The Uncertain Future of the World’s Largest Secondhand Book Market

Post by jtbayly » Thu, Nov 21, 2019, 12:38 PM UTC

k_sze wrote: post #10

WhiteSage wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Physical books have their advantages. Specially when reading technical books you find yourself going back and forth way too often to read a digital copy. Also no need to worry about batteries, less eye strain, etc. In this case it is the online second hand stores (abebooks, amazon, etc) the ones that are killinh the physical stores.

I wish I could like reading certain technical books in dead tree format, but I recently bought both the digital and dead tree versions of the Pragmatic Programmer, 20th anniversary edition; and I really couldn’t stand the lack of colour syntax highlighting and colour diagrams in the dead tree version. Mind you, I bought from InformIT, so it was definitely not counterfeit; it was just the printing quality that the aut…

Post by sanxiyn » Thu, Nov 21, 2019, 1:02 PM UTC

Angostura wrote: post #3

londons_explore wrote: post #2

It might be a shame for an old tradition to go away, but in a capitalist world, the usual reason something gets replaced is there is a more efficient way to do it. In this case, it's ebooks and learning over the internet. The need for the paper book is diminished, and it is a waste of our human labour for thousands of people to be working book stalls for entire lifetimes when there is a more efficient way to dissemin…

> but in a capitalist world, the usual reason something gets replaced is there is a more efficient way to do it. Increasingly it seems to me that things get replaced simply because a company can make more revenue. * Subscription software - 'more efficient'? Not really - just a guaranteed revenue stream * planned obsolescence in products - 'more efficient'? No. * "Books" that you don't really own, that you can't easil…

Post by shantly » Thu, Nov 21, 2019, 1:37 PM UTC

SolaceQuantum wrote: post #14

sanxiyn wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

eBook provides real advantages to readers, not just to companies. For example, it takes less space and you can carry more of them.

This only matters if your definition of efficient is along the axis of carring more books or minimizing space uptake. If your efficiency is based on the pleasure of holding pages, the visual aesthetic of multiple books, the maximum amount of time to go without a charge, collecting signed editions, etc. then eBooks are completely garbage.

Post by mcguire » Thu, Nov 21, 2019, 2:50 PM UTC

londons_explore wrote: post #2

It might be a shame for an old tradition to go away, but in a capitalist world, the usual reason something gets replaced is there is a more efficient way to do it. In this case, it's ebooks and learning over the internet. The need for the paper book is diminished, and it is a waste of our human labour for thousands of people to be working book stalls for entire lifetimes when there is a more efficient way to dissemin…

Post by mcguire » Thu, Nov 21, 2019, 2:55 PM UTC

saint_fiasco wrote: post #9

londons_explore wrote: post #2

It might be a shame for an old tradition to go away, but in a capitalist world, the usual reason something gets replaced is there is a more efficient way to do it. In this case, it's ebooks and learning over the internet. The need for the paper book is diminished, and it is a waste of our human labour for thousands of people to be working book stalls for entire lifetimes when there is a more efficient way to dissemin…

Even if people prefer paper books, that used book shop in the article is still doomed. Their competition is not the internet. It's a better bookstore with lower prices in an air conditioned shopping mall.