3 ms·

Its hard when the 3 bookstores you used to go to close down over the course of 5 years

by jammygit 8y ago

prklmn 8y ago
You might be well served by a local library.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  That was good advice when public libraries were less used. But these days (at least in the American cities I frequent), they are massively popular. Which means if you reserve a new release, be prepared to wait. Even with 17 copies of a particular newish book, the wait for it from my local library system is in excess of eight months. Wait eight months, or drop $11.95 at Amazon? Easy choice.
  - ui-explorer12 8y ago
    >> Which means if you reserve a new release, be prepared to wait. Except we wait 2 or 3 years for the damn thing to be written; a little delayed gratification until your hold comes up is such a minor, first-world problem. Popular public libraries are most definitely better than the alternative. They can justify better funding and bigger budgets, improve physical facilities and move into new service areas.
reaperducer 8y ago
Yep. 95% of the world doesn't live in the imaginary retail utopia the Amazon-haters do. For the vast majority of people, Amazon opens up new retail possibilities. Yes, Amazon has ethical/moral/UX/etc... issues. Be critical of its actual sins, not imagined ones.
- pessimizer 8y ago
  > Amazon opens up new retail possibilities. By not being required to pay taxes for a very long time, causing all of your local retail possibilities without that state benefit to close.
  - reaperducer 8y ago
    You're assuming that every location has equal retail possibilities. I'm not talking about places where bookstores, electronics stores, etc... closed because of Amazon. I'm talking about the vast majority of places that never had bookstores, electronics stores, etc... in the first place.
adetrest 8y ago
How about ebooks? The public library? Or other retailers? Amazon isn't the only option for buying books online, whether you live in a city or not.
heymijo 8y ago
Better World Books I go there for my used books now and rarely can't find what I need.

Its hard when the 3 bookstores you used to go to close down over the course of 5 years

prklmn 8y ago

You might be well served by a local library.

reaperducer 8y ago
That was good advice when public libraries were less used. But these days (at least in the American cities I frequent), they are massively popular. Which means if you reserve a new release, be prepared to wait. Even with 17 copies of a particular newish book, the wait for it from my local library system is in excess of eight months. Wait eight months, or drop $11.95 at Amazon? Easy choice.
- ui-explorer12 8y ago
  >> Which means if you reserve a new release, be prepared to wait. Except we wait 2 or 3 years for the damn thing to be written; a little delayed gratification until your hold comes up is such a minor, first-world problem. Popular public libraries are most definitely better than the alternative. They can justify better funding and bigger budgets, improve physical facilities and move into new service areas.

reaperducer 8y ago

Yep. 95% of the world doesn't live in the imaginary retail utopia the Amazon-haters do. For the vast majority of people, Amazon opens up new retail possibilities. Yes, Amazon has ethical/moral/UX/etc... issues. Be critical of its actual sins, not imagined ones.

pessimizer 8y ago
> Amazon opens up new retail possibilities. By not being required to pay taxes for a very long time, causing all of your local retail possibilities without that state benefit to close.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  You're assuming that every location has equal retail possibilities. I'm not talking about places where bookstores, electronics stores, etc... closed because of Amazon. I'm talking about the vast majority of places that never had bookstores, electronics stores, etc... in the first place.

adetrest 8y ago

How about ebooks? The public library? Or other retailers? Amazon isn't the only option for buying books online, whether you live in a city or not.

heymijo 8y ago

Better World Books I go there for my used books now and rarely can't find what I need.