You're sure right about that. Most public libraries buy from published lists, your book gets on one of those lists, and at least 30k to 50k copies get sold. An acquaintance wrote a book about a historically significant Montanan, very obscure for the rest of us, but when it got on a list, it sold more than 30,000 copies. He didn't get rich, but he did make a tidy little sum on it.

You guys are kidding about getting rid of public libraries, right?

I don't think it will happen any time soon. I do think there will be some small electronic device that one will be able to download a book onto in the next couple of years. It would sure save a lot of paper, shipping costs, etc. You could slip it in your pocket and take it anywhere. I read several books a week. I'd go for it.

There are a lot of books on the internet, especially old stuff tht is not copyrighted, such as Edgar Allan Poe, etc. I find reading them from the screen tiring and inconvenient. I prefer a physical book in my mitts. A book is a truly random access device that is not prone to freezing up.

Think how handy it would be to go online and order any book anytime you wanted it. Download it on your bookpod and you're good to go. You know it is going to happen, and someone is going to get very rich doing it.

You really think getting rid of publicly funded libraries is a good idea?

How many little kids do you know that are walking around with that $3. you spoke of?

Where would someone do research on any given subject. All info is not on the net.

Where would the literate bums hang-out at if there were no PL's

we're already working on it ;)

But there are myriad issues involved, not the least of which is the device (Sony has one out in Japan that is good but still not there). IP issues are huge. What's more interesting is that digital books can be something very different than traditional publication.

Here's a project I've been involved in for some time:

http://www.futureofthebook.org/

Fun stuff...

But we still need public spaces for books, and free access to them.

i used the library all the time in high school to do research and meet for group projects. theres no way you could get rid of it

that and i borrow cd's and dvd's from the library all the time and then burn them, its quite convienent

I agree. As I stated my wife makes her living pushing books. Buying them, reading them, and promoting them to kids. We've talked about electronic books. She pointed out that these devices better be totally bulletproof. She has some hilarious storys about the dog eating the library book. You wouldn't believe the way some books come back.

I used to buy all the books I read. If I wanted it bad enough I would buy it in hardback. Then over the years I couldn't give them all away so duh, I started checking them out from the public library. They have a best sellers list and all you have to do is put your name on it and they call you up when they get the book in. I frequent the library a bunch. In the last couple of years I have noticed that there are some really scurvy vermin that use the computers since they have free internet.

Interesting. I'm surprised downloadable books and book reading/writing software hasn't taken off like, for example, downloadable music. I see many IPods, but have yet to see a person using a Windows Reader.

I'm really in favor of alternatives to books, though. Electronic publishing, self-publishing - anything - as long as it gives more exposure to writers and their material to the public.
Particularly as large publishing houses would rather advance luminary works like Queen Latifah's latest children's book. :p

I say burn the darn things. Practically worthless anyway, there's not a kid in the US that hasn't already seen the movie ;)

I really can't remember the last time I walked into a public library. As long as I was in school, there was a school library that met my needs and that was long before the Internet. Any adult should be able to afford their own reading habit and I shouldn't have to pay for it. The kids have libraries in their schools and I DO pay for those. Still not sure what use public libraries serve anymore. I'm not saying we need to tear them down. But if they can't survive in the free market on their own, then I'm sure someone else can use that real estate.

So in your opinion, knowledge is something that needs to be afforded and not shared regardless of income or class type? Because what you're suggesting is those who go to the library are disenfranchised and the disenfranchised don't deserve knowledge?

Wow! You have a talent for twisting things into a totally different meaning. No, what I mean is that public libraries are obsolete and have outlived their usefulness. And knowledge is not the same thing as reading. Plenty of kids to go to a library and play games on the Internet all day in the summer. I don't call that learning and I shouldn't have to subsidize it. But yes, people need to be able to afford their own habits. If they can't, then too bad. Used books and an Internet connection are pretty cheap nowadays. No reason I should have to pay for public libraries. I don't use them and no one I know does.

Wow!

So how do you know public libraries are obsolete when, according to your last post, you "can't remember the last time you were in a library"?

So how do you know kids play on the Internet when, according to your last post, you "can't remember the last time you were in a library"?

But I have to hand it to you: making it up as you go does show you haven't been to a library where you can actually learn something factual if anything, about a library and its uses.

If we close the public libraries, where would the homeless people go to have a BM?

I have been in public libraries. I agree that they are obsolete, expensive, and unnecessary . The internet has seen to that.

Firstly, LOL! I knew the homeless thing was coming, but anyway...

far be it from yours and Rick's knowledge is the library has more to it than books and toilets for the homeless. They've evolved into cultural centers where town hall meetings, author readings, and even political debates as lucid as some here in Pelican OT (:rolleyes: ) are conducted.

It's not just about kids playing on the Internet, reading "habits" (whatever that is), and bums taking an afternoon dump.

funny, but my Harvard-educated girlfriend spends a fair amount of time in public libraries. Make whatever jokes you want, but just because a couple of well-paid people here don't go to them doesn't mean that they serve no purpose in society.

People rail about lack of education yet want to get rid of public libraries. ok...

I certainly haven't been in a public library since the Internet has been around, but I have read plenty, both in big newspapers and my local one, about libraries needing filters on computers so kids can't surf porn and play games. So I don't think I need to visit libraries to know about that stuff. And I visit plenty of bookstores, both in malls and online and they're pretty affordable, especially, since a lot of used bookstores let you trade in what you bought there. I've probably bought 20 books in the last year and might be out $50 net after trade-ins and the ones I bought new. Show me ANY library that gets that kind of bang for the buck.