It seems to me that selling on eBay and its sister site, Half.com, fulfills two of the biggest current goals in our society:
Simplifying, and
Reusing
Today I was again scouring our shelves for books to sell on Half.com and eBay when I realized that I own three North American bird identification books. It’s a little embarrassing to admit it here, however I suspect I’m not alone.
If you were to go through your books you would probably find several that are virtually the same. I’m a Christian and used to teach adult Sunday school very often. Occasionally I would ask my students how many Bibles they owned. The average was probably somewhere between six and 20. There are millions of Christians around the world who don’t own a single Bible. I wanted to encourage people to appreciate their wealth, see it in perspective, be good stewards and help provide Bibles for less fortunate Christians.
Anyway, back to my bird books. Do I really need more than one North American bird identification book? So far I haven’t been able to come up with any legitimate reasons, although I’ve tried, unless it’s to support the publishing industry.
The best thing about this it that it has forced me to sit down with all three books and really think about which one I find most useful.
Ah, critical thinking skills!
If I remember correctly, those are supposed to be a good thing to have. And, by getting rid of two of my North American bird identification books, I’m reducing clutter and simplifying my life.
Further, when people buy them from me, together we’re participating in the act of “reusing,” which from what I heard is even better than recycling.
Watch out guys, I’m going green.
By the way, I’ve decided to keep the “Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North American” for two main reasons:
I’ve already put a bunch of check marks in the back next to some of the birds I’ve seen, and
On the cover it clearly says that Kaufmann guides are “the easiest guides for fast identification.”
Now that I’ve made the decision to jettison two of my North American bird identification books the next thing that will happen, if my life continues to form, is I’ll misplace the one I’ve decided to keep.
Well, at least now I know where I can get used copies cheap online.