How can you guys buy so many books?

I make $100 fricking dollars a week but you guys have huge collections of books.

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  1. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    You collect them over time, don't worry too much about it. If you can't buy them there are plenty of ways of getting them online for free.

    At some point you'll earn more money and be able to buy the fancy editions, there's no rush.

  2. 4 weeks ago
    ᛋᛋ

    Some people steal them.

  3. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    >make more than slave wages
    >invest 80% of your income in the S&P 500
    >live on the diet of a Buddhist monk
    >retire in your late thirties and enjoy a bookshelf funded by your steady investments
    >never buy a new book

    • 4 weeks ago
      Anonymous

      SnP500? I thought about investing in government bonds. Buying a long-term fixed rate bonds when inflation declines to <3-4%, and buying short-term linked bonds when inflation goes to >2-3%, recycling the interest and holding until maturity. When inflation goes down I buy newly issued fixed rate bonds at relatively low price and high yield (high coupon), and when inflation goes up I buy old linked bonds at a not so high nor low price and relatively high yield (coupon).

    • 4 weeks ago
      Anonymous

      >diet of a Buddhist monk
      lmao he fell for the vegetables meme

  4. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    What are they making you do for 100$ each week? Flipping burgers or are you being payed less than deserved?
    Anyways, second-hand shops and flee markets, if you can't buy many books then re-read the ones you own already to get a better understanding of them, start notebooks ecc.
    Only when you have enough money you can buy better editions of those books you already liked.
    Don't worry anon, I remember when i first came here and feeling like a pleb because my bookshelf was small enough that i could not participate in shelf threads.
    Good luck on your money quest.

    • 4 weeks ago
      Anonymous

      >Flipping burgers or are you being payed less than deserved?
      even burger flippers deserve a living wage.

      • 4 weeks ago
        Anonymous

        In my case it was thrift stores and flea markets mostly. Occasionally I'd buy online or new. It would probably be smart for me to switch to digital but I have so many now it doesn't matter. I've slowed down my buying unless it's something I really get interested in for the moment, just like steam.

        I know someone will probably argue with you but I agree. In this day and age there's plenty to go around and there are many reasons for people to land in different places. I guess it takes a certain perspective of compassion, the value of life, and the understanding that many bad things can happen to good people. This is not to make myself sound noble, I'm not. I just think you need to possess certain philosophical assumptions. I do think we should be attuned to our population densities though, but you don't build labor classes and armies that way.

      • 4 weeks ago
        Anonymous

        In my case it was thrift stores and flea markets mostly. Occasionally I'd buy online or new. It would probably be smart for me to switch to digital but I have so many now it doesn't matter. I've slowed down my buying unless it's something I really get interested in for the moment, just like steam.

        I know someone will probably argue with you but I agree. In this day and age there's plenty to go around and there are many reasons for people to land in different places. I guess it takes a certain perspective of compassion, the value of life, and the understanding that many bad things can happen to good people. This is not to make myself sound noble, I'm not. I just think you need to possess certain philosophical assumptions. I do think we should be attuned to our population densities though, but you don't build labor classes and armies that way.

        >bro just like, give it to them
        >you dont need that extra money bro
        >they need it, just give it to them bro
        theres nothing to agree with, you have no argument, just a weebly cry of a child.

        • 4 weeks ago
          Anonymous

          Nice argument.

          • 4 weeks ago
            Anonymous

            Thanks, its amazing how such a simple fact utterly btfos you sad sacks of shit.

        • 4 weeks ago
          Anonymous

          I'll go one further. Everyone who works a full-time job should make enough money to live above the poverty line, and nobody should have to work more than one job. Anything else is tantamount to slavery. Any other opinion is only proof that you're a bootlicker for a system that intentionally overworks and underpays it's workers for profit and to keep them trapped. If you can't afford a week off work, then you can't afford to strike, you can't afford to search for a new job, and you can't afford to complain. This is intentional. The fact that you're against the basic rights of a human to be able to support themselves proves that you're just a brainwashed little cretin that believes the bullshit they peddle. Keep licking those boots, fricker.

