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Anyone know of a good internet bookstore that ships books quickly? I mean as a matter of course and not as a premium service. I order quite a lot of weird titles, so maybe that's my problem, but by the time they arrive I'm nowhere near as fired up as when I order them. I used to love the late Nineties service where you could click on a book at lunchtime and get it in the post the next morning. It would be great if that was somehow possible in 2008 without paying extra for it. Any suggestions?
A flicker of interest has been expressed as to the last ten books I've ordered. A quick look through e-mail receipts suggests the following, in no particular order (it doesn't include a few popular titles that I would have picked up in real live bookshops like a normal person):
- The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman
- Kinesiology - The Skeletal System and Muscular Function by Joseph Muscolino
- Behind the Seen - How Walter Murch Edited Cold Mountain by Charles Koppelman
- Concrete Countertops by Fu-Teng Cheng
- Shaping Things by Bruce Sterling
- Genomes 3 by T.A.Brown
- Hacking the Xbox: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering by Andrew 'Bunny' Huang
- Making Things Talk: Practical Methods for Connecting Physical Objects by Tom Igoe
- The Visible Hand by Alfred Chandler
- Winning the Oil Endgame by Amory B. Lovins
Comments: 6
Try psbooks.co.uk they are usually pretty quick
Posted by: MW on September 24, 2008 08:51 AM
have you thought of trying a bookshop, where they keep books in stock and you can walk away with one immediately?
Posted by: rogerthepostman on September 24, 2008 09:11 AM
Roger, the roundtrip to my nearest mid-sized bookshop uses at least a couple of gallons of petrol - and they wouldn't have most of the titles I'm after. But if I lived on Charing Cross Road I would certainly take up your suggestion.
Posted by: Rob on September 24, 2008 09:28 AM
Rogerthepostman, if that is indeed your real name, I'd have thought you'd be glad of people using the internet for their book-buying. It'll keep you in business.
Anyway, you should see the list of the last ten books that Rob bought. I bet you twenty pounds that there isn't a bricks and mortar bookshop in the whole of the UK which has them all in stock as a matter of course - not even Foyles, Hatchards or Heffers. In fact, I bet there isn't a single *town* in the UK which has them all in one shop or other. It's the long tail, innit.
Posted by: Em on September 24, 2008 01:53 PM
Oooh, do tell what Rob's last 10 books were. This could turn in to a really fun game.
My last 3 were: PJ O'Rourke on the "Wealth of Nations"
Da Vinci's machines (translated from the florid Italian)
The Naked Jape: Jimmy Carr and Lucy Greeves
Posted by: John A-W on September 24, 2008 02:37 PM
I use The Book Depository quite a lot, but I don't know how quick they are in the UK. To Germany they're fast - and charge no postage whatsoever worldwide.
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/
(PS I also like their blog)
Posted by: Lee on September 24, 2008 03:57 PM