Book for $10; memory for … ?

I like to browse books on local classifieds, and occasionally I buy some for my chess library. Huge number of books are sold for next to nothing. Those published in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s often go for $5, $10, or $20. Such books will never be reprinted, and their prices are ridiculously low. Over time, you start to figure things out - realizing where the price is fair and where it’s too high.

And then it became clear to me. These books are being sold by grateful descendants. There was a chess player. He collected, searched, bought. He dreamt. And then…

Nothing.

As one chess player told me, “There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them”.

And perhaps that’s true. The books find a new owner. Even though it’s very difficult to accept.