I love used books.

I love used books.

I just placed an order at amazon.com. The books that I wanted were:

• Russian for Beginners by Charles Duff
• Dictionary of Spoken Russian by the U.S. War Department

New, the book by Charles Duff is $13.22. The Dictionary of Spoken Russian, if bought new, is $14. That comes to a total of $27.22, with free shipping, because they both qualify for the super saving shipping. With amazon, if your items all qualify, any order over $25 gets free shipping. One might think that that’s a pretty good deal for those books: amazon.com offers both books for $3-4 less than retail, and you get free shipping. Not too shabby at all when you compare it to what you’d probably pay at a brick-and-mortar bookstore, like Barnes and Noble.

However, if you aren’t averse to used books, a much better deal can be had elsewhere - or rather, still at amazon, but through other sellers. I was able to get both books, shipping included, for a little over $11. Are the books brand new? No. But will I still be able to read them / study from them? Yep. If the books are readable and not falling apart, they’ll be just fine for me.

So, by going the used route instead of new, I was able to get the same books for less than half of the price I’d pay for them new. Instances like this aren’t the rule - some used books are a little more expensive, and some are a lot more expensive - but instances like this aren’t rare, either. I’ve been able to snag many books from amazon sellers in the past for a mere penny. Granted, the used book sellers on amazon generally charge $3.99 for shipping, but that’s still $4.00 for a book, including the shipping - and that’s usually a great deal cheaper than what amazon.com proper is asking.

Saving money is generally considered a good thing, but in this case, the bibliophile in me really rejoices, and loudly. Why? Because I can now convince myself that because I saved $16 or so on those 2 books, I can spend $16 on other books. Thus, I say again: I love used books.