Reading and Saving
by yee on Feb.22, 2010, under life style
To some of us, reading is the greatest fun of life and the source of information of the world. But a good book is not cheap, as we now all realize that there is no free lunch in the world. Money and books are two different things, it seems. When you have money you may not have time to read, and vice versa. How we can enjoy the reading experience while saving our not too much fund at the same time is a big challenge, yet there is not without solution.
When you are going to make a buying decision on a book, ask yourself whether you will read it again after the first reading. As Sir Francis Bacon says, "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention", so is your money to be better used in purchasing a book.
Bookstores are not only for selling books, they are also good places for you to read for free. Though some of the stores do not really welcome readers with no intention to buy books to enjoy their free reading there, it is still the norm that you can have a good reading right there if you do not stay in the same bookshelf or in a place for unnecessarily too long. Your goal is to save money, so you should take care not to offend the shop assistants when they are really annoyed seeing you read like a scavenger.
If you can make it from time to time to get some free reading in a local bookstore, it is very easy to be remembered by the unfriendly assistants there by face. You can consider opting for another bookstore for a change.
The safest free reading available is of course in public library, where you can have nice and comfortable reading environment offered. It may take some trouble, because it is not always the case that you live very close to a library. But it is worth your efforts as far as money is concerned.
Good books are not necessarily new ones. We do not propose you to read some pirated books, which are illegal. But you can always get some good buys in a second-hand bookstore or some of the yard sales in your neighborhood. I once bought some unopened new magazines in such flea market, cheap as rubbish, wow!
You can also get some free reading materials from exchange with some friends or readers with same interests if you join a reader's club or societies like that.
