Flying Home

The number one reason I love book browsing: Every once in a while you stumble across something that changes your perspectives. On a Valentine's Day date night with the missus, I found myself stalling for time in the local mega-bookstore. On a clearance rack, marked $1, I found a copy of "Flying Home: Lionel Hampton - Celebrating 100 Years of Good Vibes". Figuring the enclosed CD was worth the $1, I took it home.

This short book reaffirmed my love for jazz and introduced me to stuff I did not already know, including just how great Lionel Hampton was as a jazz artist and (more importantly) as a man.

God, I love books...

Book Buying Binge - Coupon Style

Today I made the short trip to Columbus, OH to use my two "$5 discount" cards at the Half Price Books stores (including a visit to a store I had never visited in previous trips). So did I buy only two books?

Of course not.

Instead, I bought eleven (11) books. Just don't tell my wife. I did get the $10 off, and I used my Teacher discount (10%) on the other books, but I did get eleven new books. Mostly, these are reference books that I will be able to use in future research projects, such as the Qualitative Inquiry: A Dictionary of Terms. Others are directly related to current projects (e.g. Human Behavior and the Social Environment: A Social Systems Model) or teaching efforts (Business Intelligence For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance))). All in all, a good stock of materials and well worth the trip. My only regret is that some of the books were more expensive in person than I could have purchased them online (even with shipping). On balance, I'm pretty sure I got good value - especially with the coupons.

*sigh* I may have to go back for more books next month, after they get a chance to restock. Maybe I'll have the bookshelves in by then.