I’ve always been intrigued when I see the “like new” books on Amazon selling for as low as .01. The other day I was in Borders and saw that the mass market paperbacks for Neal Stephenson’s Vol. 1 and 2 of the Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver and Confusion) were out. Each volume sells for US$8. I wanted the larger trade paperback versions, but they sell for $16 each. When I saw them on Amazon, being sold by a third-party vendor, for .01 each, I decided to take a chance. Of course, the shipping is US$3.49 each, so it was $7 for the two books. They arrived yesterday and are in near perfect condition (except for a remainder mark on the bottom). This large paperback edition is really nice. 1,776 pages of Stephenson for seven bucks. Steal of a deal.
Did you know that he hand-wrote these massive and dizzyingly complex historical novels with a freakin’ fountain pen on cotton paper? Gawd I hate a show-off.