These usually tend to be non-fiction as it's easier to read those in little doses without losing the thread of a plot line or character motivation, etc. I read this one for my morning reading program, where I read a book every workday morning for about 20-30 minutes before I drive to work. The full name of this book is 'Among the Gently Mad: Strategies and Perspectives for the Book Hunter in the 21st Century'. Then he takes a long look at the pros and cons of Internet buying, illuminating how you can use these electronic tools to your advantage and making this the book no modern collector will want to be without. Topics include how to determine if a book is a first edition, how to spot book club editions, the importance of dust jackets, scouting the flea markets, how to work the book fairs, and the importance of handling the goods, as well as discussing less tangible issues like spotting trends and having a focus. Sharing the superb insight he has gathered from booksellers over the years, Nicholas Basbanes offers a refresher course on the fundamentals that endure, while questioning certain practices of doubtful validity.

A field guide for the modern book collectorįrom the author of 'A Gentle Madness'-a book with more than seventy thousand copies in print that delighted bibliophiles everywhere-comes a twenty-first-century guide to book collecting that deals with both the traditional methods of acquisition and the electronic tools now available on the Internet.

A gentle madness book