Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for September 11, 2022

By the time Danae and Kate grow up, those economic theories won’t be recognized anymore. Thus the book won’t be an heirloom.

It’s not hoarding if it’s books.

Never thought I’d see Kate asking Danae for something like that.

There are still book stores?

Good thing he’s not going to read it – would probably devalue it.

Like the collectible toys that have to be in their original packaging.

We have a very weird sense of what is valuable.

I have over 21,100 kindle titles I have collected since March 2012, as well as over 5,000 ePub titles for my Aldiko app. There are a lot of sites you can get free and discounted titles from, including Robin Reads, eReader News, Free Booksy, Bargin Booksy, Early Bird Books, as well as the Internet Archives and the Gutenberg Project; you can also do a lowest to highest cost search on Amazon as well.

Oh-oh. Kate’s first time agreeing with Danae’s thinking. This could begin a dark time for Dad.

Signatures are still a market thing.

“George Washington’s Acts of Congress: $9.8 Million. He signed the first page of this book which was put up for auction at Sotheby’s in 2012.”

I have several thousand books, mostly paperbacks that my wife will probably just get rid of when I die. It’s mostly titles with good stuff, not trash.

I also have National Geographic Magazines starting from a subscription my uncle first started for me in 1962. After a while I continued it on my own, and thus have a continuous 60-year-plus series (also numerous misc. earlier issues gleaned from flea markets — the earliest, 1937).

… my sheet music collection, a total of 9-plus feet long on my shelf … plus my record and CD music collection … plus my VHS movie tapes … I would need another lifetime to re-experience them all!

But I am not a hoarder like you see on TV! Oh, certainly not! My “quality acquisitions” are (for the most part) stored neatly in large plastic containers. Rows of stacked plastic containers. :)

Since into-the-afterlife U-Hauls are not available, I plan soon to rid of this stuff bit by bit so my family is not burdened with the task. At least I’m thinking about thinking about planning …

So many are more concerned about “who wrote what”; when they wrote it; if it’s a first (or subsequent) edition (later eds sometimes are rarer therefore more valuable); whether the author signed it; and considerably less interested in the content of the work. Mein Kampf signed by Adolph, for instance, would be worth squillions. Few need or want to read it.

Someone asked Samuel Clemons why he had so many books piled on the floor. “Well,” sez he, “it’s awfully hard to borrow bookshelves.”

Usually, my response is, “tell me when I am supposed to seem interested”.

I do not think I have a single autograph. I’m not impressed by celebrity, even though in my long life I have met a few and more than in passing.

That purchase sounds like a preacher friend of mine who bought a fancy watch because it was so cheap. It didn’t keep time, but it was cheap.

If it was written by Paul Krugman it was an excellent purchase. For a door stop. Or use the pages to line the bird cage.

Kate, I don’t think you need those acting classes.

I really don’t understand this obsession with stuff that was touched by well known people. I once semi-joked with my son that if I told people the fork I was eating with was once used by George Washington, I could probably sell it for hundreds or thousands of dollars. It is a stupid fork.

“THAT’S AN AWFULLY SNOTTY ATTITUDE TOWARD A FUTURE FAMILY HEIRLOOM, EH, KATE?”

(imagines a different version of this dialogue in this cartoon)

THAT WAS A VERY SNOBBISH ATTITUDE TOWARD A FUTURE FAMILY HEIRLOOM. WAS IT SNOBBISH TO YOU TOO, KATE?

If it was Thomas Sowell i would keep it.

I have a collection of Sammy Reshevky’s chess games The Art of Positional Play, autographed by Reshevsky when I played him in a simultaneous exhibition that he gave. The occasion meant something to me, and I was glad to get the book autographed, but I wouldn’t call it an heirloom. I have read it, though. I also have George Koltanowski’s book, In the Dark, again autographed by the author. I probably wouldn’t have bought that one, but won it as a prize.

Can’t see standing in line at a bookstore to get a book that I’m not interested in autographed by someone I don’t care about.

I have Arnold Schwarzenegger’s autograph. I wonder who I should leave it to in my will?

What was it about National Geographic that so many people kept these mags knowing they would never pick them up again?

I cared much about having something signed by someone famous but I do get a feeling of awe and respect when I see an ancient pot, arrowhead, petroglyph, or when I visit ancient tombs and pyramids. These were made by anonymous people whose craft and artistry have lasted for thousands of years.

The Nobel Prize in Economics always annoys me; they might as well have one for voodoo.

A book by a Nobel Prize winning economist. Could it be Paul Krugman? You remember. He was the one who in 2016 predicted a total collapse of the World Economy – not just the US but the entire world economy if Trump was ever elected President.https://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/krugman-trump-global-recession-2016-231055

I once had a signed presentation copy of a book of poems that was given by the authour to the a provincial cabinet minister from one of the Canadian provinces. I sold it many years ago so i can’t be certain who it was given to anymore. Having read the poems I’m convinced that giving away copies was the only way the authour could get rid of the book.

The value is in the content, not the signature.

I am watching the appraisal value of my autographed comics collections.

Just take the “Sincerity Module”, if you can master sincerity, the rest is easy.

Books are only impressive if you’ve read them.

My latest book purchase, a new 1995 copy (they evidently didn’t sell many) of “Quotations From Speaker Newt”. Because I wanted to read for myself how far my old GOP has really fallen. Spoiler: it’s bad.

Economics is a heavy subject…hence the large books!

his economics were on how to make money by selling books people won’t read.

The more books you own, the less stupid you are.

What, you got to meet Paul Krugman?!?

I’m really, really jealous.

My mother in laws wig turned into the family hairloom.

I’m reminded of the recent Beanie Baby rerun on Doonesbury. As I get older, I try to ask myself, “If the market value of the possessions I say that I enjoy or treasure (e.g., CDs, comic books, etc.) were to plummet significantly, would I still like them?”

One of the peculiar things about collecting vintage books is that an autograph is typically more valuable than an inscription, unless the inscription ’"To— whoever"—is dedicated to someone famous as well.

Yeah, and the Nobel prize ain’t what it used to be. At least in one or two categories.

I’d like to think t he autographed book value zooms afterthe author dies.

I’ve got George Burns.Turned down a chance for a Howard Cosell autographed book to watch a Chicago ethnic parade.

I’ve never been sorry.

Read it? Are you kidding? It’ll crack the spine and lower the resale value.

I like seeing Kate and Danae cooperating. Between them they could pull off some pretty interesting capers.