September 13th, 2007
77 Feet of Books For Sale on Amazon
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
The things you find online. Today, Amazon unveiled a brand new look, and while I was poking around I found this interesting offer. You can buy the complete Penguin Classics - that’s 1,000 volumes, and get free shipping. I wonder if Amazon did the math on that. Here’s what an actual buyer reported:
“They arrived in 25 boxes shrink-wrapped on a wooden pallet, over 750 lbs. of books. It took about twelve hours to unpack them, check them off the packing list (one for each box), and then check them off the list we downloaded from Amazon.com. They take up about 77 linear feet.”
We Say: Doesn’t this scream out for a digital solution? Anyone else find this ironic? Source: Amazon.com
Larry says:
Personally I don’t find it ironic and no it doesn’t scream out for a digital solution. Anyone who loves the feel and the physical experience of holding and reading a book knows that digital is not the end all be all for everything. Let digital be the great storage solution (perhaps) for our libraries and for all the crap data that is generated by businesses and others. But for literature and for a good old fashioned read, give me a book any day. I work on a computer all day and it is a pleasure to come home and open a nice paperback, kick back and wander off into the realm of the imagination.
September 14th, 2007 at 4:30 am
Kevin K. says:
I gotta agree with Larry somewhat. After trying out several digital subscriptions and always trying to read the manual on my monitor for whatever device I just bought, I have to say there’s nothing quite as uncomfortable as reading a book on a computer screen. Holding a real book is the way to go for pure reading immersion.
However, I DO think Penguin should consider a digital release like this though I certainly wouldn’t pay $7000 for it! Especially for some of the titles that are bound to be in the public domain.
September 14th, 2007 at 7:14 am
Claude says:
Doesn’t this scream out for a digital solution? What about all the trees ?This is another reason why we need to move forward with Digital.
Than go to the National forests and enjoy the view before it becomes a Parking Lot.
September 14th, 2007 at 11:30 am
jorange says:
I sooo want this! True, it’s only paperbacks instead of leatherbounds, but I’ve always wanted a kickass home library and leatherbounds and first editions always make you look like show-off jerk anyway.
Half the books on my shelves are penguin classics and philosophy paperbacks anyway. It would be so awesome to have them all. You could probably fit all those books in a couple of 4 and a half feet wide X 10 ft tall shelves, and I have that many books already, a couple more shelves won’t hurt at all…
September 14th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Scott says:
Sure it’s $7,989.50, but you can save $30 if you get an Amazon Visa to put it on!
September 16th, 2007 at 11:03 am