Used books and CDs

My brother gifted me with a copy of "The Dilbert Future" last Christmas. I was quite elated and again surprised that he got the copy from a used book shop. It was only last October that he got a hard-bound copy of "The Dilbert Principle" from the same book shop. It seems to me that he got some ability in finding such items like these books in a used book shop where it can be quite a challenge to scan many if not most of the books to find those of interest and worth buying. I must say that I also have this knack for scanning, searching and finding items and I have been able to hone the "skill" while I was studying in Japan.

The first time I tried and discovered this "talent" was during my first trip to Japan back in February 1996. I remember staying at the International House of Tokyo Tech and there was this small used books and CD shop near the university. A friend and I passed by this shop and he mentioned to me that it was in similar shops that he acquired music CDs. In fact, all of his CDs at the time were second-hand and were acquired cheap from such shops. But cheap doesn't mean poor condition for I learned that many of the Japanese who bought CDs usually sold the same to used CD shops to recover money (to purchase newer CDs) and to de-clutter their homes. In several chains, they even have a rating system for used CDs where "A" usually referred to a CD in almost mint condition and "C" may mean that the lyrics insert is no longer included in the package. One may also examine the disk to see whether there are scratches or other damages to the case. Anyhow, as my friend labored in scanning the shelves for CDs of is interest, I managed to spot 2 or 3 CDs including a Duran Duran album. These became my first CDs and I bought them despite not owning a CD player. So, they ended up being loaned to my friend at the time.

Through 3 years and the establishment of several haunts for used CDs, I was able to collect CDs on various genres including classical music, new wave and pop. Among my favorite shops were the Yamagiwa store in the Kannai district of Yokohama, the same store in the Akihabara district of Tokyo, and the Recofan stores near Yokohama Station and in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. Of course, I did purchase new CDs but I was always selective of these purchases considering the wealth of used CDs in the shops at the time.

Recently, I have renewed my interest in used items but this was and will be limited to books. Several used book shops have sprouted in Metro Manila and so far, my luck has brought me a hard-bound first edition of The Silmarillion, several classics, a hard-bound edition of a civil engineering textbook , and hard to find chess books including one by the old master Reuben Fine. I look forward to more browsing as these used book shops bring in a treasure trove of books though I am also wary of some of these books bearing some damage or writing/scribbles from its previous owner(s). Perhaps I should focus on hunting for books on chess? I did lose a lot of my chess books in the past 15 years to bookworms and floods. It would be nice to reacquire some if not all of them. In fact, some of the old chess books happened to be given to me by a cousin who has already passed away. He will most certainly be the subject of a future posting.