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Barnes and Noble Sets Itself Free

nytimes.com

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Re: Barnes and Noble Sets Itself Free

#51

Post by simpaticoder »

dageshi wrote: post #26
randcraw wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish they sold BOOKS. My local B&N (15 miles north of Philly) has converted 25% of shelf space to toys. The tradeoff: just 2 shelves of computer-related books, now titled "Technology", most of which are about using Windows or Office. Does this trend reflect the dumbing down of B&N or its customers?

It reflects the reality of the internet existing and it being the year 2023 not 2003 I think? Why on earth would a book store carry any relevant computer technical books nowadays?

>Why on earth would a book store carry any relevant computer technical books nowadays?

Because books can explain concepts better than any other medium. Books aren't great for reference/howto because that info goes out of date quickly. E.g. I'm not going to buy a book about browser APIs, I'll use MDN. But I will buy a book about SPA design or HCI. I'll certainly buy a book about a topic like performance analysis or comparing different approaches to ORMs or practical cryptography. The specific libraries will go out of date quickly, but the concepts will be useful for a very long time (and even the specifics will be at least somewhat correct for longer than you'd expect).

Like everyone else, technical people have had their attention span removed, segmented, and captured by capital such that "sitting down and reading a book (about a technical subject)" is met with horror. There is hope: the brain is quite plastic and even if you've let yours soak in the sensation stew of your phone 8 hours a day for years now, you can regain this important function soon enough. A well-written tech book is such a pleasure! A long narrative, coherent and filled with nuance...it's an important style of communication and I don't think we want to lose it.

Re: Barnes and Noble Sets Itself Free

#52

Post by ikomrad »

shiroiuma wrote: post #28
randcraw wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish they sold BOOKS. My local B&N (15 miles north of Philly) has converted 25% of shelf space to toys. The tradeoff: just 2 shelves of computer-related books, now titled "Technology", most of which are about using Windows or Office. Does this trend reflect the dumbing down of B&N or its customers?

It probably reflects the reality of trying to sell computer books in 2023, and what kind of people are willing to buy those books in a mainstream bookstore. Computer books lose relevancy quickly as their information becomes out-of-date, and people who buy them are more likely to look online for the lowest price.

Good point. I mostly buy fiction or self improvement/productivity books. Technology can work if it’s not application specific like a book design patterns for software.

if it’s about how to use MS Word, a google search or youtube video will probably tell me what I need to know.

Re: Barnes and Noble Sets Itself Free

#53

Post by throwaway290 »

gosub100 wrote: post #35
keiferski wrote: post #11

Since he embarked on the Barnes & Noble redesign in 2020, Mr. Daunt has demonstrated that consistency doesn’t rank very high on his priority list. New York City has nine Barnes & Noble stores featuring four different logos above the front doors. A lot of brands benefit from uniformity, knowing that your coffee or burger at Starbucks/McDonalds/wherever is functionally the same in Tokyo or Toronto. I think book stores…

So they're indistinguishable from a local business other than having corporate amounts of capital to weather storms, policies to control workers and inventory (what books to stock), and they send their profits out of the community. Neat

That's why you gotta always learn what is run/made by whom. The logo is irrelevant...

Re: Barnes and Noble Sets Itself Free

#54

Post by b3lm0nt »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #48
dale_glass wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes perfect sense to me. I used to have a lot of computer books on my shelves. They're all gone. Internet access is just a given these days, so there's very little reason to have reference documentation in print. And for more complex matters, a good youtube video is superior. Modern software can have extremely complex interfaces. It's much easier to follow along with a Blender video than to gain the same knowledge…

I'm finding myself slipping back to books again now. It's very hard to sift the wheat from the chaff with online stuff.

Agree —- as someone who previously only owned software books for coursework in the early ‘10s, I’ve built up a growing collection over the past 3 years. The quality of book content is generally much higher than blog posts and SO answers, and I’ve never been one for eBooks / PDFs.

Plus, it makes my home office feel more in tune with my profession. I like to see the books on the shelf and leaf through them while waiting for my CI to build.

