haul.

Feicht, as usual I'm envious. Though I'm devastated that Borders is closing, I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity, however my chief financial officer specifically prohibited me from doing so. She is well aware of the havoc I can wreak on our budget. So, I'll have to live vicariously through you: I'll enjoy your description of your feast as I sip on my thin gruel.

Woe is me. Sniffle.

That is a nice haul and it really focuses on your field of study. My purchases are not nearly as disciplined.

Well it wasn't all at once... hehehe....

But yeah I tend to pick up books that have something to do with the ancient world in one way or another. Every once in a while I'll get one like How the States Got Their Shapes just for light reading here and there, but usually it's prehistory or classics/mediterranean history in one way or another. Good thing is I feel that there is so much going on here that it never gets stale.

Okay so all of these were from Amazon as opposed to a used book store... but since this is like the default "haul thread" now..... I've recently picked up (for a combination of self and school... though I think the distinction between the two is pretty obvious :-P):

Side-By-Side French and English Grammar by Edith R. Farrel

Virgil: Eclogues (Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics) by Vergil (with a modern commentary)

Golosa: A Basic Course in Russian, Book 1 (4th Edition) by Richard M. Robin

Student Activities Manual to Accompany A Basic Course in Russian by Richard M. Robin

L'Art de Lire: Le Récit by Geoffrey Hope

The Coming of the Greeks: Indo-European Conquests in the Aegean and the Near East by Robert Drews

Compendium of Roman History / Res Gestae Divi Augusti (Loeb Classical Library, No. 152) by Valleius Paterculus and Augustus

Gods of Battle: The Thracians at War by Chris Webber

Riding for Caesar: The Roman Emperor's Horse Guard by Michael P. Speidel

Eager for Glory: The Untold Story of Drusus the Elder, Conqueror of Germania by Lindsay Powell

The last two are from the British publisher "Pen and Sword" who I hadn't heard of til recently but apparently have a TON of books on the ancient world coming out this year and next year. Figured I'd check these ones out to see how I like them.

EDIT: For some reason, LT re-ordered the sequence of books in my post, as well as deleting a few of them... weird. Well, you get the general idea :-P

My haul from a trip to Wonder Book in Hagerstown resulted in a couple of Shakespeare plays from the Yale Shakespeare series: The Comedy of Errors and All's Well that Ends Well.

Spent the day trawling used bookstores solo in Northampton MA & then ended up at an Irish pub eating a Reuban and drinking IPA's. AARGHHH! Here's what I landed:

Quintus Smyrnaeus: The Fall Of Troy (Loeb Classical Library No. 19)
Xerxes At Salamis – Peter Green
Following Hadrian: A Second-Century Journey Through The Roman Empire – Speller
Punic Wars -- Goldsworthy

Great success!!! There are now 1893 books in the collection, not much by some standards, a good deal by others. My collection is pretty focused though, so I am quite immodestly proud of it . . .

PS The wife let me add another bookcase (a tall wide bookcase nonetheless!) so I suddenly have all kinds of rooms for more books. Be still my heart .... LOL

Congrats on the new bookcase! :-D

It's like having Christmas early!!

Congratulations on the haul and the books you found. Keeping the collection focused in one of my problems but I am trying to get better at it.

The wife and I spent the day looking at antiques. I have picked up books doing this before but today I only saw two that were tempting. War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies but it was only volume XLIX (49?) and they wanted a little to much money. What really got my interest was a First Edition of Tarzan and the Leopard Men . The price tag on that helped me stay focused on American history but I really am a nerd at heart.

I just had another mega-haul from discounted books on half.com and the Strand's website... I'll post them when I get them :-D

This thread is full of overachievers and I'm intensely jealous because my wife won't let me compete. One of these days, I swear, I'll head down to the Book Thing of Baltimore where you can get FREE used books. Hah hah! Then it'll be my turn to make you all green with envy. It's all part of my evil plan.

Well (luckily?) I don't have anyone telling me NOT to buy books. So I buy books. There are worse things to spend money on, for sure...

>267 Feicht: Yeah. I just dropped a bundle on a new driveway.

>267 Feicht:, If you're happy, then you're lucky. And you're right: there are many, many worse things to spend money on.

>268 stellarexplorer:, I feel your pain. A few years ago I put in a parking pad off the alley and that was expensive enough.

There is good news, though. I just saw my brother who shares my book addiction and he gave me the following as he's moving on (backwards) to the French and Indian War:

Henry IV, Part I
Monongahela 1754-55: Washington's defeat, Braddock's disaster
War for Empire in Western Pennsylvania
A Very Brilliant Affair: The Battle of Queenston Heights, 1812
Field of Glory: The Battle of Crysler's Farm, 1813
Where Right and Glory Lead: The Battle of Lundy's Lane, 1814
Lords of the Lake: The Naval War on Lake Ontario, 1812-1814

I love free books. : )

A solid blow for you p-mack: Maybe you're not as behind as you think!

pmackey -- Congrats -- you are finally competing HAHA

stellar -- can you sit out and read in that new driveway? well can you? LOL

I paid a lot: the driveway reads to me!

:D

LOL

>272 stellarexplorer:, Stellar, unfortunately, I heard your driveway prefers reading books on home improvement and economics.

> 274 True, but only in its spare time. I don't let it get away with that when there are people around!

>275 stellarexplorer:, Way to stand firm, Stellar. ; )

Sorry for the thread resurrection. I'm just curious if any of you guys are familiar with any amazing, can't-go-there-without-seeing book stores in Minneapolis/St. Paul?