Originally triggered by this comment on HN https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=428677 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=428677 Conclusion: It's hard to app

Originally triggered by this comment on HN https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=428677 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=428677 Conclusion: It's hard to appreciate that in the 1980's through the late 1990's I either had to visit a bookstore or write a letter or call for a catalog to be able to buy a book. The selection at Computer Literacy was fantastic. Before search engines I relied on the "what's new" table at bookstores, technical magazines, and recommendations from friends. But wandering the shelves and picking books out at random to browse a few pages normally led to me leaving Computer Literacy with a new book or magazine to read for the week. I suspect the chain provided a significant technical and business education to a generation of hardware and software engineers and managers in Silicon Valley. There was really nothing else like it.