Reading on the Cheap

Dec 11, 2008 Print This Post

Thanks to Brad for this quote:

“The man who never reads will never be read;
he who never quotes will never be quoted.
He who will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains,
proves that he has no brains of his own.”

-Charles H. Spurgeon

I love to read, but I don’t get to read as much as I want. My favorite books are theology books, practical leadership books (both Christian and secular), and novels. Unfortunately, when I am in a teaching season I don’t have time to read which totally bums me out.

So I pile the books up. You can see my current pile in my office tour. Then, when I am not teaching I try to rock through as many books as I can. I also try to knock them out on planes when I am traveling.

Lots of people have asked me, “how do you afford all those books?” Well, Riv has a small book budget (but it’s not that big and I am real cheap). So here’s my system for reading, without spending a ton of money.

1) Check the library. It’s surprising how many books you can find in that magical place. For those of you in the Lansing area, go to CADL’s website first to save yourself the drive if the book you want is not in.

2) If the book is not in the library, but it’s short or you just want to skim it, go to Barnes and Noble and read it in the store.

3) Next, go to PaperBackSwap.com. This is one of my favorite sites. Basically, for every book you send someone, you can pick any book from any member to have sent to you. The average book takes $2.50 to mail, so you are basically buying books for that price. If I can find the book there, I do. With 2.6 million books available, I can often find what I want.

4) Finally, order books from Amazon.com. They always have a little discount on all books and you can score free shipping if you spend over $25. I have a wishlist there with books I want to read but are not essential reads right now. Then, whenever there is a book I need, I add a book or two from the wishlist to take my total over $25.00. At that point, the shipping is free. This makes them almost as cheap as buying them used from Amazon’s used service.

I have kicked around the idea of getting an Amazon Kindle, but I can’t quite justify the start-up costs. Once the new ones come out, I may explore that option because I like the idea of getting books for $9.99.

And that is how I read as much as I do on the cheap. Any other tips from you readers out there?

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Growing up in the Lansing area, I wanted nothing more than to get out. My exit strategy included a complex mixture of schemes for an urban church plant, iProducts, and an elaborate Bollywood car chase scene with zombies and catchy techno music.

As a 40 year old man, I find myself entrenched in the Lansing area at a church I love (Riverview), with 4 kids I love more (a high schooler, a junior higher, a middle schooler, and an elementary schooler), and a wife I love the most (Grace).

Instead of planting one church, I dream of helping hundreds get started without ever leaving my home base. I still love my iProducts and use them as tools to help lead and teach the thousands who attend Riverview. And when no one is looking, I blare the techno music and send my unimpressive resume to casting agents for Bollywood zombie films.

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