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What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

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Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#101

Post by redelbee »

I love used bookstores and my retail business is right next door to one that I mostly despise. The shelves are literally overflowing and there is no rhyme or reason to shelf organization. The prices are high, which I normally wouldn’t mind because usually it comes with great curation or presentation or a point of view. But this shop has none of those redeeming qualities. The employees also don’t seem to care about reading or books, other than to point out how quickly some categories of books fly off the shelves. It’s all very transactional.

It’s the weirdest experience because I want so badly for it to be like other shops I’ve browsed and loved. I’ve even considered opening my own bookshop down the street to fulfill my desire for a great used book shop in my city. Maybe someday.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#102

Post by bananamerica »

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.

Used bookstores are great for discovery, you often end up with something random and unexpected that you would never buy on a digital storefront.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#103

Post by dredmorbius »

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…

Where are you getting your count of books available on Amazon?

I'd be curious how this compares with LibGen / ZLibrary (about 4--5 million titles).

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#104

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

reaperducer wrote: post #55
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.

Great to hear. In what categories have you noticed that?

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#105

Post by throwaway0x7E6 »

ryanobjc wrote: post #71
throwaway0x7E6 wrote: post #68

nothing. physical bookstores and libraries are obsolete. they don't serve a purpose anymore. the electronic format is superior in every way - full text search, fully customizable/accessible reading experience. ebooks cost nothing to "print", transfer and store, and they don't degrade. a 500 GB SD card fits 25000 rather large 20 MB pdfs/epubs. a 16 TB HDD fits 800000. it's over. and that's a good thing.

There’s a few areas where paper is vastly superior: Doesn’t require power to operate The tactile experience is top notch, and makes for fast seeking in the book You can sell or lend the book without permission from someone else Edit: also books don’t have dynamic tracking or affiliate links or scams for getting you to buy something - this is more apropos to websites. Still though, I hear people say that long form is…

>You can sell or lend the book without permission from someone else

I can give you a copy of any book I own for free

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#106

Post by ajoseps »

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…

+1 for Codex, always enjoy perusing through there. McNally Jackson also hosts authors semi-frequently which is nice

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#107

Post by Tsiklon »

yojo wrote: post #50
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’ll offer another perspective: human interaction. Good book stores have good staff, helpful other humans that will engage with you and guide you to something you would like. Computers can fill some, but not all of this role. We are social animals. We are hard wired to feel good when we are in community with other humans, and to (in cases) develop psychosis when deprived of that contact[1]. The price of a book is tri…

I find the idea of the life of a misanthropic bookstore owner to be very appealing - very much in the vein of UK comedy show “Black Books”.

I think if I had “fuck you money” and were to give up tech this would be the perfect hobby business for me.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#108

Post by reaperducer »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #104
reaperducer wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Great to hear. In what categories have you noticed that?

Less obsessed with money. Less vanity. Less self-indulgent. Less naval-gazing.

Everything isn't "me, me, me" with most of the Z's that I've observed.

They're more tolerant. Every disagreement doesn't boil down to "Stop liking things that I don't like." And they don't have as much of a persecution complex as the Millennials.

Gen Z and Gen X are very much alike. Just as Millennials and Boomers are pretty much the same people.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#109

Post by CapitalistCartr »

dredmorbius wrote: post #103
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…

Where are you getting your count of books available on Amazon? I'd be curious how this compares with LibGen / ZLibrary (about 4--5 million titles).

The number of books published annually is somewhere between one million and ten million, depending on how they're counted. Self-published? ebooks? Audiobooks? Etc.

Re: What We Gain from a Good Bookstore

#110

Post by dmd »

bombcar wrote: post #100
fritztastic wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand your metaphor in the sense that The Matrix is a scifi adaptation of the allegory of the cave. The concept that commercial/online bookstores are where items worth finding will be found is like thinking the shadows of the cave are the only thing worth seeing. You are correct, there is so much content there be found, which isn't limited/controlled by what the big market values. Additionally those are very g…

A friend of my dad is a professional book hound, and he says it amuses him when he sees others who can’t understand what to do with a book that doesn’t have an isbn.

When my wife and I wanted to catalog our modest home library (~1500 books) we were stunned when we discovered that the vast majority of web-based cataloging software assumes that all books have an ISBN. (Or did in 2015 or so). Thankfully LibraryThing does not make that assumption, and is great.
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