4 ms·

Stick to checking out books from your library / Libby. You'll save money and might end up making discoveries you otherwise wouldn't.

whartung 2y ago
At my library you can check out sewing machines and power tools as well. And CA libraries have access to courses on Coursera.
- jtotheh 2y ago
  My local library gives access to O'Reilly Safari. You have to click around a bit more than if you had a full price account but I think it's a great resource.
  - al_borland 2y ago
    Mine gives access to the Wall Street Journal. As well as some other papers. It only lasts 3 days, but clicking the link again gets another 3 days.
cheese_van 2y ago
Libraries are excellent gatekeepers for content quality. Generally, library books are scrutinized and determined as "worth paying for". Previously, publishers would do similar due diligence - someone at the house would actually read the book, if not work with authors. Due diligence of this nature is not now particularly common. There is no cost risk with a digital book. It could be, and often is, written by those without the talent to match their ambition. If one is looking for new authors to read, it's very difficult to sort through the dreck. Let the libraries sort through the dreck for you. Pro-tip: gift your local library a mere $100. They'll love you for it and invite you to all sorts of interesting gatherings. You might meet a good book, or even better, a good person.
- nytesky 2y ago
  If you look for a reputable publisher like McSweeney or Scholastic, does that help?
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- grugagag 2y ago
  It’s true that nooks could be written by novice writers but even worse they could be entirely generated with LLMs, never even read end to end by the presumed authors. Sometimes there’s no human in the loop, just some scripts running.
- cchi_co 2y ago
  [dead]
pquki4 2y ago
In principle yes, but it is often far less than ideal. Popular books often have only 2 copies, physical or digital, so you need to wait in the queue for a while before you can get to read it. And that's only if your library carries the book, physical or digital -- there is often a long delay before you can find book in a bookstore and you can find it on the shelve. For various reasons the library might not want to purchase a book so you are on your own.
- beezlebroxxxxxx 2y ago
  If you want to purchase a book on Amazon, then your best bet is to just only look for books sold and published by a reputable or at least known publisher. This is especially true for a lot of older books, which often have great editions in the midst of awful "print on demand" versions or new typesettings of old public domain version with awful quality and editing. (Then, even further, you might as well just cut out Amazon as the middleman if you're so inclined, or look for a local book store that has online purchases.)
  - Turing_Machine 2y ago
    "Reputable publishers" put out garbage books all the time. Remember "Snooki"? Four books for sale on Amazon, all published by a "reputable publisher" (in fact, a division of Simon and Schuster). Of the current top 20 best sellers list: https://www.amazon.com/best-sellers-books-Amazon/zgbs/books/ref=zg_bs_nav_books_0 https://www.amazon.com/best-sellers-books-Amazon/zgbs/books/... I'd rate at least 15 as "garbage books" on sight. "Reputable publishers" are in business to make money. Some of them may put on airs of intellectual quality, but in fact if trash books make a buck, they will publish them. If high-quality books are unlikely to make a profit, they will not.
- cogman10 2y ago
  If a book is popular, then you don't really have a problem with it being a fake or garbage right? The problem with amazon books is all the garbage books, but if you know you want "the wheel of time" then it's pretty easy to track that down on amazon or elsewhere. The only problem popularity presents is if it's somewhat underground. Then you might not stumble on it. Otherwise, just perusing the library should give you a lot of books which are reputable.
johngossman 2y ago
I love Libby. But buying from Amazon isn’t that hard. Check the sample first, look at the publisher. Worst comes to worst, Amazon refunds you if you return an eBook. I don’t know if there is any time limit, but I have returned several books within the first day or two for full credit.
AlbertCory 2y ago
In doing my research on current books, I checked out a few from the library that were really good and definitely HN-worthy: Bill and Dave (Michael Malone). The history of Hewlett-Packard. Legends & Lattes: A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes (Travis Baldree) Hitch-22 (Christopher Hitchens). his memoir
- webwielder2 2y ago
  Oh I loved Infinite Loop by Malone. Bill and Dave sounds like an insta-checkout for me.
ZeroGravitas 2y ago
I saw a couple of scammy AI looking "summary of <book you actually want to read>" title in the search results of Libby recently. Hopefully just a temporary glitch, but there's a hard problem of being a gatekeeper and saying "No, that's not a real book".

