$12.99 for a digital edition of a book that costs $10.88 in paperback, qualifies for free shipping, and whose author has been dead for 40 years?

>Goods aren't priced according to how much the actual raw materials cost

Actually, they're priced in a way that maximizes profit.

>Why should the e-book be cheaper than the paperback?

Because the lower price point of decreased operating cost would reach a larger customer base and achieve a tipping point more quickly.

The publishers already know this. They're price gouging at the moment simply because they can. Once a few big players start their price wars, we'll see everyone forced to actually compete.

None of the big publishers are fully committed to competition in that segment yet, since it accounts for less than 10% of the total book market, and it's growing at a haphazard pace.

All of us want a bigger literary market. All of us want more people to buy more books, and spend more time reading. Prices for all sorts of other media have plummeted, except books, which are still $15+ each. A good deal, but its a tough sell when your audience can buy a video game on Steam instead.

On the Road, because its about living in the moment or whatnot. Written in one sitting. One continous stream of consciousness covering a life of impulse and adventure.

Be Here Now, because its about living the moment, LSD, the mystical aspects of meditation and whatnot..

and most importantly... Stalking The Wild Pendulum

I cant tell you how much that last book did for me. Please please, even if it sounds remotely interesting look into it

So far:

1. Odd Type Writers: From Joyce and Dickens to Wharton and Welty, the Obsessive Habits and Quirky Techniques of Great Authors by Celia Blue Johnson
   
2. Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life by Steve Martin
   
3. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
   
4. The Stuff of Though: Language as a Window into Human Nature by Steven Pinker
   
5. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
   
   I believe that's it, currently I'm reading All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy as well as Alphabet Juice by Roy Blount Jr.

Both! I read it myself and enjoyed it. Reading your post reminded me of the book and thought you might enjoy it as well:)

Try On The Road by Jack Kerouac (if you haven't read it already) and perhaps even Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. When I read that it really introduced me to the counter-culture movement.

As cliché as it sounds, you can't go wrong with Jack Kerouac's On The Road.

A couple classics from my personal favorites list come to mind:

• Kerouac's On the Road
  
  
• Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio

http://www.amazon.com/On-Road-Jack-Kerouac/dp/0140283293

I can be. I have a very hard exterior shell, but I'm all mushy inside.


> > > They danced down the streets like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I've been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!


Add this to a list, if you wish, I can't stress enough that I want everyone to read this book.

https://www.amazon.com/Road-Jack-Kerouac/dp/0140283293

On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Trying to find IT has led to the greatest times of my life.

To help her create, balance, and contextualize all the new relationships she'll be forming in college: Sex God by Rob Bell and The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman (Both of these books will affect how a person approaches relationships with family, friends, and lovers. Can't recommend these enough.)

To encourage some introspection: Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Guilty pleasure: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn or The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson or The Secret History by Donna Tartt

And to promote the journey of becoming her own person: The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand and On the Road by Jack Kerouac