It’s amazing how rich and ancient China’s literary history is. I should make more of an effort to get into Chinese writing, all I’ve read is Shi Naian’s Water Margin which was great fun. Maybe Confucius’ Analects would be a good place to start with the really old stuff.

I’m curious what piqued your interest in this book. Was it an engaging read?

My most expensive is probably Dindal’s Soil Biology Guide (1990), which cost around $300 as well. The print quality is pathetically bad given the price I paid, the spine came off only a few months after buying. Wiley Blackwell 🤢

I bet anime pulls a lot of its visual inspiration from games especially JRPGs. Can’t think of any examples off the top of my head but I’ve definitely played games where a magic circle appears at the feet of the caster.

There’s also a magic circle in the background of the original Dark Magician card in Yu-Gi-Oh!, which I think goes back to the late 90s. There’s also a magic circle in the original Yu-Gi-Oh! anime in the seal of orichalcos season which would have been the early 2000s.