How do You Select Your Books?

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How do You Select Your Books?

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1cemanuel
mei 2, 2009, 10:21 am

I'm mainly interested in what ideas I can steal from other people. I'll make a similar post on the Ancient History group.

When I read fiction and it cost me 5 bucks for a paperback I didn't worry much about this. Once I got into non-fiction I set myself a $100/mo book budget (that budget left on the 1st of this year) and when what I'm buying is $30-$50 I become much more careful.

Here's my general procedure:

First contact

I have 4 main sources for a title first catching my eye. One is from the academic community. Now I'm not a member of the academic community (in history) but I lurk around the edges. I look for mentions in mailing lists such as Mediev-L and reviews in the Bryn Mawr Review and The Medieval Review.

A second is that based on attendance at conferences and signing up for them I receive catalogues from probably a dozen publishers - Brill, Boydell & Brewer, Harvard U Press, Oxford, Cornell, Medieval Institute, etc. When I receive those I browse through and circle titles/summaries that catch my eye.

Third is Amazon.com recommendations. Probably 2/3 of what they recommend is crap but some titles will come up.

Fourth is LT. I've already raided all my interesting libraries but I also scan profiles of anyone who triggers my tag watch and I've gone through the tag pages of most of my own tags and looked at the libraries of people who have a lot of similar tags. And of course there are books mentioned in the LT groups.

I suppose a 5th is if someone e-mails me, PM's me, sends me a facebook message, etc. But I don't have a "system" for these - it sort of just happens.

So this gives me my initial list. From this I take books and add them to a spreadsheet of my books at home - a 2-page Excel file with one page of what I own and one of what I don't, my Wishlist. I also tag those.

Culling the Herd

When it comes time to thin my selection - generally when I'm ready to buy more books - I get serious. I take the books that rank highest on my list, generally based on what I'm reading right now, and get to work.

First I'll check amazon product descriptions and reviews. There are a few reviewers on amazon who, based on past reviews, I trust. I won't generally eliminate a book based on amazon reviews but I will move some into the "buy" column and not go further.

Second is Academic Reviews. I've already picked out books through Bryn Mawr and Medieval Reviews (mailing lists). If I pick a book out based on those I save the e-mails as a text file - either BMRxxx or TMRxxx. I'll read the review again and generally this moves the book into the buy column.

While I'm not a member of the History Academic Community, I'm fortunate enough to be a member of the Academic Community in another area and have access to JSTOR through my institution's library system. I do online searches of the American Historical Review and Speculum looking for reviews. If I don't find a review there (usually I do) I'll go to Google and look for other reviews. If it's a primary/contemporary/period source I'll look for a general description of the work through various sources ranging from Wikipedia to course syllabi posted online by professors.

NOTE: If you don't work for an academic institution your local public library may have JSTOR access.

The Buy

Once I have my "thumbs-up" list I go back to Amazon which is where I make most of my purchases. Now if a book has a really high price - $100 or more - I won't delete it from my list. First I'll check Abebooks. It's surprising how many books are listed for big dollars on Amazon that, in another bookstore, are at half or even less - if it's sitting in a private bookstore and has been on the shelves for five or more years, the price may be marked down. I've bought books listed at over $100 on Amazon for less than $35 on Abebooks - I've also used AdALL and others. Keep in mind that on Abebooks, unless you're fortunate enough to find multiple titles at one store, you pay S&H on each book so that's a consideration.

Now if a book's too expensive for me to buy right now I won't delete it - it'll just go back into the herd in case either a pb edition comes out or if down the road it gets discounted (usually by someone other than Amazon).

Also, very rarely an edition isn't available in the US but is in the UK. I've only done this a couple of times but I have bought books this way and paid the overseas S&H. If it's a recent pub I won't because I figure it'll probably show up soon but if it's 3-4 years old or older I will.

In a used bookstore all these rules go out the window - but at a used bookstore I'm generally at a much more reasonable price so I feel justified in being less selective - plus I just like supporting privately owned used bookstores.

That's pretty much it for how I buy a book. Anybody else have some good tips?

