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Nostalgia aside (I spent my childhood in a library) I don't see any value in high street bookstores. Stories like this are sad on a personal level for people in
by Paul_S 11y ago
Nostalgia aside (I spent my childhood in a library) I don't see any value in high street bookstores. Stories like this are sad on a personal level for people involved but they are trying to suggest that we are losing something when we're anything but. My book consumption has quadrupled because of how easy it is to find new books and recommendations online. I am never in a situation where I don't have a book I want to read or I can't get it within 10 minutes.
- signal11 11y agoA criticism of online bookshops like Amazon is that they destroy serendipity by encouraging you to look at related books. For example, someone who usually buys engineering textbooks and SF may never see a travelogue. Offline recommendations from friends are good to have, but no substitute for self-discovery. One example I like to give is -- if I wander through the Daunt bookshop in Marylebone St (which despite the press doesn't only stock travel books), I can always lots of books to buy about stuff I would never have dreamed of entering into a Google or Amazon search box.
- gluelogic 11y agoTo me, this seems to imply that an important function of a bookstore is to provide a serendipitous experience.
- harperlee 11y agoYes; an important function of a physical bookstore is a physical meeting point, shared with others, where you can see books randomly, ask the staff, open a book and read for a while...
- norea-armozel 11y agoI feel like there's a need to recreate that then on the web because in some ways my early experiences on the web were just that: going from link to (sometimes unrelated) link. I think the way things are setup on the web are not inherent to the web itself, but to the idea that every web page or site has to fit a template rather than being just as messy and subjective as a small book store.
- dragonwriter 11y ago> A criticism of online bookshops like Amazon is that they destroy serendipity by encouraging you to look at related books. For example, someone who usually buys engineering textbooks and SF may never see a travelogue. That's a dumb criticism, since the merchandising of a brick-and-mortar bookstore typically does the same thing as that of an online retailer: presents whatever the store is trying to get rid of to everyone up-front, and otherwise presents people with things related to what they are searching for specifically, avoiding exposing them to the rest. You can actively choose to browse (wander through a physical bookstore, click different categories for an online one) for the purpose of providing yourself opportunities for serendipity, but no bookstore is designed to encourage serendipity, because anything that does that is a terrible UX for most customers and leads to confusion, frustration, and not buying, and the store going out of business.
- anilgulecha 11y agoI get what you're saying, but that's again partly nostalgia for the old way. Algorithms can add serendipity as well, in more ways than one -- by recommending things on the long tail.
- m52go 11y agoProblem is...most don't. In favor of higher sales, more clicks, etc.
- HenryTheHorse 11y ago> that's again partly nostalgia for the old way Book discoveries, like album discoveries, happen better in stores. It's not nostalgia, but just the way the physical world works. (Think of how music lovers connected with album covers in the vinyl world.) Just because something is "the old way" and there is nostalgia for it doesn't automatically make it worthless.
- GotAnyMegadeth 11y agoI don't think everyone would agree that album discoveries happen better in stores. They certainly don't for me, I would guess like most things it's subjective.
- pearle 11y agoYeah, I still like visiting record stores and book stores but I agree with this. For me, Spotify is the best way for me to discover new music. Usually through the thematic aligned playlists or unofficial playlists curated by other users.
- witty_username 11y agoYou can also discover books on online book shops.
- tikhonj 11y agoInteresting you should say that, because my music preferences have been enriched immensely by Rdio, in a way that physical stores (even my favorite, Rasputin Music) never did. Rdio helped me explore new genres, find obscure albums and artists and dive into areas (especially experimental music) poorly served by stores. In part, I think, this is because Rdio implemented social features poorly. I find music based on the music, not on what's popular. And it's willing to recommend things off the long tail that I'd never find in a store—one of my favorites was an album from a French band that never released anything else and probably didn't make it to a single US store. The same isn't quite as true for bookstores, perhaps because popularity plays a somewhat smaller role than for music. But I could still see online recommendations being better for depth, especially if I wanted to dive deeply into some genre and explore obscure authors that never really made it.
- mattlutze 11y agoWe lose the serendipity of random discovery while wandering a bookstore, but have gained the serendipity of random discovery from hosts of friends and strangers sharing thoughts and suggestions through many different literary (and not-literary)-focused channels online.
- hellbanner 11y agoIMO getting a recommendation from someone willing to spend their time at the bookstore carries more weight than "Jon Doe online review"
- icebraining 11y agoUnless they're volunteers, being willing to spend time at the bookstore doesn't imply anything else besides "they need money to live".
- hellbanner 11y agoI was referring to customers of the bookstores, not the employees.
- rorykoehler 11y agoI understand your perspective however it can also be validly argued that we are losing the chance to develop a community around books. Shops can be more than a place to exchange money for goods.
- saturdaysaint 11y agoIn a lot of areas, the mega-bookstore lended a patina of high culture to areas that now basically consist of pricey lofts and bars/restaurants. If there's any truth to the complaints, I think it's that they speak to a demand for more variety in "third places" - somewhere to meet friends and serendipitously run into new people outside of the house. Restaurants and bars are fine, but I think people miss other kinds of commerce - retail used to add that variety. Perhaps the eager adoption of work share spaces speaks to this. I think there are more business opportunities catering to this innate human need.