Grace & Knowledge Blog

Today we stopped by the public library for a book sale.  There was not as much available this time as at there was at the bigger sale at the end of the summer.  I picked up three hardbacks and a paperback for $3.50. including 

• Simon Winchester's The Map That Changed the World ;
• a spiritual memoir;
• a book about a heist
• a collection of short pieces by Garrison Keillor

Tags: books, oxford library sale

This year the public library in Oxford held its used book sale a month later than usual.  But as usual, there were lots of good bargains with hardback books at a dollar apiece and paperbacks at 50 cents.  I spent $9 this year on five hardbacks and eight paperbacks, including

• a World War 2 spy story.
• a book on early Christian history.
• a book on the history of science.
• a book of witty paradoxical sayings.
• a novel by P.G. Wodehouse.
• a "theography" of Jesus.
• a memoir by an historian.
• a collection of Jewish folktales.

Tags: books, oxford library sale

At the Oxford public library's annual book sale, I picked up one hardback book and 8 paperbacks for $5.  Some of them were

• a book on the misapplication of Gen 9 to support American slavery.
• a book about American fascination with end-time prophecy.
• a couple of classic baseball books;
• a book on Christian missions;
• Robert Alter's The Art of Biblical Poetry;
• a collection of Flannery O'Connor's short stories.
• a book on big issues.

Tags: books, oxford library sale

The public library in Oxford had a used book sale on Feb 2, 2018.  I stopped by and picked up 6 books for $4, including, 

• Abraham Joshua Heschel's God in Search of Man; 
• a book on Pauline ethics; 
• Richard Rubenstein's Aristotle's Children;
• a book on Passion Week chronology;
• a book on the problem of evil;
• a book on Leibniz and Spinoza.

Tags: books, oxford library sale

Today was the annual book sale at the public library, still with hardbacks for a dollar and paperbacks for 50 cents.  This sale usually seems to coincide with the annual yard sale along US highway 127, which passes within about 7 miles of Oxford.

I just picked up a few things this year, including paperback copies of Barbara Tuchman's Bible and Sword and Alister McGrath's Christian Theology:  An Introduction. 

Tags: books, oxford library sale

Today was the annual Oxford library sale, with hardback books still at a dollar and paperbacks at 50 cents. 

Sherry picked up three cookbooks for $1.50.  I bought 5 hardbooks and 3 paperbacks for $6.50.  

Among the things I found were 

• a book on restorationism in American religion.
• one of Christopher Buckley's satirical novels.
• a collection of Wodehouse stories involving animals.
• a large-print edition of a John Grisham legal thriller
• a book by conservative thinker Thomas Sowell.
• a book by Philip Yancey.
• a comparison of the worldviews of Freud and C.S. Lewis.
• a book on Christian persecution of Jews.

Tags: oxford library sale

On Feb 5, the spacious new public library in Oxford held a used book sale.  The winter sale is not as big as the summer one, but we picked up a few things, including 

• one of David Berlinski's general audience math books;
• a history of algebra;
• a history of the Bible byJaroslav Pelikan.
• a collection of Douglas Hofstadter's Scientific American columns.

I miss the cozy old library--especially its convenient location--but the new one is OK too.

Tags: oxford library sale

It's the end of July--time for the Oxford public library book sale.

With the library set to move to a new building at the end of September, they thinned their collection in preparation for the move.  That meant there were more library discards than usual in this year's sale. I picked up 10 hardbacks in half an hour, spending $10.  The books I picked up included

• a book on the history of flat earth belief
• a book on the medieval warm period
• a book on the Emancipation Proclamation
• a book on medieval history
• a book pondering the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics.
• a book on end-time furor
• a book on the Protestant Reformation
• a book on the Arab conquests of the seventh and eighth centuries.
• a book on our fascination with Native American spirituality
• a book of articles on the Dead Sea Scrolls..

Because there was a good selection, I came back later in the day and spent another $7.  Among the books I picked up were

• Victor Davis Hansen's book about the Peloponnesian War
• a book about the role of the plague in the decline of Rome.
• a book about key figures who fled Budapest to escape Hitler....

Tags: books, oxford library sale

Today the local public library is having its semiannual used book sale, with hardbacks for a dollar and paperbacks for 50 cents.

My daughter Rebekah asked me to gather up some books for her middle school students, so I concentrated my efforts at the children's book table this year.  

But I also picked up some other things, including 

• a popular book on science and faith; 
• another book on the history of English for Emily;
• one of Laurie R. King's mysteries;
• a copy of Guns, Germs, and Steel;
• a Michael Chabon novel;
• another popular science book by Mark Buchanan;
• one of the books on the KJV that came out in 2011;
• a book on Andrew Jackson's presidency;
• a book on the search for truth by the founder of the Veritas Forum; 

Tags: books, oxford library sale

The public library had an extra book sale today, smaller in scale than the big one in August, but still with a good selection.

