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by Micah Elliott.
Original Post: Use your local library
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Contrary to the notion that books are dead, I've recently been making great use of my local library. While I agree that learning is best accomplished by doing, I still like to start exploring subjects by amassing a bunch of relevant dead-tree books. I like to prop back in an old La-Z-Boy and get real comfortable with a book. I just can't replicate that experience with a laptop or any other device. I also get a good chunk of time to read while commuting. Again, I don't want to use any kind of gadget there. Reading is also a great way to just sit around the house and not watch TV (or your moral equivalent). I've recently been able to convert ~10 hours per week of tube time over to book time. With our (young) kids, my wife has even started a curl-up-with-a-book-before-dessert routine. Sometimes bribery just works! In other words, I'm still bullish on books for a lot of reasons, and I can't imagine it will change much in my lifetime.
Unfortunately, books are not generally free. Publishers are finally seeing some light and letting some of their books be free online. Some of the best books I've read are free downloads. I still often buy those anyway, for the benefits mentioned above. But having them searchable and copy-paste-able is a huge boon for quick use. I hope the trend continues.
Amazon has proven to be a great way to find and explore any book. Through their review system I usually have a pretty good idea whether any given book is worth purchasing. The conundrum is that I find a lot of books are worth it! I spend way too much money there. I haven't very well kept track of what my family gives to Amazon in a year, but I'm sure I don't want to know. My wish-list is out of control. So what can I do?
I've been in the habit of avoiding my local library, since my wife's late fees have become a sensitive matter. But she spends so much time browsing around for books there that I was compelled to check out the system. Although the site is some ASPX crap, it actually works okay once you've figured out how to work around some oddities. All you really need is to be able to search and request. So I went through the exercise of wading through my Amazon wish-list to see what the library actually had. Surprisingly, there were a lot. My searches included: blog, blogging, python (already got this one covered; just for fun), django, lisp, javascript, seth godin, and a few other recommended titles. The most popular Amazon blogging books were in, and the Django book was on its way -- a couple copies! There was even a lisp book, but it didn't look much good. Guess I'll still have to drop the $44 on Practical Common Lisp. But in general, the library will likely become my first stop before clicking Amazon's dreaded "Place your order" button.
The library system is set up to share books among some 10 locations. All you have to do is reserve a book, and they ship it to your local station. Their calling system is pretty cool. We get phone calls almost nightly in the robotic festival voice: You have... 3... items being held for you. Can't wait to get those Seth Godin books.
Be sure to check out your local library system and see what they've got. You should even think about donating some of your books so you can be a part of feeding this useful public system.
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