I love buying books. (Arguably more than I love reading them, since I own MANY books I haven't managed to read yet.) Perhaps this is a curse, a skill, or a birthright, but I thought I'd at least share some of my more productive techniques for acquiring new volumes.

Around Town:

• The Library.  Go to the library and check books out if you just want to read them. You can't keep them afterwards, but in most cases the specimens aren't in good condition anyway. Frusteratingly, however, libraries often have copies of out-of-print hardbacks that I want to buy for my collection, but can't afford.
   
• Big New Bookstore.  Go to your local Borders, Barnes and Noble, or other big new bookstore. I usually avoid doing this, because most of the books I want can be got for lower prices elsewhere, and some of the books I want can't be gotten at all in such places. However, for recently published paperbacks, buying new is often the best move.
   
• Go on a Treasue Hunt.  For an adventure, when the weather is nice, check out yard sales, garage sales, and fund-raisers. If you want 25- or 50-cent paperbacks, that's where to look. These people don't WANT the books. (Sometimes with good reason, admittedly.) The fun is in the search, the discovery, and the very low cost.
   
• Used Book Bookstore.  For less of an adventure, visit your local used, rare, and out-of-print bookstore. Prices will be higher than at a rummage sale, because there are business costs associated with the operation of a bookstore, but obviously quality will be higher, inventory will be larger, and the bookstore is open year round, rather than once a year when the weather is nice, as in the case of rummage sales.
   
• Discount Bookstore.  Discount bookstores sell 'remaindered' books. Remaindered books are new-ish books which just didn't sell enough copies at the retail price. The inventory is usually boring: Many copies of a few books. Prices are usually some fixed fraction of retail.  Sometimes I find something to buy, but not usually.

On the Internet:

• Amazon.com.  The most obvious online source is Amazon.com, but I use their site mostly just for their excellent customer comments and reviews. Their new books are sometimes discounted, but then there are usually shipping costs.  Furthermore, their procedures for listing and selling used items are annoying.
   
• Buy.com.  Just like Amazon, only Buy.com has *lower prices* and in many cases *no shipping fee*. It does lack the user reviews, so know what you want before you visit the site.
   
• Advanced Book Exchange.  If you want to look for a particular collector's item, there is a conglomeration of booksellers who sell through Advanced Book Exchange at Abebooks.com which is so expansive as to be useful almost always. It has everything from dog-eared dollar paperbacks to gilded leather volumes from past centuries to first editions of just about anything. The only problem is that there are usually no images of the books offered for sale.
   
• eBay.com.  If you want to buy more than one book at once, say, several books by the same author or in the same series, try eBay.com. People often sell books in lots. You may even get to see some pictures of what you're buying. The problem is that you may be outbid, or you may spend more than you had intended.
   
• Half.com.  Now a subsidiary of eBay, Half.com is like eBay only better. Prices are fixed by the seller, and items are placed in categories by condition. Choose what you like, order through the website, pay with your credit-card, and have it shipped to you. They sell other stuff besides books, (movies and music, for example) though not as much other stuff as ebay. (If you buy from them, first look online for a coupon for $5 off your first purchase - applicable to orders of $25 or more.)