My $6 book
For a project I've been working on, the one I've been obsessing over actually for a little over a month, working on it during my "copious down time," I looked online for a particular tutorial with the Flickr API. I managed to do one search, and found a post from an author recommending his book.
Now, being on the austerity program, I've been resisting purchasing any books, much less nominally unneeded books (such as ones that duplicate content I can find on the Intarweb™). Just because I purchase the book, and have added it to my stack of unread books, doesn't mean that I've absorbed the knowledge or have become a better person. In reality, until I've read the book and actually learned from it, it's just an extra bit of clutter, an extra bit of paper weights, an extra bit of unread book pile building in my livingroom.
Having the book, on the other hand, could make the particular project I'm working on easier.
I tormented myself about the book, and eventually asked Doyle what he thought. Should I buy the book? He asked how many positive reviews the book received on Amazon. When I looked up the book, I found out it had two good reviews.
Now, normally, the price of the book is $30. On Amazon, you know, where they pay me in books, I also found out the price was only $6.
Six dollars.
Six.
Dollars.
"You know, if you spent the time you've wasted asking me if you should buy this book, and actually bought them book, then worked the remaining time, you would have earned enough for the book already," Doyle piped up.
With my free Amazon Prime shipping, I couldn't really argue against this wiley logic. Austerity program be damned, I bought the book.
And now the price is up to $20. $6 is fine. $20? No more damning the austerity program!