The value of books

A book read has value, one which is not has no value. However, in addition to this physical books take up room in an environment, they are nice to know they are but unless used on a regular basis what is their need? Perhaps it is in the knowledge they hold within and sometimes it is just good to have a book in order to refer to it. Pick it up off the shelf and take a gander, a cursory look because from nowhere at all a question has popped up in your head and that book can answer your question. yet nowadays we have infamous search engines which can do the work and nearly everyone has an electronic devise which will allow instantaneous look up. But still a book takes up space on the shelf, gathers dust and sits there patiently to be used, if at all. Some books just sit there and are not used at all waiting to be read. Whilst others have to be carried around to be read at stolen moments in time. On a bus journey from home to work or during a lunch break. They deserve respect and time and are wonderful things, unless they happen to be a little bulky in which case it becomes the brick, the little short fat friend which resides in a ruck sack on your back until it has been finished.

I love books, I love knowledge and I hate forgetting all the things I've read but this is something which I can not do anything about. Mnemonic devices take time to master and it is way much easier just to sit down and have a drink than to sit and roam a memory palace.

The written word can now be held in your bag on an electronic device. For example those multiple pdf reports can be converted to readable Kindle reports and carried about without the need to carry masses of paper. Even somewhat large smart phones can be used as reading devices. However, a degrading and annoying aspect of printers is the need to swindle the same amount of money out of a customer for downloading a book as it would cost to purchase a paper copy. This is most annoying when said book has been around for years and years but may actually be a specialist item. For instance something you would study from if at university or college. Or happen to be a manager and just wanted to keep up or understand the literature on management practices. It is at this point the second hand book comes into a value market all of it's own.

Recently I wanted to purchase a book for my Kindle it is titled Flawed Advice and the Management Trap by Chris Argyris.  With the subtitle of How Managers Can Know When they're Getting Good Advice and When They're Not. The book was printed in 2000, so is a good few years old, but is still worthy reading material and something I had an interest in. However, purchasing it for my Kindle would of meant nearly paying out £30 and this was a factor I was not going to agree to.  So I checked out the second hand book market and got the same book for about £5.  Approximately five or six times cheaper than the Kindle version. I found this second hand version to have some character, it had to travel all the way from America to the UK. However I was not bothered about waiting time and it would arrive when it arrives. Some of the pages had thin copper page markers on which I had never seen before, I removed these and dropped them in my personal stationary. Some pages had writing on them and even yellow highlighting. Yet each page was in great condition, none of them has been bent over and folded. The previous owner of this book had left their imprint on it, I can read their notes are see their highlighted passages and then agree or disagree to myself whether they thought each part was important or not. I also now write in the book with my own pencil. I don't think pen ink should be used unless there is little choice, but perhaps the ex owner knew the book was only going to be used briefly and then resold on.

The value of this book is just as it was when it first was printed, but only if you really needed to have it. I am enjoying my read and note taking and equally shafting the publishers who wanted to gain monies a second time from something they printed many years ago.  Given Mr Argyris died three years ago he's not being deprived of royalties, it's a shame all books are not given free knowledge status once the author has died, after all how can society benefit and improve if it is not allowed the luxury of reading it's own history or science?