          • 4 weeks ago
            Anonymous

            >should
            >should
            >should
            >should
            i repeat myself, you have no argument, just the cry of a child. stomp your feet while youre at it.

            i mean for fricks sake, you conflate not giving people something for nothing with taking something away from them. this is LITERALLY what we have to teach children to stop thinking when thEY ARE FRICKING TWO! GET REAL!

          • 4 weeks ago
            Anonymous

            not only are you a pathetic bootlicker, but you're a dribbling moron too. "A system should function properly" isn't an argument, frickhead, it's a statement.

          • 4 weeks ago
            Anonymous

            Too bad that isn't what you said. Low value work, being paid over value, isn't the system functioning properly. Get. Real.

            Youre nothing bad a wail, a long drawn out cry in the night waking the neighbors and making your mother shake you.

          • 4 weeks ago
            Anonymous

            >people who work shouldn't make enough to survive
            okay, here's an argument: eat shit and die.

          • 4 weeks ago
            Anonymous

            >people should work to survive
            its called reality. get real.

            I don't know why an idea triggers you so much. People tend to equate the current systems like it's some kind of meritocracy, like it's an equally accessible river and all someone had to do is not be too lazy to fish. Instead it's more like someone inherited a fishery from three generations back and now you have to clean the tanks all day for a fish head, I could take the analogy even further but you'll either get it or you'll just continue to rage into your posts. The only thing that creates value in the labor market is scarcity, and that scarcity is arbitrarily created and upheld. It's not like it's some inherent value. I remember when programmers thought they were the shit and now they're getting nervous as AI continues to be marketed, even if it's still in its infancy. It's John Henry all over again. I extend this same consideration to third worlders. We need to stop exploiting people. The game is set up to make everyone work against each other when we're in an age where there's plenty to go around. The only modification I would make is that we greatly need to reduce the population by lowering birth rates but that already seems to be happening anyway.

            You behave and think exactly how you're programmed to. You hate your fellow man just to line someone else's pockets because you reap a modest (and ephemeral) benefit.

            >the game is set up to...
            you betray yourself, revealing your thoughts. you are a child. literally underage.

          • 4 weeks ago
            Anonymous

            people only use "that's the real world" as a way to justify not doing jack shit to make the world a better place. You're lazy and apathetic, and you scoff at people who want things to be better. You're a bad person.

          • 4 weeks ago
            Anonymous

            I don't know why an idea triggers you so much. People tend to equate the current systems like it's some kind of meritocracy, like it's an equally accessible river and all someone had to do is not be too lazy to fish. Instead it's more like someone inherited a fishery from three generations back and now you have to clean the tanks all day for a fish head, I could take the analogy even further but you'll either get it or you'll just continue to rage into your posts. The only thing that creates value in the labor market is scarcity, and that scarcity is arbitrarily created and upheld. It's not like it's some inherent value. I remember when programmers thought they were the shit and now they're getting nervous as AI continues to be marketed, even if it's still in its infancy. It's John Henry all over again. I extend this same consideration to third worlders. We need to stop exploiting people. The game is set up to make everyone work against each other when we're in an age where there's plenty to go around. The only modification I would make is that we greatly need to reduce the population by lowering birth rates but that already seems to be happening anyway.

            You behave and think exactly how you're programmed to. You hate your fellow man just to line someone else's pockets because you reap a modest (and ephemeral) benefit.

  5. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    Ever heard of the library?

  6. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    I'll be honest with you, I haven't bought a book in a long time. I just pirate epubs and load them into my 7 yo kindle. In an age where literature can be recreated digitally without requiring labour and material for printing, bookbinding and delivery; adding artificial monetary constraints over access to information simply due to publisher greed isn't just petulant, it's classist and immoral. I shall take what I want for free and give nothing back.

    And NO the authors of these books do not require my patronage to earn a living since I refuse, on principle, to read the works by any author that is still alive.

    • 4 weeks ago
      Anonymous

      download free books here:
      https://www.fadedpage.com/index.php
      and here:
      https://www.gutenberg.org/

    • 4 weeks ago
      Anonymous

      A hacked ereader is absolutely the way to go. Hoarder moneywasters are instatweet interfame freaks.

  7. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    >I make $100 fricking dollars a week
    Where do you live?

