The Benevolent Billionaire cometh

I had alluded in an earlier blog post as to how I needed a generous billionaire in order to buy books that I want, in the future. If current experience is a guide, it appears that the generous billionaire does indeed exist, but as an aggregate of several people.

First, unnamed buddy #1 (UB1) gave away the following books
The Armchair Economist by Steven E. Landsburg
False Economy by Alan Beattie
Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King
The Media Relations department of Hizbollah wishes you a Happy Birthday by Neil Macfarquhar

and some more (incl. 2 books by Andrea Camilleri) I had to leave behind in Jersey City due to space constraints on my baggage.

Then UB2, gave me his coupon from one of the KQA quizzes last weekend since he didn't have time to use them living outside BLR as he does. I bought
 The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt (a Booker shortlist entry from a few years ago)

I also bought Complications by Atul Gawande with my own hard-earned money.

Due to my own team's being in the finals of the Open Quiz in ASKQANCE, I managed to get another coupon which resulted in my buying

Bomb, Book & Compass by Simon Winchester

Now, wait a minute, haven't we heard that author's name on this blog before? The subject matter of the book seems to allude to China. Has Simon written 2 books on China? Your truly then took the above book and then compared its ToC with that of The man who loved China (also available in the same book shop for about 4 times the price of the used book!). Turned out to be an exact match. Looks like Simon's book was rereleased with a new title!

Also bought Scott Jurek's Eat and Run and Dick Beardsley's Staying the Course during my US trip. Also managed to pick up The Olympic Marathon by Martin and Gynn (an absolutely delightful book) which I had bought last year but hadn't quite laid my hands on, due to it being delivered to a friend's place after he left for India.

Thanks to V, I also acquired Running Anatomy by Joseph Puleo & Patrick McIlroy as well as Running Doc's Guide to Healthy Running by Lewis Maharam over the past few months.

And thus, we bring our book acquisition to a close for the first half of the year :) The book lust post is also updated now thanks to various acquisitions over the last 6 months.

I know you could do with not knowing how I got my books and perhaps just a book list, but a story is more fun than a list, isn't it?

Now to look for that heiress for the 2nd half of the year!