Finding the Book of Your Dreams

Everyone has a point in their lives when they need to find a very specific book. You might want to find that one book you loved as a child, and it has to be the exact same one with the tacky cover art and soft cover edition that you read over and over again until it was falling apart; which is the whole reason you want a new one now. It may be that you are looking for a rare and unique book as a gift for someone you care about. It’s more probable though, that you need it for some academic purpose. And it’s not that the book per se is that hard to find, but your teacher wants you to find the special edition with author notes, editor notes, scholarly annotations, or something of the ilk.

Finding affordable copies of rare books or highly specialized text books can be very challenging. Before you give up in frustration, there are several resources you should consider. You may already have tried some of them, but perhaps not in the best way you could.

Track Down the Source

If you are not aware of it, the ISBN number is a 10-13 digit number usually found next to the barcode or edition information printed on the inside of the book. This number is different for each edition, even if it’s the same book, so if you can find out this number, all you need next is to run an ISBN search, and you’ll be able to find what stores and online sites sell the exact book you are looking for. On the other hand, you can do the reverse, with author or title name, find out the different ISBN numbers and find out the one for your edition, and then it will be simple find some bookstore that has your book.

Not every book will have an ISBN. Old editions published before ISBNs were implemented, as well as those published informally, may prove impossible to find using this method. Fortunately, you have other options.

Search Local Book Stores and Libraries

One resource that should never be overlooked is your local bookstores. Don’t look only at the ones with the latest best-sellers, but spend time in second-hand and independent stores. They will provide you with a far better chance of finding your desired book. Ask the clerk about it, and if they don’t have it, they might be able to contact you if they even get a hold on it. Another good option is to go to your local library. They have an immense catalog of books, and even if they don’t have it themselves, they might be able to order it from another library, or at least give you the exact details of the book, like printing house, ISBN number and other useful information. Reference librarians often have extensive tools available for finding books that are not readily available to the public.

By making the best use of the tools and people available to help you with your search, you will have a much easier time finding precisely the book you are looking for.