Hank’s world: Can you throw away books?

Earlier, during his studies and early professional years, I thought The older one would, the more books you have to have. It makes you proud to be a library. Books in the working – and living room are billet, the Entry into the realm of the education of the citizen. You gain, how you stand and multiply, a small feeling of happiness: “just Wait, you, I’m going to read one day.”

Rainer Hank

Freelance writer in the business.

F. A. Z.

But at some point, flips it. The domestic books of the world is cluttered, the space, the stacks vary dangerous. For the many books of the new premises would be a kind of snobbery, you must be able to afford in times of real estate bubble and a housing shortage. Therefore, it has become us for the Ritual, between the years of books to get rid of. Anyway, since we question the moral theological principle of whether it should be allowed to say goodbye to the books, in principle, a positive answer (of course, with a constantly bad Conscience): Yes, you can! This brings, in addition to shame, a feeling of liberation.

In principle, there are three ways to dispose of books. You can try to sell you, you can give them away, you can knock them off in the bin. Is throw away an Ultima Ratio, gift is difficult: How many scholars we know, the begging of the University to run the University. At the end of the old is Proud of the beautiful collection there! And in the public books-in cabinets, and stand around on the street, there is already an Oversupply.

to sell at Higher prices for the anti-capitalism

Since the founding of the Online retailer Momox again, it is worth a try, old books. The company has successfully combined the basic principle of the market economy with the possibilities of the data capitalism. You just have to scan the Barcode of the book or the ISBN-number, type, and the algorithm tells in seconds whether or not he finds the book interesting and if so, how much money it brings.

The design principle of this algorithm is the custodian of Momox as a mystery (“our Coca-Cola recipe”), which is not complicated but is so then. “At the core of the price is determined by supply and demand,” proclaimed Momox-boss Heiner Kroke. Comforting that such a clever algorithm over the basic formula of price formation in a market economy, in addition to also comes. Momox know how many copies of my book are in stock (for a total of nine million books) are stored there, and the resale evaluate of numbers. It is a textbook, you can experience the difference between value and price. And the fact that the price in capitalism is measured exclusively according to what one is willing to pay, regardless of the intellectual content or the hours of work were expended on the substantive consolidation of the book.

This will be the reason why Momox at this year’s eviction action offered the old edition of Goethe’s elective affinities disdain for Anke Stellings relatively inconsequential novel “Floor-to-ceiling window” but, after all, to 1.03 euros. It is insulting, we also found that anti-capitalism (even the Marx biographies of the anniversary year 2018), in General, higher prices than liberalism and related matters. Special sale luck we had with the title of “Romantic anti-capitalism” (the combination of two urdeutscher favorite terms), the unseated proud 12,18 Euro. And with the London celebrity chef Yotam Ottolenghi (“Enjoy vegetarian”), for the there was even 12,25 Euro.