I'm looking for a book...

[RealUnimportant]

I'm amazed at how librarians and book store employees can find things with so little information. I'm sure you could all figure it out if someone said, "It's a book about a guy on Mars."

Is he on his own? Then it's The Martian.

Is he rescued by Martians then returns to Earth? Stranger in a Strange Land.

Does he lead the Martians in a revolution? John Carter series.

I could go on...

[Kit-Ginevra]

'Him-working in the library!!'I read a book once.Green it was''

...cookies for reference :P

[Ironclad Alibi]

'Him-working in the library!!'I read a book once.Green it was''

...cookies for reference :P

From Porridge.

[Geek King]

Er, sometimes when I go to the bookstore, "I am looking for a book" is the correct answer. Of course, I'm just looking for something new to read, so I just graze the shelves until something catches my eye. I don't bother an employee with a query.

Although if an employee comes up and asks me if they can help me with something, I will sometimes answer with that, then explain what I'm doing.

[Librarybabe]

At the last public library I worked, patrons would come up to me as I was putting returns on the New Book shelf and ask "where are the good books?" After months of this, I crafted the reply, "We don't carry those any more. They keep getting stolen."
This line still works when I'm in the stacks of my university's library.

[Pagan]

"The Red Book" is a banking reference book.

There's also Mao's Little Red Book.

Is he on his own? Then it's The Martian.

Is he rescued by Martians then returns to Earth? Stranger in a Strange Land.

Does he lead the Martians in a revolution? John Carter series.

I could go on...

A bunch of stories about Mars? The Martian Chronicles.

[Deserted]

There's also Mao's Little Red Book.

There are a number of tech manuals that are simply referred to as "The [color] Book".

A bunch of stories about Mars? The Martian Chronicles.

Is he a teen with a pet fuzzball? Heinlein's Red Planet.

[morgana]

Female tweenager? Podkayne of Mars

[Nunavut Pants]

There are a number of tech manuals that are simply referred to as "The [color] Book".

In the computer world, there are a bunch of books that are referred to by the name of the animal featured prominently on their cover. The "Dragon Book" is the one I used back in school, and there are plenty of others...

[Deserted]

In the computer world, there are a bunch of books that are referred to by the name of the animal featured prominently on their cover. The "Dragon Book" is the one I used back in school, and there are plenty of others...

Yeah, but the [color] books are from the 60's through the 80's.

[Antisocial_Worker]

...And occasionally the customers get too specific. I once had an old lady swear up and down that the book she was looking for, Girl With a Pearl in Her Ear was not the same as Girl With a Pearl Earring.

[wolfie]

Or you get cases (I HOPE it was a joke when I read it) where a customer is looking for a book called "The Red Boat", and after the bookstore employee does a LOT of unsuccessful searching, suggests that it might be "The Ruby Yacht" by Omar something-or-other.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I had that kind of query back when I worked in the charity bookstore, and it was even more annoying cuz customers would get upset when I pointed out that we didn't carry every single book in existance, we only had what people donated. Any suggestions of visiting the library instead to get a specific book would get the famous blank stare...

[wolfie]

Question for the bookstore people: I see you get annoyed by some of the questions people ask when looking for a book. Sometimes I'm looking for a book that I don't know whether or not it even exists. How do you feel about questions of this nature?

I have books 1-6 of "The Fleet", edited by Bill Fawcett and David Drake. Is this the complete series, or are there more volumes, and if so, can you order the other volumes in this series?

[Deserted]

According to Goodreads.com, 6 books is it.