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       Buying Books
       March 06th, 2022
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       A fedi post from @DL6MHC@mastodon.radio I just read said:
       
       "I've started to abuse Amazon for browsing articles, getting
       inspirations, reading (hopefully non-fake) reviews and finding out
       what a solid price for an article is. Then I buy my stuff
       somewhere else."
       
       For years I would go to big booksellers like Barnes & Noble or
       Borders (before it shut down) to browse books and discover
       interesting things only to then purchase them online from Amazon
       where it was much cheaper. Sometimes I'd even purchase while I was
       still there browsing. I felt so clever.
       
       My battle then was against the big bookseller who came in and
       killed so many beloved tiny bookshops. Amazon was the scrappy
       alternative in my mind, and a means of revenge.
       
       These days I will browse Amazon for things, read reviews, gather
       intel, and then purchase else where, just like the fedi user
       above. I wish I could say that it was an act of will power and
       ethical justice at work, but it's mostly because ordering from
       Amazon to Iceland is prohibitively expensive.
       
       I take solace in the world of coffee, though. When Starbucks swept
       in and killed many of my beloved local coffee shops I did not bow
       down, but fought back by supporting those who remained or
       abstaining completely. When the third wave of coffee brought back
       the renaissance of local shops I was ready to dive right in. 
       
       But books... sadly, my options are less stellar. For one thing
       I try not to gather too many physical books. I can't move them
       easily or cheaply and I end up giving them away. So I favor ebooks
       or library books. Those I could still get cheaply from Amazon,
       I suppose. The general mentality that "Amazon isn't affordable"
       I've developed here seems to have clouded that issue in my head.
       I'm more likely to seek a 3rd party site, direct-from-author
       purchase, or grab from the library. For older works, out-of-print
       stuff, or obscure things I dust off my tor browser and visit
       z-library.
       
       Anyway, not sure where I was going with this, but there ya go.