Invest in books | Hacker News Reader

Invest in books

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13 pointsdiogomartf13 comments

This may sound silly, but I've recently rediscovered just how amazing books are. I guess, compared to the internet, books are a bit obtuse - unlike reddit or youtube, you have to actively dig into them (sometimes it feels like the internet just washes over you.)

But books have huge information density - new lessons and ideas, and most importantly, new lenses to see your world through. Books have a great way of articulating things that you've always known about subconsciously but never really have thought about.

That's a great way to describe books, "new lenses to see your world through". It's basically that, we can explore subjects through other people's eyes who care deeply enough to write a book about it.

Kind of reminds me of when I picked up a copy of Ignition! (https://www.amazon.com/Ignition-informal-history-liquid-prop...) at a used bookstore for $5. I definitely got my money's worth out of the read, and I was quite surprised years later when I heard it was very rare. I still haven't sold it.

I love used bookstores.

Me too. I always borrow my books, but I don't want to sell them. I will try to keep them. I'm always returning to books I've read when I need some advice.

If you're tight on money, many good books can be had used. I recently got a copy of Tanenbaum's Distributed Systems book for a third of the cover price.

I forgot to mention that most of the books I bought are used. They are a lot cheaper sometimes and are in perfect conditions. The last one I've bought, "It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be" by Paul Arden cost me only 0.01 pounds(without shipping). It is used but like new. Awesome purchase

I've edited the article to add that point. Thank you

Get a library card. A bookshelf full of books that you aren't going to ever re-read or share is just decoration.

I guess that kind of decoration can have value too. I, for one, love seeing a good display of books.

My thoughts are similar to the author's. With books, the upside seems so high that even if a book is more expensive than usual I can always rationalize the purchase by postulating whether it will be a "game changer", in which case even $100 is a relatively small price to pay.

Couldn't agree more with you.

Following the same train of thought, you should invest in Wikipedia!

I've already done, and continue to support them at least once every year :)

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