Is it really so hard?
One of the complaints my family has with my book wishlist (useful for birthdays, Xmas etc!) is that they've cherrypicked all the items which can be found in thirty minutes or so, and what's left sometimes has to be ordered in (which any bookshop can do).
Yeesh. I pick stuff with a range of prices, I go research the titles, authors and ISBNs, I link half of the list to online stores where it can be ordered with a click, I compile the list, I put it online, personally add the bookmark to the family's assorted browsers and I even refrain from buying items off the list myself in the two months before birthdays and Christmas, and all I hear is that I haven't made it easy enough.
So today I put it to the test. Passing through the city on my way home from measuring up furniture, I called in at one of the bookstores I've also mentioned on the wishlist as being a good place to start. Walk in the door cold, and right in front of me are a bunch of items from the list.
At times, I am tempted to tell certain members of the family to try buying for my parents, who in thirty years have only occasionally hinted about what they might be interested in, and that after near-badgering efforts on behalf of several of the kids. Or how about buying for Brother #1 when he was starting his thesis, and his wishlist consisted of pre-ISBN books so obscure there might only be two or three copies in the entire country. Or Brother #2, who never hints what he might like.
It'd help if any of them had, y'know, a hobby, or interest, or ANYTHING. The closest I can get is that Brother #1 is pretty OK with utterly insane humour or complete literary or film weirdness. That's about it. Don't even ask about the assorted in-laws - apparently men in our family lack the gene that gives them the slightest clue what their better halves appreciate as presents. (The only reason I have even a modicum of success myself is that if I hadn't noticed megpie71's library by now, I would have tripped over it and been crushed to death under the falling bookcases.)
But me? Big list. Public list. Fully annotated list. All kinds of things on there. Kept up to date all the time.
D'ya think I can get a win out of that? Like heck.
Yeesh. I pick stuff with a range of prices, I go research the titles, authors and ISBNs, I link half of the list to online stores where it can be ordered with a click, I compile the list, I put it online, personally add the bookmark to the family's assorted browsers and I even refrain from buying items off the list myself in the two months before birthdays and Christmas, and all I hear is that I haven't made it easy enough.
So today I put it to the test. Passing through the city on my way home from measuring up furniture, I called in at one of the bookstores I've also mentioned on the wishlist as being a good place to start. Walk in the door cold, and right in front of me are a bunch of items from the list.
At times, I am tempted to tell certain members of the family to try buying for my parents, who in thirty years have only occasionally hinted about what they might be interested in, and that after near-badgering efforts on behalf of several of the kids. Or how about buying for Brother #1 when he was starting his thesis, and his wishlist consisted of pre-ISBN books so obscure there might only be two or three copies in the entire country. Or Brother #2, who never hints what he might like.
It'd help if any of them had, y'know, a hobby, or interest, or ANYTHING. The closest I can get is that Brother #1 is pretty OK with utterly insane humour or complete literary or film weirdness. That's about it. Don't even ask about the assorted in-laws - apparently men in our family lack the gene that gives them the slightest clue what their better halves appreciate as presents. (The only reason I have even a modicum of success myself is that if I hadn't noticed megpie71's library by now, I would have tripped over it and been crushed to death under the falling bookcases.)
But me? Big list. Public list. Fully annotated list. All kinds of things on there. Kept up to date all the time.
D'ya think I can get a win out of that? Like heck.