I’m
not very familiar with the economic news site Quartz but it has popped up a couple of times on
news summary sites for me. And here’s an
interesting article that just came up on me, titled. “I spent $1,200 on books in one day—and it was a totally worthwhile career investment.”
How
much was the most you have ever spent on books in a day? I don’t remember for me, but I’m sure it was
a couple of hundred dollars. College
text books were expensive even back when I went to college, and I’m sure I
bought a number of them at one time. I
bet today they must run a couple of hundred dollars each, so racking up a
thousand dollar bill would not be unusual.
The article is a personal essay written by a Shane Parrish:
A few days ago I ordered
61 books, most of which you’ve probably never heard of. I didn’t even flinch
when Amazon stopped incrementing my shopping cart at 50 items. And the final
tally of $1,201.40 represents only a small percentage of the money I routinely
spend on books in any given year.
So
this wasn’t exactly a purchase of text books.
Sixty-one books into $1201.40 averages $19.70 per book, so that must be
mostly upper-end paperbacks. Why did he
buy so many books? Well, he must have the
same compulsive behavior as I do when it comes to books.
You might ask why I spend so much money on
books when I could just borrow them from a library. First, my local library is
unlikely to have all the books I want to read (more on that later). Second,
when I’m reading a good book, I want to read it actively. I want to write in the
margins. I want to make notes. I want to make it my own. If you get a library
book, you can’t do that.
I buy every book I want,
with few exceptions. As someone who reads over 100 books a year and has an
anti-library with thousands of titles that I haven’t read, I can assure you my
habit gets expensive. Yet this doesn’t bother me at all.
That’s
exactly how I feel and exactly what I do!
I write in the margins of every book I own. But what’s the economic angle to this habit?
Books contain a vast
amount of knowledge, and knowing what most other people don’t know is how I
make a living. While books can be expensive, ignorance is costlier.
That’s
fascinating. I would have to agree. I’ve probably been promoted at work because I
sound more learned than the next guy.
Actually I believe I think better than the next guy because vast amounts
of learning seem to help me think through issues and organize material. Mr. Parrish also seems to buy books only for
them to collect dust.
I might not read every
book I buy. I might never even crack the spine on a few of them. They might
turn out to be a waste of money. But I keep spending money on them because I
know the right book may change my life.
Yes,
I have that same nagging feeling. Does
anyone else have that same sort of book compulsion?
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