I stopped by on my way to work and spent $4 on 3 hardbacks and 2 paperbacks, including

• a copy of Ben Witherington's The Jesus Quest in excellent condition;
• a book about the Kabbalah;
• a book of short pieces on American history from CSPAN's BookTV;
• a book of essays by Thomas Sowell;
• a book about the English language for my daughter Emily, who is interested in linguistics.

Tags: books, oxford library sale

Today is the first Friday in August, so it is time for the annual Oxford public library used book sale.

This year I spent $9 on 8 hardbacks and 2 paperbacks. Among the things I picked up were

1. A book on high-tech archaeology.
2. Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City.
3. David McCullough's 1776.
4. A popular-level book about logic.
5. A book about the unlikelihood of life on other planets.
6. One of Christopher Buckley's comic novels.
7. One of Donald Westlake's comic novels.
8. One of Athol Dickson's novels.
9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
10. One of David Horowitz's books about political indoctrination at American universities.

Tags: books, oxford library sale

It's August again, and that means the annual book sale at the Oxford public library.

This year I picked up 3 hardbooks, 10 paperbacks, and 4 books on tape for $10.

One book from the batch that  I have enjoyed is 

Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books by Aaron Lansky.

When the author was a student at Hampshire College back in the 1970s, he found that he needed to learn Yiddish in order to study his Jewish culture and heritage.  He and some friends found a faculty member who could teach them.

Finding YIddish books to read turned out to be more difficult.  In starting the search, Lansky soon realized that much of the world's literature in Yiddish was in danger of being lost.  From there he found his purpose in life--saving YIddish books.  The story of how  he has carried out that purpose is very inspiring, and definitely worth the 50 cents I paid for the book.

Tags: books, oxford library sale

This morning I went to our local public library's annual book sale.  I ran into a professor emeritus of physics who is another regular at the sale.  He compared the event to Christmas morning.  I told him I always enjoyed the sale too.

This year I picked up 3 hardbacks and 6 paperbacks for $6.  The books included 

• a copy of Brad Young's dissertation, written under David Flusser, that looks at how rabbinic parables can shed light on Jesus' parables.   I borrowed this book via Ohiolink and read it years ago, and I was glad to pick up a copy of my own for 50 cents.
• one of the Body Farm forensic anthropology novels by Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson.
• a copy of Edwin Yamauchi's book on New Testament cities of western Asia Minor.
• one of mathematician/sci fi novelist Rudy Rucker's science fiction novels.
• Rucker's novel about painter Peter Bruegel.
• a copy of Fee and Stuart's How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth.
• Ben Mezrich's book about the MIT blackjack team.
• a collection of early patristic sources in English translation.
• a popular-level book about neurobiology.

Tags: books, oxford library sale

It's the end of July, and time for the annual Oxford Lane Library book sale.  Just like last year, I looked around for an hour or so  and spent exactly $10.  This year's finds included:

• a book about the 1918 flu epidemic.
• an English translation of Pirke Avot with rabbinic commentary.
• a book about gerrymandering  of electoral districts in the US.
• a book about a thief who stole rare maps.
• collections of columns by Dennis Prager and (Miami alumnus) P.J. O'Rourke.
• David Klinghoffer's memoir about his spiritual journey to orthodox Judaism.
• David Berlinski's critique of the arrogance of the New Atheists.
• a Teaching Company course on the Late Middle Ages.
• a book about music and the brain.
• a book about Israel's rescue of the Ethiopian Jews.
• a book about the Albigensian Crusade.
• a Dover collection of mathematical puzzles.

Tags: books, oxford library sale

Yesterday the public library in Oxford held its annual used book sale.  Hardback books were a dollar, paperbooks fifty cents.  I browsed for about 90 minutes and picked up 6 hardbacks and 8 paperbacks for a total of $10.

I look forward to this sale every year.  Since I've been to 25 of them now, I suppose I must have accumulated around 300 books from them all together.  Out of all of these books, the one I've used the most has been a hardback copy of the NRSV, with apocrypha, that I picked up in excellent condition one year.  (At that point, hardbacks were probably 50 cents.) 

Some of the best bargains over the years:

• Edersheim's Bible History , an old 7-volume set in decent condition, for $1.50.
• James R. Newman's four-volume anthology, The World of Mathematics, in good condition for a dollar.
• A 1969 edition of The Baseball Encyclopedia in good condition for a quarter (back in the 1980s when hardbacks were a quarter and paperbacks a dime).

Along with the gems I've picked up some junk that I'd never have purchased if the prices were higher.  It is for a good cause, and funding for public libraries in Ohio is being slashed...

Tags: books, oxford library sale