  8. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    Damn that image is awakening childhood memories in me for some reason
    I bought a kindle and pirate the vast majority of my books but I also like to consoom by hoarding used books

  9. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    Look up used book sales. Sometimes they'll have bag days where you pay $5 and they'll let you fill up bag with books.

  10. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    >buy

  11. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymouṡ

    The advantage of books over, say, food or housing is that the best stuff is mostly really cheap. It's the rubbish that costs money.

    There's no reason ever to buy a new book.

    • 4 weeks ago
      Anonymous

      >There's no reason ever to buy a new book.
      There literally is though. How else am I gonna find a copy of that really specific academic work I want? The bloody thrift store?

      https://i.imgur.com/oeG9DK6.jpg

      If imported we're fricked. I used to buy photobooks from european vendors and if a book was 90 euros, that's what I had to pay. If you take into account exchange rate it felt like paying 400. There are obviously publishers for the latinamerican market and there are enough spanish speakers that its profitable to print en mass. For example Gabriel Garcia marquez books are like 12-20 USD brand new. Just checked: Three body problem is 14 right now, dune 14.50. For a local this feels like paying 30-150 though.

      Keep in mind people making minimum wage are not reading (they're watching turkish telenovelas) and if they are they're either finding free or cheap options like a public library or second hand/pirated books.

      I don't make minimum wage, I don't even work, I have three streams of passive income and no debt, all my properties are paid off as well as my education. Not all colombians make 300 a month.

      [...]
      Just what it sounds like. They'll probably download or photocopy the books, print them and bind them in cheaper materials and sell them on the floor in the street. You can feel it, the covers are usually extremely flimsy and the binding comes apart sometimes. I remember had a pirated 6th harry potter book. It had typos and felt like I was reading fan fiction.

      But sometimes they're fine and if you want to read a physical copy and not pay the full price, there's an option. Here's a cool video of a shut down book piracy operation last year. They literally used two photocopy machines to pirate Michelle Obamas book lmao. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy88KtChMwQ

      Pic related some stands downtown where you can find pretty much anything you want, from legit to pirated.

      Fricking BASED.

      https://i.imgur.com/IfoWGpO.jpg

      I just use little free libraries. Haven't bought a book in over a decade.

      These are so fricking cringe. Who even uses these? Recently my mom was gonna donate a bunch of books to the thrift store but being the moron that she is she left the books out in the rain. I told her to stick em in one of these, because honestly most of them were not that water damaged and I guess there are poor vagrants who use these and I hate wastefulness. I don't know of any serious reader who has ever used of these tho'. Most of the books inside are cookbooks, Harlequins and kids' picture books.

      I download ebooks from libgen and torrent audiobooks.

      I moved eight times in the past decade. I pared down my collection of physical books each time and just stopped buying new ones.

      Based austere anon.

      Monkey ass Black person behavior

      >he enjoys spending money, on paper of all things
      Bourgeoisie moment.

  12. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    I buy all my books used for like $10 or less. hell half the indie publishers I like don't sell any books for more than $15 brand new. I don't get how people spend so much. I can spend $50 and get an amazing stack of 10 books from thriftbooks. and I buy obscure books, it's not like I'm getting Woodsworth version of classics.

    honestly it makes me feel kinda bad because despite how much I love books I've put very little money into them as a consumer

  13. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    Stole over half my bookshelf from various bookstores. remove magnetic tag inside and thats it. The rest was bought at used bookstores or good will for like a dollar

    • 4 weeks ago
      Anonymous

      Monkey ass Black person behavior

  14. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    Charity shops. Around where I live a lot of shops sell them for as cheap as 50p. Most of them are in great condition. The problem is I buy so many that I have shelves and stacks of unread books, so every couple years I have to clear out all the books I know I'll never read/reread.

  15. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    You just buy one at a time. Get them cheap when you can (people basically give books away, if you go to any second hand shop)
    A book, even when full priced, is like a quarter the price of a video game, or a decent meal.
    Explain how books are expensive. I don't understand. Are you looking to buy a whole library all at once?

  16. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    Just get one book at a time. Your library will swell on its own.

  17. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    Whenever I get a little bit of money, first I pay for rent, then I buy books. If I have any money left over I buy some food.

