Is it wrong to buy second hand books?  

Myself, I often read books more than once.

Reading a book once and never again is like listening to a song once and never again.

I read a book many times. Specially the ones which I like. Well, even those that I do not like, I read it at least once more just to see whether it is really bad or whether it was just because of my mood or something.

Why buy books, in the first place, if you're planning just to read it once. I say you should borrow books if you like doing that. It's much more practical that way right and your helping the environment too

Hexeduser, you look quite concerned for the environment. Well I am starting a "BAN EXAMS" club. Would you like to join?

As always, you are right. It has already been paid for, so why not let more people enjoy it at a lesser price. It is a all win situation, isn't it?

Also its gonna be a waste if you will just let it be eaten by dust in your Attic throw it in the dust bin. Another good thing will be donating it in a library so more people can enjoy it for free.

Yes, that is something people can do. But I love my books and generally I read the story books again and again. There are some books where I can remember whole pages by heart. Sounds silly, but I love to do it.

I keep the books which are my favorites, to pass on to my children or borrow them to friends, But I give away as charity those that I think are not so beneficial to me, because I know a lot of people like books but cannot afford to buy new ones, as they are getting more an more expensive nowadays.

Welcome to the club of 'not enough money to buy books' Yes, I also buy books from them sometimes and they give it out real cheap. Incase you do return the book they return most of the money.

That way I have read books priced at Rs.500 for about Rs.15 or something. That is really cheap.

Don't you just love the smell of brand new books? I do. I miss it sometimes. But I can live with that.

The best thing about second hand books is that it is really cheap and like Lamb pointed out. It is not actually piracy because they have already been paid for.

It is like buying a new CD and then after watching it giving it to someone else. It is an original CD after all. Cheers.

Oh yeah i agree with the lamb. My apology on that lol. I do love the smell of new books but just like you, i can live with that. Second hand books are really cheap, you can get half of the price or even lower than that. That is what, i like buying it over brand new because sometimes, I am in recession myself.

In my case, I am always in recession.

..I am with you..LOL..I can lend you some if you wish to . Have a wonderful day!

Well, looks like my class mate is pretty crazy.

I have recently bought a whole bunch of second hand books. There are a few Agatha Cristie books in them. I love her books.

And I have heard about that book. It was published in several volumes, isn't it? Have you finished reading it? How was it?

I have one volume of that book, and all is already in it. Thing is, it got lost. LOL. I haven't even read it halfway when I realized it was missing.

Lost? That is a tragedy. How did you lose it?

I was surfing about the book and the reviews said it was pretty good. I would buy that one.

I didn't know how it got lost.

Anyway, I've seen the movie first before I had the book. The movie's really great, (with Tom Hanks as the jail guard) and it's actually one of my favorites. You should see the movie, too. It is such a tearjerker.

I have started downloading the movie just last night. It will take another 3 hours to complete.

I had not really heard about the movie. But then while trying to know more about the book, I stumbled on the movie link. I think I will be watching it tonight.

I assume that by the time you read this you've already seen the movie. :-)

That's cool, you really research about the book. I'm like you, too.

Actually he irritated me so much one day, that I finally asked him to buy the books for me. Of course, he didn't.

I do not know whether he rents DVDs or not and I could not care less. And just for clarification he is not my roommate. Just my class mate and not even a very close friend.

Maybe he is crazy, that's why...

The copied book will be much costlier than the new book, I think. It is too much of manual labour to copy every page of a book and then print it again.

After all what we are thriving for is knowledge. That was pretty enlightening Genius.

Many people love to read books. And if we all buy the books brand new, we will have be millionaires. Unfortunately, many people has not reached that stage and so, we should definitely look for knowledge in these crushed, torn second hand books.

I buy them all the time, and I think most often it is money well spent.

From what you have written I think you have a passion for history and art. Am I right?

Wow, that is just great. You sound just like me. I buy any book that I can land my hands on. I am not too much into magazines except for those computer related ones. But those I get from my friends, so don't buy them personally.

Wish I had a seller like you have. I have to go from shop to shop to see who is charging the lowest prices and the best quality. Both are very important while buying a second hand book.

Yeah, Ambitious, you are right. Old books are really as good as the new ones. Thank you for the response.