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How is that extortionate? Using the inflation calculator of the Bank of England that is 86 pounds now or $110. Admittedly that more expensive than the current p

How is that extortionate? Using the inflation calculator of the Bank of England that is 86 pounds now or $110. Admittedly that more expensive than the current price of $24 for the paper back, but at worst that seems to be twice as expensive as a common price for a 850 page book?

gambiting 2y ago
I cannot imagine paying £86 for any book tbh. That seems crazy high.
- JonChesterfield 2y ago
  Consider that some technical books have a potential target audience of thousand or so people. Then ask how many hours the book needs to save you to be worth $100. Depending on the book that can look very cheap.
- marcus_holmes 2y ago
  I think I paid similar for Wolfram's A New Kind of Science back in the early 00's. Huge great beast of a hardback tome, promising the secrets of the universe. I don't think I ever finished it, and ended up giving it away to a charity shop after schlepping it around the world with me, unread.
- burkaman 2y ago
  Don't go to college, you'll have to do that 5 times every semester.
  - gambiting 2y ago
    Oh I forgot that's a thing in some countries. I did both of my university degrees just borrowing books needed from the library, they have to have enough copies for every student if needed.
  - tucnak 2y ago
    American way of life
    - Izkata 2y ago
      Most of the time we'd end up with a group of friends where we'd each buy a different book then share among each other. Not many were spending the whole amount every semester, especially past the first year when we didn't really know any better.
  - exoverito 2y ago
    Luckily most of my courses did not require textbooks. Though it was easy enough to get PDFs on libgen.
  - michaelt 2y ago
    But did you get a loan and.... pay for it in instalments?
yial 2y ago
At October, 1970, the provisional figures of average weekly earnings of full-time manual workers were £28 Os. 11d. for men aged 21 years and over, and £13 19s. 10d. for women aged 18 years and over. Between October, 1965 and October, 1970, average earnings of all workers covered by the regular inquiry rose by 45.9 per cent. and the general index of retail prices by 26.4 per cent. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1971/jan/28/average-weekly-wage https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1971/jan/... So it would have been around a decent chunk of your weekly wage as an average worker, it sounds like. I think what we would need to know is how much excess income someone would have for something like that at the time.
robocat 2y ago
> twice as expensive as a common price for a 850 page book? Costs per page have dropped significantly - so not valid to use page count as a fixed comparison point??? So perhaps its price is more reasonable than we might assume.
thaumasiotes 2y ago
> but at worst that seems to be twice as expensive as a common price for a 850 page book? Huh? https://www.amazon.com/Fires-Heaven-Wheel-Time-Book/dp/0312854277/ https://www.amazon.com/Fires-Heaven-Wheel-Time-Book/dp/03128... Hardcover for $24.49 (703 pages), paperback for $16.99 (848 pages).

gambiting 2y ago

I cannot imagine paying £86 for any book tbh. That seems crazy high.

JonChesterfield 2y ago
Consider that some technical books have a potential target audience of thousand or so people. Then ask how many hours the book needs to save you to be worth $100. Depending on the book that can look very cheap.
marcus_holmes 2y ago
I think I paid similar for Wolfram's A New Kind of Science back in the early 00's. Huge great beast of a hardback tome, promising the secrets of the universe. I don't think I ever finished it, and ended up giving it away to a charity shop after schlepping it around the world with me, unread.
burkaman 2y ago
Don't go to college, you'll have to do that 5 times every semester.
- gambiting 2y ago
  Oh I forgot that's a thing in some countries. I did both of my university degrees just borrowing books needed from the library, they have to have enough copies for every student if needed.
- tucnak 2y ago
  American way of life
  - Izkata 2y ago
    Most of the time we'd end up with a group of friends where we'd each buy a different book then share among each other. Not many were spending the whole amount every semester, especially past the first year when we didn't really know any better.
- exoverito 2y ago
  Luckily most of my courses did not require textbooks. Though it was easy enough to get PDFs on libgen.
- michaelt 2y ago
  But did you get a loan and.... pay for it in instalments?

yial 2y ago

At October, 1970, the provisional figures of average weekly earnings of full-time manual workers were £28 Os. 11d. for men aged 21 years and over, and £13 19s. 10d. for women aged 18 years and over. Between October, 1965 and October, 1970, average earnings of all workers covered by the regular inquiry rose by 45.9 per cent. and the general index of retail prices by 26.4 per cent. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1971/jan/28/average-weekly-wage https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1971/jan/... So it would have been around a decent chunk of your weekly wage as an average worker, it sounds like. I think what we would need to know is how much excess income someone would have for something like that at the time.

robocat 2y ago

> twice as expensive as a common price for a 850 page book? Costs per page have dropped significantly - so not valid to use page count as a fixed comparison point??? So perhaps its price is more reasonable than we might assume.

thaumasiotes 2y ago

> but at worst that seems to be twice as expensive as a common price for a 850 page book? Huh? https://www.amazon.com/Fires-Heaven-Wheel-Time-Book/dp/0312854277/ https://www.amazon.com/Fires-Heaven-Wheel-Time-Book/dp/03128... Hardcover for $24.49 (703 pages), paperback for $16.99 (848 pages).