  18. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    I live in Colombia. Minimum wage is under 300 usd per month.

    You can find used book bins for 1-2 dollars. Pirated books for 5.

    I also own two ereaders and we know how that goes.

    • 4 weeks ago
      Anonymous

      Aren't book prices adjusted to your wages? Or do you still have to buy books for whatever equivalent of $30 in pesos?

      • 4 weeks ago
        Anonymous

        If imported we're fricked. I used to buy photobooks from european vendors and if a book was 90 euros, that's what I had to pay. If you take into account exchange rate it felt like paying 400. There are obviously publishers for the latinamerican market and there are enough spanish speakers that its profitable to print en mass. For example Gabriel Garcia marquez books are like 12-20 USD brand new. Just checked: Three body problem is 14 right now, dune 14.50. For a local this feels like paying 30-150 though.

        Keep in mind people making minimum wage are not reading (they're watching turkish telenovelas) and if they are they're either finding free or cheap options like a public library or second hand/pirated books.

        I don't make minimum wage, I don't even work, I have three streams of passive income and no debt, all my properties are paid off as well as my education. Not all colombians make 300 a month.

        >Pirated books for 5.
        What do you mean??

        Just what it sounds like. They'll probably download or photocopy the books, print them and bind them in cheaper materials and sell them on the floor in the street. You can feel it, the covers are usually extremely flimsy and the binding comes apart sometimes. I remember had a pirated 6th harry potter book. It had typos and felt like I was reading fan fiction.

        But sometimes they're fine and if you want to read a physical copy and not pay the full price, there's an option. Here's a cool video of a shut down book piracy operation last year. They literally used two photocopy machines to pirate Michelle Obamas book lmao. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy88KtChMwQ

        Pic related some stands downtown where you can find pretty much anything you want, from legit to pirated.

    • 4 weeks ago
      Anonymous

      >Pirated books for 5.
      What do you mean??

  19. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    I use the library

  20. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    Gifts mostly, buying 3 to 4 books every time I go to a book store, etc. What third world country do you live in where you make 30% less than a 20 hour minimum wage part timer?

  21. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    >$100 a week
    Based part-time, minimum wage anon

  22. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    ..buy?

  23. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    I just use little free libraries. Haven't bought a book in over a decade.

    • 4 weeks ago
      Anonymous

      these will be closed soon so use them while yoj can. will be replaced with youtube shorts

  24. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    I download ebooks from libgen and torrent audiobooks.

    I moved eight times in the past decade. I pared down my collection of physical books each time and just stopped buying new ones.

  25. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    Project Gutenberg, libgen, archive.org

  26. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    Personally I have a big collection because I got a well paying job. But as that is not the case for everyone here a few ways to get your fix: (beware, most of it is from my experience in Germany)
    - Libaries are great and sometimes they have sales of books they get rid off for dirt cheap.
    - consider sharing books in a book sharing ring
    - read 1000s of classics in english on gutenberg.org
    - in germany we have companies that sell of books that did not sell dirt cheap. Sometimes those have awsome books, like fringe topics, normally prohibitivly expensive glossy artbooks and so on. They rarely have real classical books since those sell sooner or later though.

  27. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    I’m in my 30’s and have been reading seriously for like 15 years. A collection doesn’t need to be bulk purchases. Just time

  28. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    As a genuine response from someone who likes collecting physical books, I generally get them from:
    -used bookstores (research your local area, peek in anywhere you can find, chances are you'll find something amazing)
    -library booksales (if you haven't already, go to all the local libraries near you and ask if they ever do booksales. the ones near me usually do them every few months & you can get any book in there (including hardcovers) for $1 each)
    -literally just buy one book at a time based on what you know you want (books are expensive, but a manageable expense if you pace yourself)

    I also think it's a good idea if you're just looking to read physical books to just go to your local library and read. Libraries need all the traffic they can get these days, and chances are you'll find a nice little spot away from the rest of the world, if nothing else.

