Indulgence, for richer or poorer
365 days ago, I would've been about $1700 richer. Perhaps it could be said that I'm also over a hundred books richer, of which 22 of them are signed by their respective authors, and many more of them first editions. All of these would be under the category of 'pleasure reading', or, at least, I didn't buy it because it was required for school or
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I think there's a part of me what really wants to thrive in consumer culture; I horde software (by which I mean information culture) as though the quantity matters as a social status. That I listed prices and the number of volumes displays this slightly.
Where material culture is involved... that's where the book is interesting; it has the information soft culture versus the package of the artwork and how it's all arbitrary bound in some similar format. It's not like fashion, which is derived from material culture and identity culture interchangeably. Yet, it is not a high-value (innovative) commodity as far as the exchange between object and consumer goes. I think that's where my personal philosophy falters. I see a book as first software and high-value (innovative) and then material, and I feel social and emotional stimulation foremost from software and high-value commodities. But does that justify a (non-reflective) passive consumption mindset?
I think my first answer for that is: nothing justifies non-reflective consumption. My automatic moral code. Of course, maybe to skip the whole process of defining passive consumption, I should just say that I'd like to be more aware whenever I make purchases.
Regarding buying from chains or not - I typically browse whatever's convenient. Sometimes I'm snagged by the shiny Chapters displays and its subsequent glossy book covers. The world of advertising is more pervasive than most people let on, I think.
Anyhow, that was less clear of a post than I would've liked, but it's 3am. :)
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