Yes, gentle reader, I am in New Mexico, land of blue tortillas and thick adobe walls that thwart the wireless networks of even the most well-intentioned. I’ll be here until the 20th.
Observation #1 - The selection in used book stores is significantly better in Albuquerque than in Houston. As to why should be the case, I submit several premises for the theses of aspiring graduate students of economics and/or those who work in used book stores - (a) cheaper real estate in Houston makes the cost of bookshelf space less less per book, increasing demand, decreasing supply (b) people in Albuquerque have given up trying to hang shelves on adobe walls and prefer to sell back their books ( c) Houstonians use their old books to build fires in their (fake) fireplaces when the temperature drops below 65, decreasing supply (d) Albuquerque is full of English majors forced to pawn their books to pay their student loans, increasing supply (e) the other Luke Gilman that lives in Houston has already bought all the books I would want to buy, a very doppelgangerish thing to do (f) I myself already bought all the books I like in Houston, time to move.
So far I’ve got Robert Montgomery’s account of the Sacco & Venzetti trial (starting to become a minor obsession), Paul Johnson’s Modern Times, and a fascinating privately printed Complete Works of Rabelais with wonderful illustrations (top right). Interestingly, Rabelais only wrote one book which makes a “Complete Works” somewhat deceptive, but wonderful marketing.
Up to Santa Fe tomorrow where, never fear, at least another observation will likely be made.
