A busy sourcing week with a lot of gems of books. See for yourself!

Yesterday I went sourcing here and there and got a nice lot of premium second hand books. There is a wide variety of subjects such as "war", "decoration", "spiritual", "philosophy", "society", "animals", "diet", "travel" etc...

Animals and Travel:

• "Horses" by Yann Arthus-Bertrand - €30
• "Nicole and Ingrid's cycling cures" - €17

Spirituality, Psychology and Relationships:

• "Couch Fiction" by Philippa Perry - €25
• "The Partner Relationship" by Jürg Willi - €30
• "Fairy tales and primal symbolism in the Mandala" by Greetje Molenaar - €18.50
• "The Psychology of the Enneagram" by Monique Schouten - €15.50
• "Positive impact" by Isabelle Hoebrechts and Annemie Renson - €23

Diet, Cooking and Youth:

• "Every diet works" by Tanja Callewaert - €16
• "Turkish dining table" by H. Güler Vural - €15
• "Nick stands on his head" by Eva Polak - €15
• "Weed Waterlanders and the Little Carolus Code" by Mark Tijsmans - €15

Society and Region:

• "What do you say? The dialect of Ypres and surroundings" by Staf Verheye - €22.50
• "Antwerp expressions" by Freddy Michiels - €25
• "In the Near Future" by Marc Maes - €18
• "The Christian Workers Movement in Belgium, part 1 & 2" by Emmanuel Gerard - €40

War, True Story and Design:

• "For Emma, ​​the real story behind the bus disaster in Sierre" by Tony Reynders - €25
• "Poetry in the Home: A Look Inside Stylist Rachel Ashwell's Home" - €13.75

People and Society:

• The Crazy 20th Century in 10 idiosyncratic stories - Gaston Van Camp - €20
• Boy from the Karoo - Troy Blacklaws - €13.50
• The crash of Sabena - Steven Decraene - €25
• Civilization is my mother - Driss Chraibi - €25
• Mothers and Daughters, a Triangle Relationship - Caroline Eliacheff - €22.50
• Work. A Catholic Sect? - Work. A Catholic Sect? - €17.50

Business:

• The Founder's Mentality - Chris Zook - €21
• The Hero and the Outlaw - Margaret Mark - €23

War:

• Girls with wobbly knees - Pieter De Wever - €25
• Franco-German War 1870-1871 - Anne Doedens - €17.50

Study and Science:

• Playing with words - Dirkje van den Nulft - €14
• Walk to the moon - Geert Taghon - €13
• What's Going on in That Little Head - Stanley Greenspan - €18
• Comparative Biology (textbook + CD-rom) - Roger Huybrechts - €27.50

Spirituality:

• Complete Handbook of Magic and Rituals - Cassandra Eason - €18.50
• The power of inspiration - Hans Peter Roel - €30
• Nearly Dead - Anja Opdebeeck - €22.50
• How to Forgive - Jean Monbourquette - €19.99
• They say it's over - Johan Maes - €20

Psychology and Health:

• Family therapy in practice. About meeting, process and context - Peter Rober - 22,50
• Keep breathing - Katrien Geeraerts - €17.50
• The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle - €13.99
• Sexual problems during sex - Maureen Luyens - €16.75
• Dealing with MS differently - Maartje Soeverein - €17.25
• Why Do I Keep Doing This - Judith E. Pearson - €20
• On the Road to Recovery - Carl Simonton - €35

Fauna and Flora:

• Training and educating your dog - Geert De Bolster - €15
• Natural gardens - Jean Vanhoof - €19
• Natural swimming ponds - J ean Vanhoof - €25

Hobby and Recipes:

• Fit with power walking - Nina Barough - €13
• Manga for Beginners - Christopher Hart - €23
• The big practical make-up book: step by step to your own look - Leonie Gysel - €22.50
• Digital Photography NIKON D80 - Christiaan Haasz - €32
• The Art of the Restorer - Nicholas Lander - €25
• Fighting Candida and ME with dishes - Titi Koolsbergen - €35

There you go! The 206 books are listed on bol.com and bookinbelgium and ready for sale! It is not always easy to make a representative selection from the books that I buy, but as you can see from the list above, there are probably subjects that will interest many.

I am also always surprised by the titles that I receive every week. I am amazed by the range of books that can be found on the market. This week I read in the newspaper that despite a small decrease in the sale of new books, the turnover had increased in Belgium. The fact that the turnover had increased did not really interest me. The fact that the number of new books sold had decreased compared to last year did. What I wrote in an earlier blog appears to be true. I also notice a decrease in the sale of new books. Society is gradually evolving from the consumption of new goods to the consumption of second-hand and/or recycled goods. We are becoming aware that we need to learn to deal with our consumption more sustainably. What also struck me in that piece in the newspaper was the fact that 85% of books are still purchased physically in the store!

Amazon:

Statistics have shown that Amazon has almost 50% of book sales in America. Book store chains such as Barnes & Nobles have seen their turnover drop drastically and only have a 25% share of book sales. Supermarket chains and the average bookstore that offer 90% of all titles make up 19% of sales. The remaining 6% is taken up by the "Indie-Stores". These are small bookstores that specialize in 1 or 2 subjects. There is an annual increase in book sales in America, but 80% of that is due to Amazon.

Ball:

From the above I gather that the online sale of books (new and/or second-hand) in Belgium still has a long way to go. However, this can go very quickly. Once the switch is turned on by the masses that you can just as well buy premium second-hand books , because you not only save money but also contribute to a healthier society, then in my opinion "the sky is the limit"