The recent video of Chris Stuckmann (Blockbuster Video - Retro Rewind) on Blockbuster gets me nostalgic, particularly nostalgic about the times when seeing a book in a bookstore that I liked a lot but never got the money to buy it. But the time has changed. I buy most of my books online instead of bookstores, simply because often I get cheaper books online and also the recommendation algorithm always gives me good choices. With the increasing popularity of e-books, it is sad to say but it looks like bookstore is suffering the same fate as Blockbuster.
About the choice between an e-book and a physical book, I always find myself conflicted. On one side as the world is going green and discouraging printing, e-book is a really good idea. With the technology of e-ink and paper screen, brands like Kindle already reach the level that the page display and illumination and can mimic perfectly the text on a real book. I personally tried out an e-book before and it was quite pleasant to read on it. Another advantage of e-book is storage space. Hundreds even thousands of books can be stored in one single e-book. The need of shelf is pointless.
May be that is the thing lacking about e-book. The fact that physical book is physical, it gives weight to what I am reading and a sense of achievement after I finish it. For me, books is also a hobby of collecting. Sometimes I just like to stand in front of my book shelf and admiring all the books and the knowledge that have become a part of me. Not to mention the smell of new books, as well as the wear and tear on old books from countless reading, or the stains that one time when you accidentally pour your coffee onto. These are the tangible stuff you add to your books, transforming each book into something personal, an unique personal story.
Going to a bookstore and buy a book there is also part of these tangible stuff. I particularly like how NerdWriter describes the way we stumble upon a book we like in a bookstore (Vlog #21 - Bookstores). "Sometimes a book like a magic ring can find you", to quote. Like how the one Ring to rule them all found Frodo, the book "The World Until Yesterday" found me one afternoon.
That day, I was practicing driving. There was one spiral road up to the car park in this one shopping mall that was infamously steep. So my sister challenged me to test that out and check in at the Starbucks in the shopping mall for her to see. While heading to the Starbucks, a bookstore stopped me and there was the book. I saw it was a book by Jared Diamond, also the author of "Guns, Germs and Steel". Then, I bought the book before I knew it.
The moment I sat down in Starbucks unwrapping the plastics cover from the book is also the moment I realized nobody would order an espresso in a Starbucks. The waitress was kinda unsure when I asked for an espresso. Come to think about it, her reaction is justifiable. The whole Starbucks culture consists of ordering an elaborate combination of coffee, chocolate, cream, and spices, and then have a sit chit-chatting, or browsing your phones, or doing some serious work on laptop, ideally a Mac, or pretending to do be a writer searching for inspiration. An espresso is compact, rushing, and contradicts all of the above.
My thought on Starbucks and espresso is totally unrelated to the topic of books and bookstores. But that is also the point I want to make. For me, this story about ordering espresso have become a part of the book "The World Until Yesterday". The point is, the story of how one stumbles upon a book in a bookstore is also something to be valued. This is exactly what e-books or buying book online cannot offer.
About the choice between an e-book and a physical book, I always find myself conflicted. On one side as the world is going green and discouraging printing, e-book is a really good idea. With the technology of e-ink and paper screen, brands like Kindle already reach the level that the page display and illumination and can mimic perfectly the text on a real book. I personally tried out an e-book before and it was quite pleasant to read on it. Another advantage of e-book is storage space. Hundreds even thousands of books can be stored in one single e-book. The need of shelf is pointless.
May be that is the thing lacking about e-book. The fact that physical book is physical, it gives weight to what I am reading and a sense of achievement after I finish it. For me, books is also a hobby of collecting. Sometimes I just like to stand in front of my book shelf and admiring all the books and the knowledge that have become a part of me. Not to mention the smell of new books, as well as the wear and tear on old books from countless reading, or the stains that one time when you accidentally pour your coffee onto. These are the tangible stuff you add to your books, transforming each book into something personal, an unique personal story.
Going to a bookstore and buy a book there is also part of these tangible stuff. I particularly like how NerdWriter describes the way we stumble upon a book we like in a bookstore (Vlog #21 - Bookstores). "Sometimes a book like a magic ring can find you", to quote. Like how the one Ring to rule them all found Frodo, the book "The World Until Yesterday" found me one afternoon.
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The moment I sat down in Starbucks unwrapping the plastics cover from the book is also the moment I realized nobody would order an espresso in a Starbucks. The waitress was kinda unsure when I asked for an espresso. Come to think about it, her reaction is justifiable. The whole Starbucks culture consists of ordering an elaborate combination of coffee, chocolate, cream, and spices, and then have a sit chit-chatting, or browsing your phones, or doing some serious work on laptop, ideally a Mac, or pretending to do be a writer searching for inspiration. An espresso is compact, rushing, and contradicts all of the above.
My thought on Starbucks and espresso is totally unrelated to the topic of books and bookstores. But that is also the point I want to make. For me, this story about ordering espresso have become a part of the book "The World Until Yesterday". The point is, the story of how one stumbles upon a book in a bookstore is also something to be valued. This is exactly what e-books or buying book online cannot offer.