2bezoar44
mei 10, 2009, 8:45 pm

This isn't a system, but one rule of thumb I've learned is to avoid shrink wrapped books -- I almost always regret buying a book that is shrink wrapped; I'm guessing publishers or booksellers keep them that way for books that won't sell if a reader thumbs to a random page and tries to read it.

If I can locate a copy of the book in a bookstore or library, or if I can see the bibliography online, I skim it to see (1) if it cites any primary sources, or relies entirely on secondary sources, and (2) what the range of dates for sources is. I try to avoid newly-published books that don't mention any research published within the last ten years. Perhaps there's another explanation, but I take it as a sign that an author who has been working in an area for two or three decades has become complacent and stopped keeping up with the latest scholarship.

3erilarlo
mei 11, 2009, 8:40 pm

Kzoo is particularly dangerous in that you can look at the books and open them. . . at which point they often glue themselves to one's fingers until paid for. . .

4cemanuel
mei 11, 2009, 9:21 pm

That's why I posted these messages - was hoping for some useful tips before K'zoo.

Didn't work.

5ElenaGwynne
Bewerkt: mei 31, 2009, 3:36 pm

I'll admit to more or less impulse buys. Still, for one of the most expensive books I bought, Peter Linehan's The Medieval World I got it because I recognized the names of a number of the authors from articles I've read for classes. I figured that gave it a bit more 'reliability'.

For the most part, if I'm not certain about a book (and it's not sitting right in front of me at a bookstore), I'll ask about it here. I do the same thing for Tolkien books on a Tolkien forum.

What bugs me is when I've bought a book at full price, and then I see it on the "bargain" table before I've had a chance to read it. Sea Of Faith is the most recent example of this.

6ThePam
mei 31, 2009, 6:49 am

I'm getting mystical and unscientific in my old age and I'm starting to believe they choose me.

7marieke54
mei 31, 2009, 10:34 am

> 6

The same with me. When I am in a certain mood they call me in the shop or on the internet. When I am not in that mood they call me partner, who calls me. I've come to think: these books love us.

8perkele1
mei 31, 2009, 11:02 am

I mostly go by recommendations from friends/semi-random people and amazon reviews (same thing?), although the latter tends to be a bit unreliable at times. And, sometimes, i just buy a book that looks/sounds good.

9erilarlo
mei 31, 2009, 4:38 pm

When I'm in their physical presence, such as at Kzoo among publisher's booths, books throw themselves at me and demand to be paid for. The rest of the year I tend to be influenced by the comments of people whose expertise I recognize and by reviews in Speculum and The Medieval Review. I have found some great ones in footnotes or bibliographies of other books, too, however.

10marieke54
jun 1, 2009, 5:46 am

> 6, 7, 9

These processes are often laughingstock, which is okay with me. On an other level they are known to novelists too. I remember an interview with Dutch writer Renate Dorrestein where she tells her stories come to her, are handed to her. The only thing she has to do is write them down. Always hammered down by the critics (a feminist & a humorist can't be serious they seem to think) she is greater than the sum of them, trying to make sense of the incredible, the incomprehensible & the disturbing in contemporary Dutch (family)life.
About four of her novels are translated in English. All should be.

11Hvvalenberg
sep 29, 2009, 3:14 pm

Take a look at Course Guides which are actually intended for students in medieval history.
In my opinion, recommended books for students are also a nice starting point for me,

12cemanuel
sep 29, 2009, 4:57 pm

I just selected two books because I walked into Borders while it had a "30% Off for Educators Week!" sign on the door. One of 'em I think I'd have wanted anyway. I have a feeling the other's a pretty general book but for ten bucks I can live with it.

And my "To be Read" list grows. I need to add that as a collection.

13cemanuel
dec 26, 2009, 10:42 am

Well, since nobody got me what I really wanted for Christmas, I just bought myself about $200 worth of books.

This is normal. I did get a B&N Gift Card.

I also bought my sister a bunch of used books with nice bindings - Dante, Boccaccio (sp), Chaucer, Sophocles, Aristotle, etc - told her even if she never read them, people would look at her bookcase and go "oooh" - and since they were used, even if she didn't read 'em, people would think she had.

14erilarlo
dec 30, 2009, 10:37 am

Curt, that is sneaky 8-) No one dared to give me a book this year.