Ebook Buying Addicts' Support Thread

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

1BC-9AD is a decade
1BC-99AD is a century
1BC-999AD is a millennia

Remember time started before AD, if you’re grouping years in 10s, 100s, and 1,000s you don’t start from the middle you go all the way back to the start of existence and count in groups to where we are now.

You did notice that we were discussing AD where the first decade is 1-10? And out of curiosity, in your belief system, when is the start of existence? It's not like temperature where we do know what the lowest possible value is.

One friend of mine is using AM 5780 as the current year for some purposes. For that calendar system, there can be no previous era given that Anno Mundi is a Latin version of מבריאת העולם. In yet another calendar system, it is currently 4717 with 4718 coming up in 19 days.

Anyhow, 'nuff said. Time to let this discussion die an unnatural death.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by DNSB

You did notice that we were discussing AD where the first decade is 1-10? And out of curiosity, in your belief system, when is the start of existence? It's not like temperature where we do know what the lowest possible value is.

One friend of mine is using AM 5780 as the current year for some purposes. For that calendar system, there can be no previous era given that Anno Mundi is a Latin version of מבריאת העולם. In yet another calendar system, it is currently 4717 with 4718 coming up in 19 days.

Anyhow, 'nuff said. Time to let this discussion die an unnatural death.

I didn’t notice actually just that the discussion was what is a decade a people opted to use AD as the start.

As to when existence began I don’t know but it doesn’t matter for this system. We know time existed before AD thus counting only from AD is silly unless you’re dealing with two events post AD and only need the difference in time between them.

Unless the proponents of 2020 is the end of a decade also are saying nothing existed before 1AD. Which would turn this side discussion into something very different.

[pdurrant]

I've bought three books this month that were on my wishlist, and reached their target price, but I'm still not sure about them.

They were all the latest books in series I'm reading and enjoying, but they essentially reached their target price because of paperback releases.

I will be reading them very soon, but I'm not going to abandon my current reads for them.

I think that in future I will resist such books until I want to read them *right now*. It's unlikely that the price will go up significantly in the meantime.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Tamster

And I must remember that it's very likely to go on special offer again in the next few years, so if I miss the offer this time around, I can get it another time, if reviews continue to look good.

Exactly so. The fact it's gone on offer once means it's quite likely to go on offer again at some time in the next few years.

[HLS]

I am pleased I have not bought as many books as I normally do and I feel less overwhelmed. Its only Jan 17th and I am halfway threw my 4th book this year.

[BelleZora]

I impulsively purchased a book in the deals forum. It is third in a mystery series. I checked out the first in series from the library and hated it. So it was $2 wasted and a reversion to old behavior.

Several years ago I bought literally hundreds of books on sale, most I haven't yet read. I loved to see them in Calibre. I was a regular on this thread. I budgeted $70 a month for books and had trouble staying within the budget. A few years ago I came to my senses and have since purchased books at full price when I plan to immediately read them. I seldom spend more than $20 or $30 monthly. I read about twelve books a month, most of which come from the library or my hoard. Still, it is unlikely that I can read 900 books from my TBR in my remaining life. I don't want to read a book just because I own it. My tastes and goals change year to year.

So I will stay away from the mystery deals thread and Amazon daily deals. If I feel the urge to back slide I'll check in to this thread.

[bookaho!ic]

I have bought 32 books this month for £30 so not too bad but only read 8 none of which were ones i have bought this month at least i wont EVER run out of books to read lol

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by bookaho!ic

I have bought 32 books this month for £30 so not too bad but only read 8 none of which were ones i have bought this month at least i wont EVER run out of books to read lol

Same here. I have enough books to last a lifetime. There are few series for which I'll fork out the dough. As for standalone books, I definitely won't get them, whatever their status is online.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by BelleZora

Several years ago I bought literally hundreds of books on sale, most I haven't yet read. I loved to see them in Calibre. I was a regular on this thread. I budgeted $70 a month for books and had trouble staying within the budget. A few years ago I came to my senses and have since purchased books at full price when I plan to immediately read them. I seldom spend more than $20 or $30 monthly. I read about twelve books a month, most of which come from the library or my hoard. Still, it is unlikely that I can read 900 books from my TBR in my remaining life. I don't want to read a book just because I own it. My tastes and goals change year to year.

