What's New in Our Bookstore (Featured Books, Recent Additions, etc.)
Discussion Board for Book Lovers
This Month's Article - How to Search Google (etc.) for Used Books
Special Offer for Cat's Cradle Books Newsletter Subscribers

See our other newsletters

Featured Books – We’ve placed an array of our more unusual used, rare, or out of print books on display on our bookstore's home page. Clicking on the link for each book will lead you to a detailed description of the book as well as links to related books.

Books about North Carolina, USA – We are located in North Carolina, “The Tarheel State.” (Why is it called “Tarheel”? We’re planning a future article explaining the legends and history behind this name.) Home of the first Wright Brothers flight, Blackbeard the Pirate, actress Ava Gardner, baseball player Catfish Hunter, and jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, among others, North Carolina has a rich history and culture. Our spotlight is on a book about Atlantic Coast Conference basketball. It’s an autographed memoir by Dave Odom, the former coach of the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons.

Recently Added Books – The 100 or so books currently in this area of our store were added between 12 and 15 November. We update this list frequently.

(Note: owing to a cyberattack on our discussion board, we have had to discontinue this feature. We apologize to our readers.)

There are many ways to find used books on line.

You can search megasites like Amazon, Abebooks, Alibris, or eBay. There, you find thousands of booksellers and millions of books. Many of the booksellers (myself included) who list on these sites offer high quality customer service. But some of the sellers are, well, less than professional. They don't return e-mails, or they write faulty descriptions, or....

Google, Yahoo, and MSN search engines--for starters--are good options for finding used books on line from reputable booksellers who own and maintain their own websites. But typing in the author and title will often return many informational sites as well. Search engines differ - find one that suits you in terms of ease of use and quality of results.

How do you find a book for sale quickly and easily?

Let's take an example. Colin Stephenson's Merrily on High (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1972) is rarely found in a true first edition. It's a highly collectible out of print book. Using Google as an example, here are two ways to search for a copy.

1. Type in the search terms: colin stephenson merrily on high. This string of words gets you informational sites as well as books for sale. Thus, you'd take longer to find what you wanted.

2. Type in the search terms: buy colin stephenson merrily on high. This gives you a book for sale at the top of your search returns. The simple addition of the word "buy" makes all the difference.

You could also try Google's Froogle site. It's new, and probably will continue to develop.

Of course, the more you can say about author and title in any search for online books, the more likely you will get a neat match.

Happy searching!

Buy any book through Cat's Cradle Books Used, Rare and Out of Print Books, and we will automatically deduct 10% from the price of the book--in addition to any other website offer that is in effect. Just tell us that you're a subscriber in the "Comments" box when checking out, and this discount will be applied after you place your order. This offer expires on December 1, 2004.

Cat's Cradle Used, Rare and Out of Print Books Special Offers

Website Customer Feedback Survey - Help us improve our website. Complete this site survey and get a $5.00 gift certificate.

Spend $25 or more on books, and get an instant $5.00 rebate. Enter coupon code SAVE5 into the coupon window at checkout, and your savings will be applied automatically.

Add your name to our newsletter e-mail list. We keep our subscriber list completely private. Only Cat's Cradle Used, Rare, and Out of Print Books staff will ever see it. You'll get advance notice of additions to our growing list of used, rare and out-of-print books, as well as discounts and other specials. There's a different feature article with each issue.