2008 Woodie Awards
Internet didn't kill the radio star-try the bookstore
Kelly Jones
Issue date: 9/28/06 Section: Commentary
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The Internet is great for a number of things-getting competitive recipes on cooking whole chickens, using Google Earth to pinpoint the exact longitude of your elementary school, or reading Zack Braff's personal blog until 3 a.m. Unfortunately, the Internet-though a barrel of laughs-also means the destruction of a great number of bookish livelihoods.
I'll admit that I like the fact that Amazon.com thinks that it knows what I would prefer to buy next, based on my previous purchases. But I will bet good money that the folks at Symposium Books in downtown Providence could make the same suggestions, should I happen to frequent their store as often as I buy their books online. As it stands, most of my books come from California-used, with some cover wear, but in **GOOD!** condition, and at prices that can't be beat.
With the advent of Half.com (a subsidiary of Ebay), students have been able to get their entire list of textbooks for hundreds of dollars less than their on or off-campus bookstore would sell them. I am guilty of taking advantage of this fairly new swindle. My science book for this semester cost me $5.75. All of this is very appealing to the average consumer. In retrospect, however, I have made a big mistake.
The notion of convenient buying and selling books began in the 1950s and '60s when books began appearing in department stores in newly erected suburbs. The standard '50s housewife could snatch up a cheap romance novel in between buying more linens and Levi's. Urban booksellers suffered greatly from this shift to suburbia-it wasn't long before Borders and Barnes and Noble stormed the scene, driving used and privately owned book stores practically off the radar.
According to Laura J. Miller, author of Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption, "the American Booksellers Association has crumbled from 5,200 bookstores in 1991 to 1,702 stores in 2005." In short, giant chains like Barnes and Noble are as equally responsible as Internet sites like Amazon.com for the demise of the independent bookstore.
I'll admit that I like the fact that Amazon.com thinks that it knows what I would prefer to buy next, based on my previous purchases. But I will bet good money that the folks at Symposium Books in downtown Providence could make the same suggestions, should I happen to frequent their store as often as I buy their books online. As it stands, most of my books come from California-used, with some cover wear, but in **GOOD!** condition, and at prices that can't be beat.
With the advent of Half.com (a subsidiary of Ebay), students have been able to get their entire list of textbooks for hundreds of dollars less than their on or off-campus bookstore would sell them. I am guilty of taking advantage of this fairly new swindle. My science book for this semester cost me $5.75. All of this is very appealing to the average consumer. In retrospect, however, I have made a big mistake.
The notion of convenient buying and selling books began in the 1950s and '60s when books began appearing in department stores in newly erected suburbs. The standard '50s housewife could snatch up a cheap romance novel in between buying more linens and Levi's. Urban booksellers suffered greatly from this shift to suburbia-it wasn't long before Borders and Barnes and Noble stormed the scene, driving used and privately owned book stores practically off the radar.
According to Laura J. Miller, author of Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption, "the American Booksellers Association has crumbled from 5,200 bookstores in 1991 to 1,702 stores in 2005." In short, giant chains like Barnes and Noble are as equally responsible as Internet sites like Amazon.com for the demise of the independent bookstore.