Read any Good Books Lately?
I bought a few books to celebrate Christmas. I am on the cheap side and never buy books while they are "hot". I can wait 6 months or 6 years until they are a penny on Amazon or sometimes I find them on Paperback Swap. So here is what is on my bookshelf:
Never Shake Hands with a War Criminal by Barry Crimmins - a comic commentator on Air America
The Power to Harm: Mind, medicine and murder on trial - a book about the dangers of Prozac (ten years old, but what the hey)
Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer. Subtitle: Pseudo-science, superstition and bogus notions of our time.
The Informant by Kurt Eichenwald about the Archer Daniels Company.
My advice to anyone wanting to live frugally is to practice patience. Did you admire the Beanie Babies when they were selling for $30 apiece. Had you waited six months you could have bought them by the pound. Want the latest technology? Wait four months and get it for 99 cents on eBay ($25 shipping). Like the latest fashion? Wait 8 months and pick it up dumpster diving. This advice is free and that is what it is worth.
Never Shake Hands with a War Criminal by Barry Crimmins - a comic commentator on Air America
The Power to Harm: Mind, medicine and murder on trial - a book about the dangers of Prozac (ten years old, but what the hey)
Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer. Subtitle: Pseudo-science, superstition and bogus notions of our time.
The Informant by Kurt Eichenwald about the Archer Daniels Company.
My advice to anyone wanting to live frugally is to practice patience. Did you admire the Beanie Babies when they were selling for $30 apiece. Had you waited six months you could have bought them by the pound. Want the latest technology? Wait four months and get it for 99 cents on eBay ($25 shipping). Like the latest fashion? Wait 8 months and pick it up dumpster diving. This advice is free and that is what it is worth.
posted by Flimsy Sanity @ 6:40 AM
6 Comments:
At 2:32 PM,
Anonymous said…
I agree. I always buy 'old', never 'in fashion'.
Anyone living in Central Illinois has to be aware of ADM. It's disgusting pollution effects us all. "The Informant" should prove very informative - a book I've been meaning to read for sometime. In fact, darned if I won't order it from Amazon Marketplace right now. I'm sure I can get a bargain!
At 6:50 PM,
Peacechick Mary said…
I was reading about this group that was started in San Francisco. Their goal is not to buy anything retail except meds, deoderant, etc. They barter, shop the thrift stores, etc. The group has now grown to 2700 members. I like this idea.
At 5:01 AM,
Flimsy Sanity said…
Mary, Deodarant, what's that? Seriously, I live quite well on a 4 figure income. Almost never buy new except for underwear and shoes (there are some nasty foot fungii). Cook big amounts and freeze the extra. Course, I don't have a family so it is easy for me and I am so old I don't give a shit about other people's opinion. It would be hard to do if I were a teenager as they want to "fit in" so badly.
At 5:01 AM,
Flimsy Sanity said…
rj: Don't buy the book. I'll read it first and send it to you.
At 9:49 AM,
Anonymous said…
Thanks, Flimsy, but too late! In a moment of unforgivable extravagance I ordered a secondhand copy. Mind, I did save 65% of the sale price.
At 7:39 AM,
Unknown said…
I agree about the books. The words are the same even after someone else has read them. There are two local coffee shops with shelves to put books you have read in exchange for some you havn't. I pass books to my friends and they pass them to me in a vast nation-wide shuffle. ...but my favorite is the Library.
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