Sorry for the lack of posting, but anyone familiar with my predilections will know that the fact that the Second Annual Book Convention is in town is more than enough reason to keep me from the computer.

More than 100 stalls from radical booksellers all over Latin America as well as local dealers in used books… heaven.  

I can’t even recall all the books I scored, but here are some:

Several volumes from the excellent Biblioteca Ayacucho, including the three full volumes from Bartolome de las Casas, an account of Cortes’ invasion, a volume on Latin American anarchism, and Leopoldo Zea’s foundational text on liberation philosophy. And these I got for an average of around Bs.8,000 ($3.75) each. I didn’t manage to score the volume on Mariategui with an introduction by Quijano (it’s "agotadisimo" as I’m told), but I’m still looking.

Some excellent texts by Retamar, Boron, Ramonet, etc. which have been reprinted by the ALBA press sponsored by the Venezuelan and Cuban governments (these for a fixed Bs.5,000, or $2.35 each)

And the big score was a copy of Juan Barreto’s new book, or better put, his recently published doctoral thesis entitled A Critique of Mediatic Reason. Quite possibly the ugliest book ever designed, given the Bs.90,000 ($42) cover price, I was glad to get a free copy at the book launch. Unfortunately, el gordito couldn’t make it in person due to a last minute scheduling conflict, but the presentation was good nonetheless, although managing to grab a free copy before everyone else required some crafty thinking and slick execution.

On saturday, there’s also a launch of several books featuring Hinkelammert and Dussel, so hopefully more to come…..