According to my records in 2007 I spent:
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$914.89 on books from Amazon.
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$366.82 on books from CBD.
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$22.74 on books from Walmart.
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$61.98 on books from Alibris.
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$7.99 on books from E-Bay
For a grand total of $1374.42.
This is not including the books that people have purchased for me from off of my wish list. Obviously I didn’t pay for those even though I keep the receipts with my receipts. That works out to about $3.77 a day on books. Not too shabby.
B”H
Update (1:44 PM): I remembered 2 more purchases that weren’t included originally. One more from Alibris and one from E-Bay. The post has been edited to reflect these additions.
Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth 
Man you have a pretty large book budget. I don’t spend anywhere near that. In fact I get most of my books now as gifts Christmas, Fathers Day and Birthday. Hopefully you are still interested in reading all those books. I’ve come to the point where I’m not too concerned about acquiring more books. I need to actually read all the ones I have (and reread some) which will take forever with my commentaries.
Blessings,
Bryan L
Instead of asking for books as gifts, I ask for cash. That way I can go bargain hunting and get more books for my buck. So a decent amount of my budget was gift money. But I’ve also put myself into a little debt by using my beloved MasterCard and Visa on purchases.
And yes, I’m still interested in reading the majority of the books I got. Funnily enough, it’s the commentaries I’d lay aside if I had to. I think my worst purchase of the year was probably the Expositor’s Bible Commentary for $150 plus S&H from CBD. Its 20 years old, I rarely use it, and I’m not all that interested in commentaries to begin with. That $150 could have been put to better use, but it was such a good deal I couldn’t pass it up.
I hate getting cash and gift cards. I like to receive books so that I can remember who I got them from. That way they carry more value to me. So I just make an Amazon wish list and prioritize them in case people want to know what I really want. Inevitably I always get cash or gift cards which I’m still very thankful for and then I go out and by pricier books with that.
I also bought that commentary set but I got it on CD so it wasn’t very expensive. I pretty much never refer to it and I don’t even keep it on my primary computer. I’m wishing now that I could take it back for some store credit.
If I had a credit card to spend up (with not too high of a limit) one of the first things I would probably get is a new copy of Bible Works. I have version 4 and I absolutely love it and use it everyday. But it would be nice to have a newer copy with some more modules. Then after that maybe a few more lexicons and dictionaries (like HALOT, the rest of EDNT, NIDNTT).
I don’t really read much of my commentaries anymore as I find regular books, monographs and journal articles to be more stimulating and informative. Commentators always just refer to other books and articles anyway or say something like “there’s not enough space to go into that here so I’ll just talk about it briefly.” Well heck then I’ll go somewhere else where there is enough space to discuss the things I’m interested in.
Anyway, have fun reading.
Blessings,
Bryan L
well, you could sell your Expositors set, though I don’t know if you could sell it for the purchase price.
I would suggest keeping Vols, 1, 2, 5, 8, 9. The introductory articles in 1 are great (and you’d probably be more interested in reading those – the discussion of the Greek language and NT textual criticism are fantastic), the Genesis is good in 2, VanGemerman on the Psalms in 5 is excellent, Carson’s Matthew volume, while a slow read is the most exegetically helpful, and Longenecker on Acts in 9 is also excellent.
Nah, I’ll hold onto it. I bought it for Carson’s commentary on Matthew alone. And you’re right, the introductory articles are good. I’ve been able to make some use of a couple of the other volumes, but for the most part, I’m just not a commentary guy. I absolutely love Keener’s 2 Vol. Commentary on John yet I rarely use that.
Nick,
I would give up parts of my body for your book budget. Do me a favour then, buy all of your Amazon.com books through my blog. Or, go to ETS/SBL and buy your books there at a 25-60% discount and get free books at the same time from places like IBR.
Mike Bird said:
I would give up parts of my body for your book budget.
And Esteban says:
AMEN! Goodness gracious, man. ;-)
Mike Bird,
At least you get your books for free. As I understand it, they cost an arm & a leg. :-P
Esteban,
You gotta remember, I’m just starting my library. I don’t have thousands of books to fall back on. ;)
Oh, Nick. After you disclosed your book budget, I don’t think I have any pity left for your “book predicament.” I really don’t care that you don’t yet have a substantial amount of titles to fall back on, anymore. ;-)
Dude, I’m still paying for most of those books. Visa and Mastercard own most of them. ;)
Don’t try to justify yourself; that’s pathetic. ;-)