An embarassed book seller...

[auld argonian]

...so...after reading "How The Scots Invented The Modern World", I got to thinking that I had read "The Wealth of Nations" (well...a good deal of it...it's like a thousand frickin pages log) way back in college, I've been trying to find a book titled "The Essential Adam Smith"...sort of an analysis of Smith's writing with lots of citations...figure it's Adam Smith For Dummies...

...all I have to do is to find a copy...I will find one, I have my sources, don't worry...

...fella at Barnes and Noble suggested that I should try a used book store so I stopped at the one in my neighborhood earlier today. I asked the young lady if they had the book and she walked over to the shelves labeled "US History" and pulled a copy of "Wealth of Nations"..."We have this...this is the only Adam Smith that we have." So I thanked her and told her that I was looking for that one specific book and I was, in fact, trying to AVOID reading the thousand-plus pages of W.O.N. And then I said, "...but you really shouldn't have 'Wealth of Nations' on the United States History shelves because even though it was very influential in the foundation of the US economic system ADAM SMITH WAS A SCOT and NOT an American."

I wasn't saying it to be mean or anything but c'mon...it was mis-filed. She put it back in "European History". Oh well, sorry, Adam, but I did try to stick up for you!

Best

AA

[Retro Red]

Say, AA, they've got "The Essential Adam Smith" in paperback at amazon.com for $19.20.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039...lance&n=283155

.

[clancelt]

Here ya go, 9 bucks:

Link to book

[haukehaien]

Shouldn't Wealth of Nations be in Economics, not history?

[macwilkin]

Shouldn't Wealth of Nations be in Economics, not history?

Yes...It's in the HB's in the Library of Congress's Classification system:

Class H -- Social Sciences

Subclass HB -- Economic Theory

Waaay back in my undergraduate intro to Econ class, we read "The Worldly Philosphers: the lives, times and ideas of the great economic thinkers" by Robert L. Heilbroner. Economics really isn't my "cuppa", but it was an interesting book!

Cheers,

Todd

[auld argonian]

Ah...Heilbroner is the author/editor on "The Essential Adam Smith".

As to the way that book stores classify things...hmmmmmm.

The shop that I mentioned is a very small used book store...lots of Harlequin romances and cookbooks...it's in an "Irish" neighborhood so it has an "Irish Culture" section...and that isn't all it could be either.

I was going to work for a Borders store that was opening near here and got into a real strange discussion with a manager who came in special to set the place up...I asked whether a book (Ansel Adams' autobiography) would be shelved in Biography or Photography or both....he looked at me as if I had asked him the most insoluable and profound question in the universe and said, "...we don't have a biography section." "Don't have a biography section?" quoth I. "How can that be...biography is a MAJOR body of literary work." I was told that I should just forget about it and concentrate on how to move the biscotti at the coffee bar because that was a high margin item.

Thanks for the tips on where to find the book...I'll track it down as soon as I can.

Best

AA

ps - and I've found that most bookstores lump their economics into the "business" section.....sheeeesh!

[phinz]

I used to own a used bookstore (3.5 years) and had a few customers that were very self-righteous about their pet "classification(s)". If we had classified every book into minute little categories as they thought we should have (such as a specific "economics" section) we would have had 50,000 categories for our 150,000 books.

Sometimes you have to let logic prevail. Economics is an offshoot of business. To cure the "American History/European History" blues a small store should only have a "History" section.

If your pet category doesn't exist, ask the owner. Chances are they will know where a book is classified in their store, even if *you* might think it is the wrong classification.

[auld argonian]

...well, sort of part of my point: I don't expect the small used book store to subdivide everything to the tenth power...although the owner seems to have a Science Fiction thing and the Science Fiction department IS subdivided into every imagineable genre and sub-genre...so the obsession with one's pet category swings both ways, eh?

I suppose I rather do expect a big outfit like Borders or Barnes and Noble to be more exact, though. I am spoiled because we once had a bookstore in Chicago called Kroch's and Brentano's that was laid out really well and was totally comprehensive. Granted that there has to be a lot more material in print now-a-days and that Kroch's wass't also selling CD's, DVD's, Star Wars light sabers, Burt's Bees lip gloss, lattes and biscotti...

Best

AA