Mon, Dec 27, 2004, 1:27pm (alexy)
A Christmas gift certificate is burning a hole in my pocket! snip

Me, I wouldn't buy a book, simply on someone else's recommendation.
Primarily, I very seldom buy any book, unless I have already thumbed
thru it and know exactly what it contains. Secondary, I've found long
ago, books recommended to me by other people, are seldom books I would
buy on my own.

I'd go to a bookstore, find a copy, and look thru it, then decide.
Or, go to the library, same - if they didn't have a copy, I'd check on
them borrowing a copy.

Woodworking books are getting more expensive all the time. I'm
finding that few of them have more than one or two projects that
actually interest me. And, I've found I can usually find the one or two
project plans somewhere else, cheaper, or even free. I've gone to B&N,
and other bookstores, looked thru books priced at $35, with maybe one
project that interests me - usually the plan is on the web, maybe even
free, but at the most usually maybe $10 - so it would make sense to me
to buy just the one plan, not a book, and "save" $25.

I have paid up to around $45 for a book. But, you can damn well bet
it has a lot to interest me, and I'll be refering to it, on a regular
basis. My personal (woodworking) library at one time was larger than my
local library. About all of the books were bought from a used
bookstore, at prices from $.50 to about $9 each, most somewhere in the
middle. A lot of them are in almost as new condition - some of which
were sold new at $35, and I bought for around $5 each.

My way of thinking is, one of the workbench books would be great.
But, how many workbenches are you going to make? Same with a sharpeing
book, once you learn how, how many times you go to be using it?
Besides, Scarry Sharp is free.

Me, I think I'd get a book on making boxes, probably one of Doug
Stowes.



JOAT
People without "things" are just intelligent animals.