Books _are_ expensive. This article only looks at the monetary side of it. The cost goes beyond the price tag. Books take up space, and that space compounds as

Books _are_ expensive. This article only looks at the monetary side of it. The cost goes beyond the price tag. Books take up space, and that space compounds as you keep acquiring them. It's space you can't use for anything else, dedicated entirely to objects most people open once or twice and never touch again. And that cost doesn't stay abstract: at some point you're buying more bookshelves, upgrading to a larger one, or worst of all, dragging everything through a move. That last one hits harder the less stable your living situation is, and less stable living situations track pretty closely with lower salaries. I'm talking about physical books specifically, since that's what the article seems to cover. Ebooks are a different matter.