Half-Price Books is having a 20% off sale over the long holiday weekend.
I haven’t found a lot of good stuff at the past few sales, but that didn’t stop me from going. And I think I see a break in the drought. I found some non-firearms related stuff:
- Season 1 of “Elementary”. I’ve already watched all of this with Lawrence, but Mom was griping that when the TV schedule changes after Labor Day, she’s not going to have anything to watch, so I figured this was worth taking a flyer on for her. Especially for $8 after discount (plus tax): while our TVs are set up with Amazon Prime, we’d have to pay $20 to watch this season.
- Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann. This won a fact crime Edgar, I enjoyed Grann’s The Devil and Sherlock Holmes, and I’ve seen a lot of people (including ones I didn’t think were fact crime buffs) reading this. Finally found a decent paperback copy cheap ($6.78 after discount + tax).
- Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS, Britain’s Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War by Ben Macintyre. I also liked A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal, so I figured this was worth a shot. Though it looks like it should be more accurately called “The History of the SAS Through the End of WWII”. ($6.38 after discount + tax.)
- The World of Raymond Chandler: In His Own Words edited by Barry Day. This was just for fun, and is also kind of weird: it isn’t really a biography of Chandler, but rather an attempt to summarize Chandler’s life, and his thoughts on various subjects (including booze, broads, and writing) using his own words: not just excerpts from the books and short stories, but also from letters he wrote to friends and others. I’m about 100 pages into it right now, and I think it’s kind of fun. ($5.59 after discount + tax.)
I wouldn’t be posting, though, if I hadn’t gotten lucky and found some gun books. Which I will put after the jump…
The Art Of Modern Gunfighting (The Pistol Book 1) by Scott Reitz and Brett McQueen. This was on my want list for some reason (I suspect it was recommended by Karl) but was a lucky find. You can still get the Kindle edition for $20, but if you want the paperback (which is what I got), cheapest price for a “very good” used copy on Amazon is $86. Cheapest price for a “good” hardcover is $49.99. This was $28 after discount, plus the inevitable 8.25% on top of that to the tax man…
The Bullet’s Flight From Powder To Target: The Internal And External Ballistics Of Small Arms by Franklin W. Mann. I’ve seen this described as one of the early and highly influential works on interior and external ballistics, so when I saw this as the south HPB, I figured I needed to grab it: I’ve never seen one elsewhere. This isn’t a true first edition, but a 1942 reprint from Standard Printing and Publishing Company, with (according to the introduction) some additional biographical material on Dr. Mann added, along with errata. (Also per the introduction, this edition was mostly set from the original plates, which Dr. Mann’s family thoughtfully preserved.) I’d describe this as “very good”: there are a couple of small spots of jacket wear if you look closely, but nothing too awful for a 1942 book. This has been fairly widely reprinted (even in a Palladium Press edition) but I still think it’s a pretty nice find in this edition and condition. $32 after discount plus the inevitable.