Rules Governing What May Become An Outdated Object

If you have read more that a few entries of this blog, you may have noticed that I enjoy reading a great deal and hold books in general in high regard. I am one of those people who will tolerate less well written novels, for instance the Twilight books, in the hope that those books will inspire readers to turn to better novels (in the case of the Twilight books, Stephanie Meyers mentions Jane Austen novels and novels by the Brontes so I can hope those tween girls are turned on the better authors who are out there). A by-product of my admiration and love for books, is that I am borderline anal about the books I own or lend out. I hate cracking the spines of my books so I am really careful when I read a book for the first time. I do own several books with cracked spines (like most of the Austen and Bronte books) but those are a result of intense re-reading and searching for references for college papers. There a several books on my bookshelf that I have read that look brand new. And I make sure anyone that I lend books to know that I do not appreciate cracking the spines on my books (and don't even get me started on people that fold the cover all the way around the book, I get hives just thinking about it). Since I own so many books (we are talking multiple bookshelves that are 2 books deep), space is at a premium. So this have lead me to purchase fewer hardcover books and more paperback books and I am part of a online book-rental service that only uses paperback books. As a result, when I hear about a new book (or see it in the bookstore) I usually write down the book title (one reason to always carry something to write on and with) and look it up on Amazon later and add to my wishlist (which means that are hundreds of books in my Amazon wishlist). Then periodically I will see if certain books are in paperback yet. This of course leads to very delayed gratification/reading of a book and then I am excited about a book about 9 months after it is first published. And today was one of those days, because a books I've been dying to read but due to unwillingness to pay for a hardcover and being transient (and therefore library-less) for the better part of last year, I haven't read. This books is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. In a nutshell (a very small nutshell), it is story of one of first cell lines discovered and the effects on this cell line on science as a whole as well as the family of the woman who produced the (cancerous) cells that gave rise to this cell line (HeLa cells). I heard about this book on NPR, a part of the book was presented on my beloved podcast RadioLab (in a episode about famous tumors), and the tri-fecta(for me anyway) was that it inspired an episodes in the last season of Law & Order. I am so excited to finally read this book; I just have to decide if I should buy it (and then lend it out to people who will not wrap the cover around the book) or rent it (and I am open to input).