Welcome to the Kestrel Books Blog
Welcome to the Kestrel Books Blog. We’ll be sharing with you our thoughts about the world of books and how they fit into, and enrich, our lives. We’ll also be talking about our world in general and hope that through discussion and the sharing of ideas we can coax a more hopeful and positive way of life.
November 28th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
What is it that makes some books much more valuable than others?
November 29th, 2007 at 9:27 am
There are several factors that make a book valuable: these include the number of copies that have been printed, the number of copies that remain in existence, the age of the book and the popularity of the book.
December 9th, 2007 at 4:21 am
Popularity is that elusive parameter. All the rest can be quantified, but popularity seems to be a passing thing. It comes, sometimes very quickly as in the New York Times Bestseller’s Lists, and then it goes. How many of the bestsellers from 1960 would be considered valuable today? How many of the bestsellers of today will be valuable in 50 years?
The ability to forecast public opinion makes a rich book collector; discipline makes a satisfied collector.
December 12th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Yes, and popularity can be a highly misleading indicator of either quality or value. I remember well using the New York Times Bestseller’s list to pick some new reading material a few years back. I had never used its recommendation before, but thought I would give it a try. I picked a book that had been on the list for, I think, maybe 16 weeks and thought that would be a solid read. Well, ‘The Bridges of Madison County’ left me not only dissatisfied but almost angry that I had spent the time reading a novella with such rudimentary cardboard characters. The premise of the book was great, even potentially magical, but the execution was mediocre and singulary unsatisfying. The lesson I learned from that experience was that perhaps the many people who bought the book and kept it on the list week after week were less than demanding of real substance in the characters in their literature, and that maybe our society in general wants only snapshots (read instant gratification) rather than full blooded human bone and gristle. (pardon the mixed metaphor).
I would suggest also that the joy of book collecting, regardless of the collection’s monetary worth, might hold value unrealized by the merely materially wealthy.
March 20th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Very nice web site. My English is not so good, so I do not understand it well, but it seems very good. Thanks.
August 9th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
it looks like a nice site, but it would better with multi language support, for example spanish.. but thanks..
February 4th, 2010 at 10:08 am
Thank you for the entertaining read! Alright playtime is over and back to school work.
February 20th, 2010 at 11:48 pm
Great articles and a nice site….