Published on 12, July, 2020
We hear so much about autistic people and special interests and so many people have them and enjoy them, but we never hear about people who can't afford them, what do they do?
I can't afford mine, I love early medieval history and things associated with it, such as archeology, but I can't afford it, I could easily spend £3-400 on books every month, many of the books I'd like are out of print or in limited print runs and cost between £80 and £200, I've looked online and many are as expensive as ebooks as they are print editions, if they exist as ebooks at all. Many journals are expensive too and online resourses are too and many are really aimed at organisations such as universities rather than private people.
It's frustrating to have an interest that I find so consuming, but can't afford to follow or find others to even talk about it with, but then how many people know the Anglo-Saxon conversion period even existed, let alone know anything about it?
Ooh also, as an alumni you might still be able to access university library services. I know some universities do have this option for alumni. You have to apply for it, but it should be free for former students.
I would need the books to write my own book on the subject as I would need to reference everything I wrote properly and I'm a useless storyteller so I couldn't do a novel.
I don't live in the same town as I went to uni in, and as it's about 140 miles away from here I couldn't just pop in for the afternoon.
Our libraries computers are so ancient and slow I'm not sure they'd be able to cope, the signal is also very variable. I have problems using computers with overhead strip lights and I can't concentrate when there's loads of stuff going on around me. Jstor's not the easiest site to use at the best of times either. Our library is limiting interlibrary loans and loans from the British Library are so expensive they've stopped doing them.
What about social media? Are you on Facebook at all? When I can't physically do stuff relating to my interests, I find it helpful to be able to browse my history or mudlarking groups on Facebook or follow people with similar interests on Instagram. Even if I can't physically go find stuff myself, I can still see things that other people have found, and comment on them, maybe even help them identify stuff if I've found something similar before.
I also found lots (most) of my history books in my collection secondhand in charity shops, or through online second hand bookshops like Abe Books or the Oxfam website. You can put in what you are looking for and they'll send you an email when one pops up.
Another place you could try is Project Gutenberg. They digitise old books and have a fantastic selection of history related texts on their website. You can either read online or download the text onto a tablet or kindle.