2 bucks for a 110 buck book!!!

[Divi Filius]

Today I was driving home and saw that a local college was clearing out some of its library books. Rarely have I found anything of real interest here as most books are unused literature from a bygone era. Whatever scholarship is there, its most likely outdated.

 

However, I passed through it anyway and was surprised to find a good I have been searching for a while now: Roman government's response to crisis, A.D. 235-337 by Ramsay MacMullen.

 

At first I thought the book would be 20-30 bucks but I was surprised to find that it was just 2 bucks. So I quickly grabbed it.

 

I also purchased The World of Late Antiquity 150-750 for 50 cents.

 

Very nice!

[DecimusCaesar]

Now that's a great offer! I have Peter Brown's The World of Late Antiquity. It is lavishly illustrated with the art of the period. I especially like the strange marble bust of the 'Philosopher' on page 69 - It still has hints of the Classical period yet the eyes and the shape of the head are clearly influenced by the art styles of the Dominate.

 

Brown's book was one of the most influential books ever written on the Late Roman Empire, and his ideas about the 'Dark Ages' have influenced historical scholarship for the last few decades. It is only now, with the publication of Peter Heather and Bryan Ward-Perkins' books, that his ideas on the 'Late Antique World' are falling out of popularity. It's a good book, although I don't agree with Brown on all of his ideas.

[Ursus]

The consumerist in me is happy for you at finding such a good deal.

 

The intellectual in me is rather disturbed that the interest for good classical books at a local college is so low that they can sell it for a song. What the hell do college kids read these days? The Vagina Monologues?

[Divi Filius]

Its most probably due to the fact that these are technical colleges where most of the students are nursing majors etc. so they really dont have much interest in the classical.

 

However, I was somewhat disturbed to hear that Queens College (in which my last semester in will finish pretty soon, where then I say hello Binghamton) is downgrading its "physical" library and making everything more electronic.

Edited May 5, 2007 by Divi Filius

[Ursus]

Its most probably due to the fact that these are technical colleges where most of the students are nursing majors etc. so they really dont have much interest in the classical.

 

 

Ah .... that is understandable.

[Gaius Paulinus Maximus]

However, I was somewhat disturbed to hear that Queens College (in which my last semester in will finish pretty soon, where then I say hello Binghamton) is downgrading its "physical" library and making everything more electronic.

 

Now that is SAD SAD SAD