Re: Barnes and Noble Sets Itself Free

#55

Post by FormerBandmate »

NoboruWataya wrote: post #21
keiferski wrote: post #11

Since he embarked on the Barnes & Noble redesign in 2020, Mr. Daunt has demonstrated that consistency doesn’t rank very high on his priority list. New York City has nine Barnes & Noble stores featuring four different logos above the front doors. A lot of brands benefit from uniformity, knowing that your coffee or burger at Starbucks/McDonalds/wherever is functionally the same in Tokyo or Toronto. I think book stores…

If nothing else, uniformity doesn't add as much value to a brand that isn't selling its own product. Nobody really worries that the copy of a book they buy in one shop will be different to a copy bought in another. There are likely some benefits to consistency, like a familiar store layout or knowing that a shop will stock a good range of books, but these are kind of ancillary to the product (and my experience is tha…

The owners of Waterstones took over Barnes and Noble and put Waterstones management in charge. Seems to have worked

Re: Barnes and Noble Sets Itself Free

#56

Post by ja27 »

randcraw wrote: post #17
huytersd wrote: post #7

I wish they served beer and wine there.

I wish they sold BOOKS. My local B&N (15 miles north of Philly) has converted 25% of shelf space to toys. The tradeoff: just 2 shelves of computer-related books, now titled "Technology", most of which are about using Windows or Office. Does this trend reflect the dumbing down of B&N or its customers?

Mine still has an iOS 5 book on those two shelves. 11 years old.

Re: Barnes and Noble Sets Itself Free

#57

Post by tootie »

keiferski wrote: post #11

Since he embarked on the Barnes & Noble redesign in 2020, Mr. Daunt has demonstrated that consistency doesn’t rank very high on his priority list. New York City has nine Barnes & Noble stores featuring four different logos above the front doors. A lot of brands benefit from uniformity, knowing that your coffee or burger at Starbucks/McDonalds/wherever is functionally the same in Tokyo or Toronto. I think book stores…

My neighborhood in Brooklyn had our B&N move a few blocks and open in a new space. The new space is very different and very inviting. Bright lights, comfy chairs, lighter colors everywhere. I think it's less square footage but feels easier to get lost in (in a good way).

Re: Barnes and Noble Sets Itself Free

#58

Post by bko »

gosub100 wrote: post #35
keiferski wrote: post #11

Since he embarked on the Barnes & Noble redesign in 2020, Mr. Daunt has demonstrated that consistency doesn’t rank very high on his priority list. New York City has nine Barnes & Noble stores featuring four different logos above the front doors. A lot of brands benefit from uniformity, knowing that your coffee or burger at Starbucks/McDonalds/wherever is functionally the same in Tokyo or Toronto. I think book stores…

So they're indistinguishable from a local business other than having corporate amounts of capital to weather storms, policies to control workers and inventory (what books to stock), and they send their profits out of the community. Neat

> weather storms

This is good. Means they're less likely to be impacted by temporary fads and I can count on them being around in a decade

> Policies to control workers and inventory

Policies are good and usually law abiding. Meaning that they treat their employees fairly, pay taxes and obey labor laws or they'll get sued.

> send their profits out of the community

The main beneficiaries are the patrons and people working there, who are as likely to live in the community than a mom and pop shop. The profit margin, if any, accrues to stock holders which are widely distributed to people with 401ks pensions and others. I'm okay with that

Re: Barnes and Noble Sets Itself Free

#59

Post by dageshi »

simpaticoder wrote: post #51
dageshi wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It reflects the reality of the internet existing and it being the year 2023 not 2003 I think? Why on earth would a book store carry any relevant computer technical books nowadays?

>Why on earth would a book store carry any relevant computer technical books nowadays? Because books can explain concepts better than any other medium. Books aren't great for reference/howto because that info goes out of date quickly. E.g. I'm not going to buy a book about browser APIs, I'll use MDN. But I will buy a book about SPA design or HCI. I'll certainly buy a book about a topic like performance analysis or co…

I didn't say technical books were irrelevant, I asked why a book store would carry them. The people most interested in computer related technical books are those who most heavily use the internet and therefore are most likely to be the ones who buy via amazon or directly from the author.

That's before we consider that such technical books are going to be a niche within a niche, in other words, not something to put in a mainstream book store.

Historically you might have even needed to find out specialist bookstores for such books or had them ordered specially via the bookstore.

Re: Barnes and Noble Sets Itself Free

#60

Post by macintux »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #47
bluGill wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Books on the latest office version lose relevancy quickly. However there.are timeless books on things like algorithms as well.

Booksellers rarely understand which those are though.

I’ve considered volunteering my services to small used bookstores to help them decide which computer books to buy. Seems like a win-win: I’d get first shot at anything interesting that arrives, and they’d have a way to separate the wheat from the chaff.
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