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What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

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Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#51

Post by reaperducer »

WolfeReader wrote: post #42
rr808 wrote: post #34

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.

"I suspect most people who claim to love them are exaggerating." I can't imagine why a person would either think, or write, this sentence. Most people are being honest when they say they enjoy a thing.

Because it reinforces his own assumptions and prejudices. It's a way of justifying a thought that is easily disproven.

By portraying someone who doesn't think the way you do as a bad person (in this case, a liar), this person elevates themselves, in their own mind.

It's pretty much seventh-grade logic.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#52

Post by wrycoder »

rr808 wrote: post #34

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.

It's also true in new bookstores that by browsing the stacks, you find books you didn't know existed and are interesting. Amazon does a very poor job of that - even the top 100 in a category are not as interesting as the selection in my local small bookstore in the same category. That's because the local bookstore is curated. Amazon is sorted by "popularity".

The Harvard Coop was about the last good technical bookstore in my area, but it's been dumbed down, and now just mostly carries the pop science stuff, like other bookstores.

I haven't been in the MIT Coop since they moved for the second time. They used to be right in the middle of the campus.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#53

Post by reaperducer »

Victerius wrote: post #2

If you want to find more secondhand books, check your local colleges and universities. Some have annual book fairs where books are sold at heavy discounts. I found some gems at such a fair when I went a few years ago. You need to go early though, because others will snatch the best titles if you don't. I also went there a few weeks ago to drop a load of my old textbooks, some of which are like new. Hopefully, they ma…

check your local colleges and universities. Some have annual book fairs where books are sold at heavy discounts.

In Chicago, and many other cities, larger library branches have a little room where the books the library doesn't want anymore end up.

In the case of Chicago, the Harold Washington Library has a room with a table and stacks of books. You grab what you want and put a suggested donation into the box on the wall. Usually about 25¢ a book.

In other cities, I've seen this expanded into entire miniature bookstores. But in those cases, they end up charging second-hand retail prices, which is a shame.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#54

Post by wrycoder »

bwanab wrote: post #46
rr808 wrote: post #34

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.

I read a lot and every day. 90% of my reading has been on my iPad in the last several years because I agree it's just much more convenient. Despite that, I still love the ambiance of a good bookstore.

I'm a constant reader, and I'm doing more reading on my devices, using Kindle and Libby for books that I'm only going to read once. I have way too many books in my house, and I actually don't have enough time left to finish reading them all!

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#55

Post by reaperducer »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #10

I wonder if Gen Z will know book stores that aren’t Barnes & Noble or independents who sell everything from books to socks to chocolate, but still call themselves bookstores.

Don't worry too much about Gen Z. They seem to be correcting the mistakes of the Millennial generation, and behave much more like Gen X than their immediate predecessors.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#56

Post by simion314 »

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.

Just IMO, but with physical books you can open them and inspect the content, this might not be important for literature books but for more technical books you want to see examples. I am not from US and our online book stores do not allow you to electronically browse the books. Review might help, I wanted to buy a programming book for my son (Roblox sutff) and a review told me that the code listings are garbage and there is no actual care in the type setting of the book, now imagine I buy this book at the moment there is no such a reivew(and if the review was wrong then I avoided a good book), with a real store you can see for yourself, the downsides that the book selection might be limited for niche subjects.

Also I think is faster to evaluate the book if you have it in your hands, you can immediately notice if the quality is bad or good, if the fonts are maybe too small so it would be hard to read, if the content feels padded with tons of irrelevant stuff, if you like the art style or language of the author. Is the same like when you want to buy a phone or monitor, if you have it in your face you can imediatly spot things you don't like and see the real dimensions where if you have just some pictures and numbers in your face it is harder.(I bought a watch as gift for someone and when it arrived I was shocked how small it is in reality, there were numbers in the description but numbers felt ok for me at that time)

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#57

Post by abdullahkhalids »

selimthegrim wrote: post #16

I am enraged that the local anarchist secondhand bookstore and lending library was replaced right before I moved here by condos and a brunch place.

For anyone else wondering, the one in Montreal on St Laurent is still there according to Google Maps.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#58

Post by [deleted] »

sircastor wrote: post #48
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…

> 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 too hard, right?) Unfortunately, Fox Books put all the small, independent stores out of business.

[deleted]

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#59

Post by jhbadger »

sircastor wrote: post #48
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…

> 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 too hard, right?) Unfortunately, Fox Books put all the small, independent stores out of business.

I know you are making a reference to 1998's "You've Got Mail!", but that movie was (besides being based on the earlier movie 1940's "The Shop Around The Corner" hence Meg Ryan's store, and the Hungarian play that movie was based on), inspired by the story of how NYC's Shakespeare & Co. bookstore was driven out of business by a new Barnes & Noble nearby. That Barnes & Noble has since closed itself.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#60

Post by NegativeLatency »

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.

Aside from other stuff listed: Local businesses enrich the local economy, while buying from amazon does not

Also I’d suggest checking out a good local bookstore, it’s a whole different and IMO a more wholesome and relaxing experience.

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