It really is the 21st century.
For the past decade or so I’ve mostly been buying books I want to read (often used), and selling them to used book stores if I don’t want to keep 'em. Now that I’m poor and unemployed, and really wanted to read a book that’s only out in hardcover (which I wouldn’t have bought even in richer days) I decided to re-acquaint myself with my old the friend, Palm Beach County Library.
I find the the book I want, ‘Lullabye’ by Chuck Palahniuk, and go to check it out. Not surprisingly, my card is no longer valid, so I get a new one. In the info pamphlets I get with the new card, I see that not only can I renew a book online, but I can can check out eBooks online! How cool is that.
So I set up an account (free of course, my tax dollars at work) and right now in another window I’m browsing “Fiction in the Quantum Universe”. I have it checked out for 4 hours, which I can renew if nobody else has requested it.
I love these moments when you realize a science fiction concept becomes a practical reality you can and will use on a frequent basis.
OK, now where’s my friggin’ jetpack and flying car?