I could just about have written this. My biggest regret is not having gone to a "just in time" buying system years ago. As with you, and I wince to say it, there are hundreds of books in my Calibre library that I'll never get around to reading, because there will always be something I want to read more. And a waste of time to justify a waste of money is insanity.

My books from the Kobo extravaganza days are not a dead loss; there are still many (many, many) that I'd like to read and it's handy to have a library rather than having to go shopping every time I'm ready for something new. But ultimately seven $2 books that are a good deal have a lot less value than one $15 book I really want, and the most precious resource of all is time. What price enjoyment, intellectual stimulation, satisfaction?

Still, I do spend a whole lot less now than I did then and my TBR is edging down, albeit slowly. Taking stock for the year so far, I've spent $9 on two books, both wishlist books whose prices were set but where I was able to use expiring promotional money to get them at a significantly reduced cost. I also see myself reading both in the near term. This is much better than a year ago, when I had a major fall in January (and February) which rather took the heart out of me for the year.

Having written this, I should probably make it a goal to read everything I buy this year, which strikes me as a very useful discipline indeed.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by issybird

Having written this, I should probably make it a goal to read everything I buy this year, which strikes me as a very useful discipline indeed.

That's certainly a good thing to aim for.

[DrNefario]

I am beginning to wonder if Wishlists are part of the problem, for me, rather than part of the solution. Kind of like a nicotine patch. It might make me think I'm getting on top of the problem, but isn't actually breaking the addiction.

Adding things to a wishlist is better than just buying it there and then, but the problems arise when things go on sale. If they're on the list I sort of feel I should buy them when they're cheap, even if I have no immediate plan to read them. This means I'm just buying for the library and the indefinite future, which I think is unhelpful and unnecessary.

I think I'm going to try to adopt issybird's suggestion, and read everything I buy this year, rather than just weighing the quantity of purchases against the quantity of reads. So far this year I'm 0 for 4.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

I am beginning to wonder if Wishlists are part of the problem, for me, rather than part of the solution. Kind of like a nicotine patch. It might make me think I'm getting on top of the problem, but isn't actually breaking the addiction.

Adding things to a wishlist is better than just buying it there and then, but the problems arise when things go on sale. If they're on the list I sort of feel I should buy them when they're cheap, even if I have no immediate plan to read them. This means I'm just buying for the library and the indefinite future, which I think is unhelpful and unnecessary.

I bumped up against this exact problem a week or so ago. A book in my wishlist had gone down to $1.99, which ordinarily would be an automatic buy. But I stopped to think and decided it wasn't all that compelling a read and passed; I then took draconian cuts in my wishlist. What's left is probably never going to get all that cheap (mostly pricey agency non-fiction), so I think I'm safe.

I think the problem for me was similar to what you describe; I'd see an interesting book and automatically put it in my wishlist. Fine, since I wasn't buying it. But as you say, once a book was on my wishlist there was the momentum to convert it into a purchase if it got cheap. The problem was that putting it in the wishlist had been a reflex action and not the result of serious thought.

I think I'm going to try to adopt issybird's suggestion, and read everything I buy this year, rather than just weighing the quantity of purchases against the quantity of reads. So far this year I'm 0 for 4.

Knock wood, but I'm having some success. I bought two books in January and I've finished one and started the second. The "I must read it in the near future" stricture has stayed my buying finger a few times already.

[ekbell]

I've been having some success by automatically checking if the interesting sales book is in my local library. It's large enough that more often then not the book is there. My 'for later' library list is growing immensely but that's OK.

I did break down yesterday when I found a book on sale that matched a topic I had been researching (for fun) but at least that book has already been read.

[DrNefario]

I think I need to look at the wishlist as a reminder of books I'm interested in, rather than as a list of things to buy when they go cheap.

[Fbone]

A wishlist item went on sale today for $2.99. I wanted to buy it hard! But I resisted mainly because I wasn't going to read it soon.