I’m about done with my talks on political economy, history, and the philosophy of rights at the Freedom Week seminar organized by my long-time friend Jean-Paul Floru. Then it’s straight to the Institute for Humane Studies seminar on Globalization and Human Rights.
I have mainly resisted the temptation to spend all my money in the Cambridge bookshops (instead, I’ve written down titles and ordered them on Amazon for at least half the price), but I did find a discount bookshop that sold damaged books for very deep discounts. Who cares whether the cover’s a bit torn?
How do you feel about taking advantage of the bookstores without compensating them? This is something I struggle with- I want the bookstores to exist, so that I can browse in person, but Amazon/other sites are so much cheaper. Every once in a while I buy an overpriced book from a local shop in the hopes that it will stay in business and continue to benefit me. Thoughts?
Rich,
I’m sorry I overlooked this comment.
I feel much like you do. I don’t flip through books in bookshops to see what I ought to order more cheaply elsewhere. For one thing, flipping through books can damage them and that is unethical. (I’ve seen people do terrible things to books and then just place them back on the stack. Why not just smash a window on the way out?) But if I see a book and want it, I’m not likely to pay shockingly high British prices just because I saw it in a British bookstore. (And, in any case, I did buy some books, just not all the ones I wanted.)
You do raise an interesting issue, though. I guess my response is that I see it and I more-or-less muddle through.