I myself have put a lot of money and time into trying to get certain books. I've traveled for them. Spent a lot of money on one book to see what's in it, only to be disappointed, or sometimes surprised. And reselling that book is not an easy task; it might sit for years before selling, and you might never sell it again. Or you'll get lucky and sell it for even more. I appreciate the comments made here by everyone. Yeah, a lot of occult books are just a bunch of garbage, really. Others are some of the greatest stuff ever written. It truly is harder to find the good stuff, and people, myself included, are often looking in the wrong places, IMO.
I really appreciate what SkullTraill has said about the ideology when it comes to books and knowledge. Some people take the approach that occult knowledge should only be for certain people and that it should be hidden away. But who's job is it to decide who is worthy or not? In what I've experienced, it's often a game of ego that involves a lot of shenanigans, and no real meaning that just does a lot of harm to everyone involved. I 100% agree with SkullTraill, and take the same position: I hope to spread the knowledge to others as best I can. When I find a rare book that is meant to be read, and the author is dead, and it is needed for humanity's self-discovery, I make an effort to get it to them. Those who are not really interested in genuine study won't read them anyway and put in the effort. IMHO, we don't need to put up a gate, their attention span and effort will act as the gate. Those who are truly interested will take the time to delve into texts and put in the time. Those who aren't really interested, will get bored and not take the time. I honestly think the last thing we need is to hide away this knowledge that was hidden from humanity for so long, and so I very much revere the stance taken here by Skull. I always felt that way about this.
When it comes to physical vs. non-physical books, I feel that physical books are great, and preferred even, but they have downsides. They wear out over time. And you cannot search them with a CTRL-F or "find" function. An eBook is a bit more eternal, assuming you store it well. And really, how well you can read an eBook is determined by how nice of a device you have. Reading on a phone or laptop kind of sucks when it's all you have, but reading on a large 12" tablet, or a premium e-Paper device, or even a kindle (with built in dictionary/encyclopedia) can be an absolute joy. I don't have much at the moment but I've had some of those in the past. Books with large pages/pictures are great on a 12" tablet, but you have to make the investment, to finally view your large eBook library. Otherwise that knowledge sits and never gets consumed. I will have to make the investment at some point because I have a large eBook library, but they're useless sitting on a hard drive. If a nice device helps me to get the knowledge from a file into my head, then IMO it was worth the investment.
I don't think WizardForums needs to be terribly, terribly worried about authors. There's sites out there who's main goal is hosting files and only hosting files, and even they aren't necessarily the biggest target. I would think you could address situations when asked, but this is primarily a forum. You'll probably get an angry author every once in awhile, but probably not that often. And I have to pose a question relevant to authors: if you are only going to print 200 books, or you are going to stop printing your book and make it unavailable, how do you expect it to be read? I find this one of the most frustrating situations, when a book can no longer be found or purchased, other than a few used copies floating around for $200-$800. These are the books I will try to buy and then digitize. And then perhaps share with others. Because why not? You, the author, are not selling it anymore anyway. In the case that it was available for $20-$50, or whatever the regular pricing, then I can absolutely understand. But I absolutely see the merit in sharing books that are soon to become "lost". And they
do become lost. Once all the copies are gone, and the author's dead, and no one digitized it, That's it. A shame in my mind, if it was a book of meaning and value to humanity.
I feel very good when I spend $200+ and turn a rare book into an eBook, and then spread it across the internet tubes for many people to read. It wasn't meant to sit on a shelf and collect dust, or belong only to one wealthy collector, in my mind. It was meant to be consumed, and deposited in the brain (and maybe deeper, the soul?). A book is useless, sitting on a shelf, with its pages unturned. And all the prices of rare books are truly inflated anyway, in my experience. I've paid the big price before to see what's in something, only to find out it's just a bunch of junk. But sometimes you do luck out. The catch is that you'll never know until you spend the money and see what's inside.
I know this is only my opinion and it's not everyone's, but the time for occult knowledge to be truly hidden is over now, in the days of the internet. Now people can casually discuss it across the world in their own homes. You can walk into a Barnes and Noble and buy a paperback copy of The Secret Teachings (which I have done
). There's still a hidden aspect to it, but the only thing "keeping people out" is when they or the universe (however you see it) decide to go looking for it. Honestly, I feel that's how it should be. But of course, everyone's view differs.
I greatly appreciate a community like this that is friendly towards those seeking it. When I get a chance, I'll happily share some of the stuff that I have.
