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What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

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Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#31

Post by vonnik »

One of the great thing about the physical sites of used-book stores, which I've never seen replicated in an online store, is their ability to surface books you'd never know to look for. It's not just curation, but the accumulation of curation over many years, and the willingness to leave interesting books on the shelves to wait for the right reader.

Great second-hand book stores are riddled with wormholes into past civilizations and cultures, maybe just a few decades old, that no one ever bothered to name or remember, outside the wormhole of the book. So I guess they make the past more discoverable. And by discovering those lost cultures we can understand the trajectory of our culture, its effervescence and loose ends and lost causes. Which is great for understanding our own time.

Rant: American culture seems fascinated with time travel and alien intelligence, as though they were things just out of reach, when in fact, we're surrounded with time travel and alien intelligence that we manage to ignore. The books are the time travel. The ravens/dolphins/dogs/elephants are the alien intelligence.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#32

Post by me_smith »

I absolutely enjoy finding a used bookstore while exploring a new town or city. I can't help but meander through the dusty, over stocked aisles overflowing with old and new books. The personality of the store is not just built from the owner but also the surrounding community and the books they read. Some stores have large science fiction sections; some have larger history sections; and some may even have an actual engineering or computer science section.

During one of my meanderings, I found "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programming" (SICP) lying under computer reference books on the top shelf. I got the old rickety foot stool, pulled the book down and found it was in decent shape, so I had to buy it. And yes, I know I can read it for free online.

If anyone is in the San Jose, CA area, check out the Recycle Bookstore. One of my favorites.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#34

Post by rr808 »

Meh, I really dont miss bookstores, and I suspect most people who claim to love them are exaggerating. I dont read as much as I used to, my local library is good and online is much cheaper and convenient. What is cool is second hand books if you can get browse for something interesting cheap that you didn't know you wanted.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#35

Post by sidpatil »

pradn wrote: post #17
thundergolfer wrote: post #8

I have come to value 2nd hand bookstores so much in day to day life that I maintain it as an almost 'must have' when assessing living locations. Great coffee shops are a dime a dozen in reasonably affluent areas, but a good 2nd hand bookshop adds so much warmth and charm to an area. I don't have any in walking distance from where I live right now, but I'm moving to NYC soon and will aim to correct that. (Shouldn't be…

The Strand is only worth going to as a tourist attraction (if you’re fully aware of its status as such), or if you need big art books (they’re unmatched in that category). In NY, I’d say take a look at Left Bank books (rare, old literature, photography, art books - some are even early editions of classics), Codex (little used shop with a fantastic selection), Mercer St Books and Records (basement hole in the wall), W…

My favorite is East Village Books. I've had luck finding interesting books there.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#36

Post by closedloop129 »

>What an unparalleled activity it is to browse a bookstore in a state of curiosity and receptivity, chewing one’s intellectual cud!” This isn’t the cheap, fast-food browse of the scroll but, rather, something more meditative, more nutritious.

>Deutsch’s bookseller is a cross between a curator, rabbi (Deutsch comes from an Orthodox Jewish background), and gardener. “Our work is to select and assemble, making the discordant wilds of bookish inquiry manageable,” he writes.

In other words, a better link aggregator. What does it take to create that depth online?

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#37

Post by BuyMyBitcoins »

waspight wrote: post #29
thundergolfer wrote: post #8

I have come to value 2nd hand bookstores so much in day to day life that I maintain it as an almost 'must have' when assessing living locations. Great coffee shops are a dime a dozen in reasonably affluent areas, but a good 2nd hand bookshop adds so much warmth and charm to an area. I don't have any in walking distance from where I live right now, but I'm moving to NYC soon and will aim to correct that. (Shouldn't be…

Just curious, why is second hand book stores that important? I imagine that everything worth reading is available on Amazon and rated in Goodreads. I am just curious and hopefully I am totally wrong as well.

For me personally, it’s the experience and atmosphere rather than the availability. There’s also the charm of browsing without looking for anything specific in mind. I know it is possible to be shown a random assortment of books online, but it doesn’t compare with simply walking down the aisles and just scanning over all the titles for what looks interesting.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#38

Post by Swizec »

waspight wrote: post #29
thundergolfer wrote: post #8

I have come to value 2nd hand bookstores so much in day to day life that I maintain it as an almost 'must have' when assessing living locations. Great coffee shops are a dime a dozen in reasonably affluent areas, but a good 2nd hand bookshop adds so much warmth and charm to an area. I don't have any in walking distance from where I live right now, but I'm moving to NYC soon and will aim to correct that. (Shouldn't be…

Just curious, why is second hand book stores that important? I imagine that everything worth reading is available on Amazon and rated in Goodreads. I am just curious and hopefully I am totally wrong as well.

You can't browse Amazon, it's too in your face trying to make a quick buck.

I just tried browsing Goodreads and it slapped me in the face with a gigantic Please Login Right Now You Terrible Person modal. Not very browsing friendly either, I guess.

There is a charm to browsing a small bookstore. 2nd hand or otherwise. You dawdle in the aisles, meander between sections you'd never think to look at, catch your eye on interesting covers, try the heft of a book, see which ones are long and which are short, the design and the font give you a sense of character, tell you a little about what this book is like to read. You turn it around, read the back to learn more ... there is a spatial component to your search. When you stumble into a book that draws your attention, you're likely surrounded by similar books you might also enjoy.

The experience is distinctly inefficient. Good for when you don't know what you want. Might not even realize what you're in the mood for until you find it.

And somehow you never walk out with fewer than 3 books.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#39

Post by milesvp »

waspight wrote: post #29
thundergolfer wrote: post #8

I have come to value 2nd hand bookstores so much in day to day life that I maintain it as an almost 'must have' when assessing living locations. Great coffee shops are a dime a dozen in reasonably affluent areas, but a good 2nd hand bookshop adds so much warmth and charm to an area. I don't have any in walking distance from where I live right now, but I'm moving to NYC soon and will aim to correct that. (Shouldn't be…

Just curious, why is second hand book stores that important? I imagine that everything worth reading is available on Amazon and rated in Goodreads. I am just curious and hopefully I am totally wrong as well.

It’s the type of people they attract. It’s the owners who are often very avid readers. It’s the collection of books you find, most of which have had some amount of curation, if only because of limited shelving. They are often very low margin so often they add charm in the same way artists do to a low rent neighborhood.
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