I’ve stopped using my Kindle. Sure, there were some convenient features that I’ll miss. For example, I enjoyed not carrying around three books on vacation and downloading books was a bit addictive. However, there were a few things that drove me crazy. Despite an impressive battery life, there were times when my uncharged Kindle stopped me from reading. Also, Amazon can modify the book you are reading, which really bothers me. It almost happened to me while reading Neal Stephenson’s Reamde.
In the spirit of Nate Silver’s The Signal and the Noise, I’m going to make a prediction: independent bookshops will survive and Barnes and Nobles will cease to be (like an ex-parrot). I walked into Joseph Fox’s Bookshop in Center City Philadelphia today, which is my favorite independent bookshop and immediately found a series of interesting books. It’s not to say that I couldn’t find these books in another store, but constraint breeds ingenuity and with the limited shelf room at Joseph Fox, more interesting books seem to float to the surface.
But I didn’t buy a single book. Instead, I noted the books with my phone and added them to my Amazon wish list. So, Mr. Hypocrite, how do you explain yourself in light of your prediction? Continue reading “Long live the independent bookshop!”
