In Pursuit of Fiction – Buying Books
I love to peruse all types of books, biographical, historial, political, fiction, non-fiction, anything really that concerns a matter that may be of some interest. The technological revolution of recent years has allowed unrivalled access to information, books concerning any topic are merely a few clicks away. One can research anything ranging from the Cabinet of Lyndon Johnson to the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in minutes and find a litany of books upon the topic. Acquring these books at the best prices is the greatest challenge, there is incredible choice for the consumer, from the high street bookstore chain, the second hand store in the back streets where an occasional gem may be uncovered or the thousands of online outlets which span the globe. Personally I use all these methods, for the best value it is very difficult to beat online shopping but browsing the bookshelves of the likes of Waterstones makes for enjoyable shopping, picking through various volumes of text and the oppurtunity to come across a work you were unaware of.
Online stores have the advantage of lower operating costs than their high street competitors and thus generally deliver the lowest price to the buyer, but when one factors in postage and packaging this price advantage is often eliminated. There are stores however which have eliminated postage costs, my favourite online outlet, Play.com, offers free delivery to all addresses in Ireland and the United Kingdom. However it’s lack of reviews and limited search facility hinders the shopping experience somewhat, often I use Amazon (UK) to research a topic and find reviews from both newspapers and people who have bought the work, though I still acquire the product at Play.com, Amazon have a rather irrating habit of ripping off the Irish consumer on postage. For those seeking a title which is no longer in print and cannot be found in your regular bookstore, Abebooks.co.uk offers a great facility to search through the works being offered by stores across the globe and find works which have fallen out of the mass market decades ago. Personally I’ve acquired diverse works such as Stephen E. Ambroses’s three volume biography of Richard Nixon and the memoirs of Israeli General Moshe Dayan using Abebooks, both now out of print. I’m sure there is a plethora of other sites offering similar promotions but these three have worked extermely well for me. There’s a book for everyone out there.
Tags: Abebooks, Amazon, Books, Play.com, Shopping
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