A book on book collecting: A pound of paper

John Baxter, A pound of paper.

This was a great book, I enjoyed every page of it. John Baxter knows how to write and, at the same time, has extensive first-hand experience in collecting books. Collecting books is a passion, quite similar to gambling and the collector often spares no effort or money to get what he is after.

  

I really hate books that tell you how to collect something. They are like those getting rich manuals or guides to sell your junk on eBay. So A pound of paper was a nice surprise because it is as much about books as about the psychology of the collector. I could really relate to the entire experience of collecting Graham Greene editions, even though Greene is not someone I do collect myself.

Collecting books is not an investment. I guess that true art collectors are similar in this way, even though lately people started buying art as a form of investment. But there is usually not a lot of sense in buying books for the sake of reselling them years later for twice as much. So if you are trying to find something invest in, avoid books. Get some Google shares or an apartment is Beijing.