---------------------------------------- Buying Books March 06th, 2022 ---------------------------------------- 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.