Books For Offer: Cleaning Out The Shelves

Update They are sold, en masse too!

Update I have a tentative offer, which should conclude by this weekend. If not, I will repost.

A move having been imposed upon me, I have to clear my shelves. Not to sound cliché, but everything must go. I’ll be down to my Kindle and tattered copy of Little Big Man1 when finished.

Looks to be about 650+ tomes of interest to young and old, man and woman, progressive and conservative, insane or other. Ninety-five-percent hardbacks and trade paper; only a few pocket paperbacks. Same percentage of non-fiction to fiction. Pictures of each, more or probably less clear, have been uploaded to Image Shack. Price? Extremely negotiable.

Genres: graduate statistics (theory, practical of every kind, no undergraduate textbooks), physics (theory and general), history (naval, military, general, biography), culture (education, sociology, psychology, skepticism), cookery (tea and wine, mostly), legal (evidence, general), novels (mainly sci-fi, which I bought and tried and failed to read; much is badly written).

Things work differently in Manhattan than they do in the USA. I have no way to offload the books here. For one, I do not have a car. For another, whoever wants them has to collect them all at once. And it has to be on a weekday during normal working hours, no holidays (the building has rules). I have no boxes, either; no, nor any string. Whoever gets them will have to have the powers of a wizard—or professional mover.

pic removed

Here are all the pictures, where you can zoom to see the titles: books 1, books 2, books 3, books 4.

Use matt@wmbriggs.com or the Contact page. I’m putting this ad up on Craig’s List, too. Also calling The Strand tomorrow.

To answer the question: I have no idea where I’m going. Like I said a month back, if I had my drothers it would be a place where the mountains are high and the emperor far away. Perchance to a land without cubicles. If I’m very lucky, Taiwan. Only there can be find the best duck tongue.

Regular posts to resume tomorrow.

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1Do not see the movie: it shares only the title with the novel.

6 Comments

  1. William Sears

    Quote “mainly sci-fi, which I bought and tried and failed to read; much is badly written”. This brings to mind Sturgeon’s Law as linked below.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Sturgeon#Sturgeon.27s_Law

    I read a great deal of Science Fiction in my youth (only Philistines say sci-fi), but I make no claims as to literary quality. Whatever its golden or silver age quality, it has lost its way and is largely junk now. But, I have lost all interest in fiction of any kind and read only non-fiction now and mostly that on the web. My own abode is full of books and I rarely buy new ones anymore: I use the library.

    Quote “To answer the question: I have no idea where I’m going.” Strangely cryptic. Witness protection? If you want to avoid the emperor you could consider Canada. Yes I know, employment is everything, you go where you must. That has certainly been my case. Excuse my quips, and I wish you fair fortune.

  2. SteveBrooklineMA

    My yellow-cover graduate texts are all boxed up, and have been for some time. I would feel sad to part with them, so there they sit, not useful to anyone. I salute you for selling yours.

    Best wishes to you for your move.

  3. Briggs

    Steve,

    It’s very strange. Some of these books I haven’t, like you, opened in years. I recall struggling with some, years ago. But when I look again now, it all seems trivial. Not that I’m any great genius, but it’s weird how even complicated subjects become natural, second nature, and without any effort. Well, of course there is effort, but not in the student sense. Just having to use the material counts.

    And then my focus has changed, too. I used to be a mathematician, like everybody in the field. That has its place, but I much more enjoy the philosophy now.

    William,

    You might be right. I’m ready to go! Will the Great White North take me? I speak hockey. I have seen the Mackenzie brothers. My father has a Red Green ball cap. I know that chesterfield means sofa, and the secret meaning of “laneway.” Loonies are not a mystery to me. And I understand the proper uses of beer, including where to get it. Where do I apply?

  4. William Sears

    The secret meaning of “laneway”? You’ve lost me there.

  5. Katie

    One time—so long ago that I can’t remember exactly the place—I overheard two elderly women in a used bookshop talking about “ski-fi”–which of course is short for “science fiction.”

  6. david

    I guess Kindle is not such a bad idea after all…

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