In praise of Amazon - NOT amateur radio

Amazon is like Marmite, the UK yeast spread. Some absolutely hate Amazon thinking it is killing independent bookshops. On the other hand one may order a book in seconds and it is on your doorstep or in your postbox the next day.

For 2 weeks, I have been trying to buy my sister-in-law's new children's book from multiple bookshops in Cambridge without success. I saw it was available from Amazon and it was here next day.

Retail is changing and nothing will stop this. Like many, I enjoy going into a physical bookshop and leafing through a book. However, the convenience of online shopping is very compelling.

Online books - NOT amateur radio

A reminder that a great many books are available on line, many free.

See https://books.google.co.uk

Where we ate yesterday - NOT amateur radio

As mentioned before we visited Harleston and Diss yesterday. We ate lunch in Harleston in an antiques centre surrounded by old books and ephemera.

RSGB discounts

The RSGB is doing discounts for members for World Book Day. In my case this was worth £2.50 off a book. For once, I have bought something! Rather sneakily, they add the shipping costs at the very end. Naughty.

RSGB, I don't like this. Change it!!

Guess what? - NOT amateur radio

Yes, you guessed, Alibris were offering 15% off for 24 hours only.

More eBay items for sale

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/rlapthorn

As part of our de-cluttering session before we move, I've listed some more items on eBay. This time it is mainly new or nearly new children's clothes, a couple of women's clothing items (tops) and a couple of non-radio books. All the clothes items are in very good condition (some are brand new) and these may be of interest to the XYL or YL.

The Galapagos book cost £18.99 and is in MINT condition. 

The Cinema of Isolation book is a very interesting study about how physical disability has been portrayed in the cinema over the last 100 years showing how attitudes have changed.

More books on eBay

A couple more books have been listed on eBay this afternoon which may be of interest to readers. They are the RSGB's latest VHF/UHF handbook and the Backscatter Technical Compendium with articles from Backscatter (UK Microwave Group) from 2004-2008. The auction ends next weekend.

I have an almost complete set of SPRATs from the early 1980s to today that may be listed soon: as I have the CD, the paper copies are taking up shelf space. Paper copies are easier to thumb through though, so I may decide to keep these. We'll see.

There are a few other books and some baby clothes too if you, or your XYL, are interested. My aim is to declutter the shack as much as I can before the house move. The other books include some on disability related subjects, psychology and the Galapagos Islands (the latter is a very nice BBC book).

Last week's auction was very successful with all the books (and the fireplace surround!) finding new homes.

eBay is quite fun in small doses: I don't like to do this all the time - too much trouble packaging and labelling things and making the trip to the post office to send them off, but from time to time it is fun, especially watching the last minute rushes!

More books, including a few more obscure non radio related ones, will be listed next month.

Some ham books of mine on eBay

Today I've put a few of my books for sale on eBay. They include RSGB and ARRL handbooks. If you are interested do take a look. If you live in the Cambridge area and want to pick them up locally then there will be no postage to pay. See http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/rlapthorn