What We Gain from a Good Bookstore • Hacker News Board

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#81

Post by euroderf » Sat, Aug 06, 2022, 6:04 PM UTC

sthu11182 wrote: post #62

pradn wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I agree on Westsider. However, I always liked the Strand for its collection of history, science, and math books. While Strand can be crowded and touristy, it still has a good collection of books.

They have the books, but be prepared for life on a ladder if you really want to dig in.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#82

Post by blockwriter » Sat, Aug 06, 2022, 6:12 PM UTC

JasonFruit wrote: post #14

There are several good independent bookstores in Madison, WI, the medium-sized college town near which I live, and I'm happy to say that most seem to be well-supplied with customers who actually buy books, and have not resorted to the shenanigans this article describes. One of my favorites, Leopold's, does have a small coffee shop that serves the best coffee in town. That's not what makes me love it, though: its smal…

Madison has a great small business community in general. I am always really impressed by the number of small, independent establishments of good quality when I go.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#83

Post by elliekelly » Sat, Aug 06, 2022, 6:41 PM UTC

ryanobjc wrote: post #72

vonnik wrote: post #31

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 c…

It’s really interesting - we’ve seemingly given up on curation and discovery on the internet. There’s just too much spam and scam to really make it work. Take your average recipe website: it includes multiple paragraphs of irrelevant “background story” to delay you seeing the recipe for more ad views. Whereas books and libraries have none of that cruft. If you want to learn something the library (or bookstore) is a m…

It’s not just with books, either. I think the deliberate inefficiency is a selling point for a lot of brick & mortar stores now. In second hand stores and stores like Home Goods or Five Below you have to sift through a bunch of disorganized crap to maybe find something you didn’t even know you wanted. It’s like loot box shopping, I guess.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#84

Post by selimthegrim » Sat, Aug 06, 2022, 6:42 PM UTC

mattkrause wrote: post #80

abdullahkhalids wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I thought it had turned into a spa or some such. Will report back later--it's hot out now!

There was a makerspace I went to in Montreal which I wonder if it’s still active.

E: it was Foulab, so looks like it still is.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#85

Post by montefischer » Sat, Aug 06, 2022, 6:49 PM UTC

wrycoder wrote: post #61

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…

Try Abebooks.com, which is also owned by Amazon.

Also biblio.com, which is not.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#86

Post by anigbrowl » Sat, Aug 06, 2022, 6:53 PM UTC

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.

Because you don't know what you don't know, and neither does Buy'n'Large. In a second hand bookstore you'll come across things in the same category that are useful and important but don't come up in a recommendation engine because they're not popular. The deeper into a field you go, the more noticeable this is.

Also, the second hand bookstore isn't maintaining a secret police file on every micro-action and momentary impulse you exhibit while inside their property.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#87

Post by throwaway821909 » Sat, Aug 06, 2022, 7:05 PM UTC

pseudolus wrote: post #79

timst4 wrote: post #70

When you walk down the quai along the Seine in Paris, there are used book kiosks for kilometers. The bouquinistes have been there for many years and maybe they are the true enduring heart of French values. Americans consume TV like the French read books, at least in the capital. It is no surprise the overall awareness of the population is far more attuned to the realities of a modern world. America has outsourced the…

The bouquinistes might conjure up romantic notions of a book-loving French population but the reality is a little more complex. Bouquinistes are regulated and apparently are required to allocate three out of every four boxes of merchandise to books. This apparently is causing them some financial hardship as many are located in areas frequented by non-francophone tourists and, given the choice, many would prefer to se…

That the problem is apparently only in tourist areas is further evidence that the French love books, if anything

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#88

Post by MikusR » Sat, Aug 06, 2022, 7:31 PM UTC

reaperducer wrote: post #49

waspight wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I imagine that everything worth reading is available on Amazon and rated in Goodreads. Then you should broaden your imagination. Amazon and Goodreads have barely a fraction of one percent of the books that were published. And that's just in English. It's like saying "Anything worth watching is on streaming," even though less than 5% of the world's video content ever made the translation from film to VHS to DVD to str…

> Amazon and Goodreads have barely a fraction of one percent of the books that were published. And that's just in English.

Source?

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#89

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Aug 06, 2022, 7:34 PM UTC

MikusR wrote: post #88

reaperducer wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine that everything worth reading is available on Amazon and rated in Goodreads. Then you should broaden your imagination. Amazon and Goodreads have barely a fraction of one percent of the books that were published. And that's just in English. It's like saying "Anything worth watching is on streaming," even though less than 5% of the world's video content ever made the translation from film to VHS to DVD to str…

> Amazon and Goodreads have barely a fraction of one percent of the books that were published. And that's just in English. Source?

[deleted]

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#90

Post by SeanLuke » Sat, Aug 06, 2022, 7:35 PM UTC

jhbadger wrote: post #59

sircastor wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Wait wait wait. I had to look this up myself: there exists a bookstore chain in New York City and Philly called Shakespeare & Co? And it appears to have no relationship at all with the uberfamous Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris? This is a bit like naming your new restaurant chain "The French Laundry". How could they be allowed to do this?