

The lugubrious decline of the bookstore - grellas
http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/magazine/84531/end-bookstores-amazon-e-book-borders?passthru=YTI3MzgwYmE5M2JlY2ZkM2Q2Y2ZjOWYxMDRmNGFkZDg

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PaulHoule
The trouble is that, for the most part, bookstores make a selection that is
market-driven, not driven by any higher purposes. To do anything else is to
risk going out of business.

A small independent bookstore downtown went out of business recently and is
being reconstituted as a co-op. Fundamentally, they don't have any books I
want, because most of what I want to read is specialized and technical. When
it comes to light reading, there's a vast "back catalog" of used books that
may or may not be in print, and I'd rather pick and choose from that than buy
new books. I'm particularly fond of mass market paperbacks which used to be
used for serious books such as editions of Shakespeare and Issac Asimov
anthologies of essays about science that are convenient to carry in a pocket
or read on the bus. The new book market refuses to produce these today, giving
us a choice between oversized trade paperbacks where the binding frequently
cracks and overpriced hardcovers. No wonder people are flocking to e-books.

The Borders in my mall is in the process of liquidation and I'm even more
turned off by the selection there. Borders has a huge stock of 'blotting
paper' editions that are big books with big print designed for (horizontally)
big people who live in big houses. My house isn't tiny, but I'm very sensitive
to the number of cubic inches that all of my possessions take up. Sure, books
are completely defeated by flash memory in that department, but I like the
physical presence of books -- if they're not oversized editions for oversized
Americans.