  29. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    >want book
    >buy it from Amazon maybe Indigo if I have a gift card
    ezpz

    • 4 weeks ago
      Anonymous

      >want book
      >look it up on amazon
      >$400 used
      >go to libgen instead

  30. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    lib gen (dot) rs and then install a free ebook reading app easy peasy

    • 4 weeks ago
      Anonymous

      Yes
      Here is a link to the apk: https://krakenfiles.com/view/pQVmvjmIJI/file.html
      You're welcome

  31. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    Why dont you guys use the library more often. I dont really see the appeal of owning a book you don't think you will read more than once

    • 4 weeks ago
      Anonymous

      You are probably right, but it is more convenient to read at home , although I suppose it is better to read at a public library and interact with young women (at least here there are more young women than men out and about). I tried once reading at the park on a Sunday and the noise and all the people made it unbearable to read comfortably ,and I had hard time concentrating and retaining what I read.

      • 4 weeks ago
        Anonymous

        I'm in and out of the library in less than 5 minutes, just check out the books online

      • 4 weeks ago
        Anonymous

        I never tried reading at the library but doing work at the library is great.

        If you can read listening to music, maybe get noise canceling headphones for the park. I'd probably get mugged if I tried reading at the park.

    • 4 weeks ago
      Anonymous

      my rat brain doesn't like it, I'd rather make my hoard bigger. that probably also explains why I can't just get an e-reader and pirate epubs.

  32. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    used book stores and garage sales. 99.999% of people here haven't even come close to reading all of the books in their collection.

  33. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    I'm in my 30s and I've been collecting them since my teens. I'm guessing you're younger or just got into reading more recently.

  34. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    I'm a night shift hotel receptionist, I make 75 yuros after taxes for each night

  35. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    Z-Library. I read on a Kindle exclusively.

  36. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    I have a modest book collection considering how long I've been reading, it could probably fill 5 or 6 shelves total but I've been an avid reader for about 7 years. What has probably saved me are two things:

    The first is I'm fairly poor and live in studio apartments with minimal space, so buying and collecting physical books is not realistic. I have a box or two I keep at my moms from books I've already read that I now have on digital

    Leading to my second reason which is that I have converted to mostly digital/e-reader the last two years, I think the last book I carried around regularly was a John Locke book on Civics and then a few pocket readers I have of Marlowe, Shakespeare, Beumont and Fletcher. e-readers are too convenient.

    Biggest splurge on a book: $185 for an anthology of Washington Irving, published during his lifetime, which included a biography of Irving in the preface (only known auto biography of Irving). Original manuscript and spine but not the original boards, sadly. But I had to have it. It's approaching 200 years old. Not sure where it is, I think it's at my dads somewhere. God willing in a safe, dry place.

  37. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    1) Second hand books.
    2) Bunk from online sellers (sometimes I buy a big bulk just for one book and resell everything else. I just received a box full of books on Henry James that I bought just for a complete anthology of his plays).
    3) Clearance sales.
    4) The last copies available on Amazon.

  38. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    you can search for the books you want online for like $5-6 each at the cheapest. that's one bigmac
    if you are not so picky, thrift stores sell books for $2-3 each
    it's not a rich person thing, unless you are splurging on limited editions, hardcovers or brand-new books

  39. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    I get my dad to buy them

  40. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    I don't, I go to the library.

    95% of books aren't worth rereading. The 5% that are, I can check out from the library again. The 1% that are worth reading over and over.

    Anyone who has more than one small bookcase worth of books is a twat. You're moving flats, "Oooh whatever will I do with all my BOOOKS????" Black person, when was the last time you reread Robinson Crusoe? When will there ever be a time that you do?

  41. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    i go to my local barnes and noble and I wear a large coat or baggy pants so I can steal. no one will notice or stop you

  42. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    No kidding I get a lot of books from thriftbooks and stealing, like a crazy amount of books

  43. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    I worked in software for three years. Now I'm having a mini retirement until I run out of money in 5 years and have to work again.

  44. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    Better question is, why are you in a rush to own a large collection of books?

  45. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    homie, you working in a sweatshop? I made more than that frying chicken part-time at Popeyes. Are you memeing or are you from another country?

  46. 4 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    Forgot to be helpful with my last post. I use Thriftbooks, which sells very cheap books, even more so if you're not picky and buy them in beat up conditions. Have been using it for years now and never looked back

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