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The demise of the second-hand bookshop

thecritic.co.uk

61–70 of 157 posts

Re: The demise of the second-hand bookshop

#61
post #30

I actually really appreciate second-hand books. It sounds weird, but it makes it feel like there's more life to a book knowing others have read that exact copy. I also find it interesting and often helpful reading notes or underlined/highlighted parts of the book. I recently purchased a few books from thriftbooks.com and noticed they shipped from different locations....I'm not sure if they're run as a marketplace whe…

> I actually really appreciate second-hand books.

Do you think this is some kind of controversial or unusual opinion?

Almost everyone loves second-hand bookshops. They just don't buy many books in them. And when they do the profit for the shop is tiny. So it's hard for them to keep going.

Re: The demise of the second-hand bookshop

#62
post #32
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When we do inventory of books, about 7000 of them, it takes a team of 3 or 4 people scanning labels on the back of books, about 5 hours to scan them all. Add 3 or 4 more people in to watch the computer(s) for errors as scans come in. Then add an hour or two to pur things back to normal. For a used bookstore with no pre made labels and books stacked and crammed I’d double the time. Then add some more for books that do…

For a used bookstore inventory could be done once a year like we do to avoid drift in our data.. but more realistically everything would be scanned as it comes in and out. Why that doesn’t already happen baffles me too!

It does. In the past, there were cards in the backs of books with date stamps.

Re: The demise of the second-hand bookshop

#63

Nope. There are several reasons why individual secondhand bookshops are on the way out, but Oxfam is not a particularly significant one. I am honestly puzzled by the author citing the Oxfam shop on St Giles as an exemplar, because it's a poor shop full of tat and tired old guidebooks to Greece in the 1960s. Even the Oxfam bookshop 15 miles up the road in little Chipping Norton has more interesting stock. But it's int…

fwiw, Abebooks has been a subsidiary of Amazon since 2008

Re: The demise of the second-hand bookshop

#64
post #5

From personal experience, what has made me rarely go to second-hand bookshops (or bookshops of any kind) is they typically have a really bad selection. The amount of trash printed is insane, and not only do people tend to keep the gems, but they also tend to suck them out of second hand bookshops, so only really useless books are left.

The problem with used books stores is they always have book two of a series, but never book one :)

Book publishers do the marketing all wrong. They publish the first in a series as a tease to buy the rest. They should start with the second book in the series, then people would be haplessly impelled to buy the first one!

Re: The demise of the second-hand bookshop

#65

One thing I appreciate about second-hand bookshops and libraries is that they are not curated for me. I read a lot of non-fiction, and I find that websites like Amazon and Goodreads do give decent suggestions, but they are books about topics I already know, sharing ideas I am already familiar with, in a style I like. I can feel the customer profit gradient descent maximization breathing down my neck. Looking at you,…

[deleted]

Re: The demise of the second-hand bookshop

#67
post #53
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do realize that time will eventually grind down even the memory of every last thing you have ever known or loved, right?

Not necessarily... this rests on the assumption that God does not exist. And not everyone believes that assumption is true.

It relies on more assumptions than just that. It relies on the assumption that naturalism and materialism are true, and hence an afterlife is very unlikely (if not impossible).

You can reject naturalism and materialism without agreeing that God exists. Consider the late 19th / early 20th century British idealist philosopher John McTaggart Ellis McTaggart (who at Cambridge acted as the mentor of Bertrand Russell and G. E. Moore) – McTaggart insisted that God did not exist, that he knew God did not exist, that God's existence was impossible – but he also claimed that time and matter are illusions, and the true reality is timeless immortal souls and their eternal love for one another.

Conversely, it is possible to believe in God without an afterlife. The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus denied an afterlife, but he did not deny the Gods of ancient Greek polytheism. (Probably, if he had lived in a more monotheistic culture, he would have dropped the plural.)

The ancient Jewish Sadducees, who controlled the office of High Priest up until the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, they rejected the Pharisees' belief in resurrection of the dead. (The Pharisees are the historical progenitors of contemporary Judaism; and, while Christianity conflicted with the Pharisees a lot, witness how much they are criticised in the Gospels, one can't deny that Christianity took a lot from them, including the belief in a future resurrection of the dead). It isn't entirely clear what exactly the Sadducees believed about the afterlife, but certainly by some accounts they believed that death was extinction. (Part of it depends on whether they understood "Sheol", the grave, to simply be a symbol for extinction, or an actual place where the dead are conscious.)

Re: The demise of the second-hand bookshop

#68
post #36

Used bookstores are a lot like gardens -- they must be tended daily and grown in 100 ways, year after year. The city I grew up in was legendary for used bookstores, and they sit all but empty now, decades later. The 'modern' people chiming in about how to "search faster" are missing an aspect of the experience that is literal and measureable, as well as partially undefineable simply because the portion of the mind an…

For me, the most magical thing about the small local bookstores is the people working there. Just getting into one, chatting with people genuinely and deeply passionate about what it is that they are selling. Having a coffee, talking about a book I read, what aspects I liked, philosophizing about the topic in general and getting recommendations what to read next based on that has beaten at least 10x any 'modern' and…

Growing up, my hometown wasn't big enough for a dedicated bookstore (~1400 residents), but there was a small gift shop on Main Street. It had lots of little knicknacks and other things associated with giving gifts. Past the cards and stationary, the boxes of chocolate, the little porcelain figurines, the bags of potpourri and scented candles, all the way at the back, were a couple small bookshelves. Mostly books for young children, or large format books you'd set on your coffee table with nice pictures in them.

What I remember most fondly was that even though the in-store selection was meager, if you were looking for a particular title, the owner was happy to look it up and order from her wholesale catalog. And she'd take 10% off the MSRP! Me and my other teenage nerd friends became some of her most regular customers, coming in to order sci-fi books.

Re: The demise of the second-hand bookshop

#69

Used bookstores are a lot like gardens -- they must be tended daily and grown in 100 ways, year after year. The city I grew up in was legendary for used bookstores, and they sit all but empty now, decades later. The 'modern' people chiming in about how to "search faster" are missing an aspect of the experience that is literal and measureable, as well as partially undefineable simply because the portion of the mind an…

On the other hand, I can get any book I want, including long out-of-print books. I remember years looking for a copy of Clarke's "The Deep Range". Now getting a copy is as trivial as pushing a button. And I have indulged myself, acquiring a small mountain of books :-) I also browse the books at thrift stores. It's how I've obtained a ton of strange books I never would have discovered otherwise. For example, I found a…

I think Goodwill's selection depends on it's area. Their book selection at the stores where I live aren't that good. The prices of books vary between stores. But you can count on one thing: Each store will always have at least one complete set of Twilight novels.

Re: The demise of the second-hand bookshop

#70

Used bookstores are a lot like gardens -- they must be tended daily and grown in 100 ways, year after year. The city I grew up in was legendary for used bookstores, and they sit all but empty now, decades later. The 'modern' people chiming in about how to "search faster" are missing an aspect of the experience that is literal and measureable, as well as partially undefineable simply because the portion of the mind an…

On the other hand, I can get any book I want, including long out-of-print books. I remember years looking for a copy of Clarke's "The Deep Range". Now getting a copy is as trivial as pushing a button. And I have indulged myself, acquiring a small mountain of books :-) I also browse the books at thrift stores. It's how I've obtained a ton of strange books I never would have discovered otherwise. For example, I found a…

I too get any book I want and don’t have to store it in my house, And it’s all free—just saying. :)
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