3 ms·
Invest in books
- klez 10y agoIf 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.
- diogomartf 10y agoI 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
- diogomartf 10y agoI've edited the article to add that point. Thank you
- jiehong 10y agoFollowing the same train of thought, you should invest in Wikipedia!
- diogomartf 10y agoI've already done, and continue to support them at least once every year :)
- alawrence 10y agoMy 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.
- diogomartf 10y agoCouldn't agree more with you.
- FiatLuxDave 10y agoKind of reminds me of when I picked up a copy of Ignition! (https://www.amazon.com/Ignition-informal-history-liquid-propellants/dp/0813507251 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.
- diogomartf 10y agoMe 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.
- danielhooper 10y agoGet a library card. A bookshelf full of books that you aren't going to ever re-read or share is just decoration.
- klez 10y agoI guess that kind of decoration can have value too. I, for one, love seeing a good display of books.
- gallerdude 10y agoThis 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.
- diogomartf 10y agoThat'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.