whartung 2y ago

At my library you can check out sewing machines and power tools as well. And CA libraries have access to courses on Coursera.

jtotheh 2y ago
My local library gives access to O'Reilly Safari. You have to click around a bit more than if you had a full price account but I think it's a great resource.
- al_borland 2y ago
  Mine gives access to the Wall Street Journal. As well as some other papers. It only lasts 3 days, but clicking the link again gets another 3 days.

cheese_van 2y ago

Libraries are excellent gatekeepers for content quality. Generally, library books are scrutinized and determined as "worth paying for". Previously, publishers would do similar due diligence - someone at the house would actually read the book, if not work with authors. Due diligence of this nature is not now particularly common. There is no cost risk with a digital book. It could be, and often is, written by those without the talent to match their ambition. If one is looking for new authors to read, it's very difficult to sort through the dreck. Let the libraries sort through the dreck for you. Pro-tip: gift your local library a mere $100. They'll love you for it and invite you to all sorts of interesting gatherings. You might meet a good book, or even better, a good person.

nytesky 2y ago
If you look for a reputable publisher like McSweeney or Scholastic, does that help?
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
grugagag 2y ago
It’s true that nooks could be written by novice writers but even worse they could be entirely generated with LLMs, never even read end to end by the presumed authors. Sometimes there’s no human in the loop, just some scripts running.
cchi_co 2y ago
[dead]

pquki4 2y ago

In principle yes, but it is often far less than ideal. Popular books often have only 2 copies, physical or digital, so you need to wait in the queue for a while before you can get to read it. And that's only if your library carries the book, physical or digital -- there is often a long delay before you can find book in a bookstore and you can find it on the shelve. For various reasons the library might not want to purchase a book so you are on your own.

beezlebroxxxxxx 2y ago
If you want to purchase a book on Amazon, then your best bet is to just only look for books sold and published by a reputable or at least known publisher. This is especially true for a lot of older books, which often have great editions in the midst of awful "print on demand" versions or new typesettings of old public domain version with awful quality and editing. (Then, even further, you might as well just cut out Amazon as the middleman if you're so inclined, or look for a local book store that has online purchases.)
- Turing_Machine 2y ago
  "Reputable publishers" put out garbage books all the time. Remember "Snooki"? Four books for sale on Amazon, all published by a "reputable publisher" (in fact, a division of Simon and Schuster). Of the current top 20 best sellers list: https://www.amazon.com/best-sellers-books-Amazon/zgbs/books/ref=zg_bs_nav_books_0 https://www.amazon.com/best-sellers-books-Amazon/zgbs/books/... I'd rate at least 15 as "garbage books" on sight. "Reputable publishers" are in business to make money. Some of them may put on airs of intellectual quality, but in fact if trash books make a buck, they will publish them. If high-quality books are unlikely to make a profit, they will not.
cogman10 2y ago
If a book is popular, then you don't really have a problem with it being a fake or garbage right? The problem with amazon books is all the garbage books, but if you know you want "the wheel of time" then it's pretty easy to track that down on amazon or elsewhere. The only problem popularity presents is if it's somewhat underground. Then you might not stumble on it. Otherwise, just perusing the library should give you a lot of books which are reputable.

johngossman 2y ago

I love Libby. But buying from Amazon isn’t that hard. Check the sample first, look at the publisher. Worst comes to worst, Amazon refunds you if you return an eBook. I don’t know if there is any time limit, but I have returned several books within the first day or two for full credit.

AlbertCory 2y ago

In doing my research on current books, I checked out a few from the library that were really good and definitely HN-worthy: Bill and Dave (Michael Malone). The history of Hewlett-Packard. Legends & Lattes: A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes (Travis Baldree) Hitch-22 (Christopher Hitchens). his memoir

webwielder2 2y ago
Oh I loved Infinite Loop by Malone. Bill and Dave sounds like an insta-checkout for me.

ZeroGravitas 2y ago

I saw a couple of scammy AI looking "summary of <book you actually want to read>" title in the search results of Libby recently. Hopefully just a temporary glitch, but there's a hard problem of being a gatekeeper and saying "No, that's not a real book".