So, Conundrum
Feb. 18th, 2014 09:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
danalwynEvery once in a while I buy used books online. It's practical, especially if you're looking to buy books that aren't very common. It's usually a good experience.
Except that one book I just bought arrived on time, intact, but with a very large "Not for Sale" sticker on the front. The previous legal owner, you see, had decided to participate in one of those programs where you leave a book lying around and get people to borrow it, read it, and then leave it somewhere else. It's a neat idea.
Except for that I've already paid money for it, because somewhere a bookseller got ahold of it. No doubt eventually I'll read through it and set it down somewhere as the previous owner intended, eventually, but the fact that I paid for it makes me grumpy. Why do I have to pay for something I'm required to set free? Grump, grump, grump, etc., etc. The universe is unfair, blah, blah, First World Problems.
In the meantime I have a book to read.
Except that one book I just bought arrived on time, intact, but with a very large "Not for Sale" sticker on the front. The previous legal owner, you see, had decided to participate in one of those programs where you leave a book lying around and get people to borrow it, read it, and then leave it somewhere else. It's a neat idea.
Except for that I've already paid money for it, because somewhere a bookseller got ahold of it. No doubt eventually I'll read through it and set it down somewhere as the previous owner intended, eventually, but the fact that I paid for it makes me grumpy. Why do I have to pay for something I'm required to set free? Grump, grump, grump, etc., etc. The universe is unfair, blah, blah, First World Problems.
In the meantime I have a book to read.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-19 02:28 pm (UTC)I keep getting free unsolicited calculus textbooks in the mail, all of which have some sort of language like "review copy do not sell" on the cover. I need to figure out an ethical thing do with them, because I don't really need more calculus books and there are people who _do_, but if I give them away I want to make sure they don't just wind up in the used textbook market because a student wants to make a paltry $20.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-20 03:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-21 01:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-23 05:45 pm (UTC)