[Sydney's Mom]

A couple times a year, we used to go to the local bookstore (Borders, not a cute independent) and my husband and I would both buy a couple hundred dollars worth of books, to last us until our next bookstore run. But since I got my kindle, all my book shopping has been online. Online at the library, dependent upon Overdrive's listing of what I might like, online at Amazon, based on a book I might have heard about. I thought it was great, that I wasn't wasting an afternoon at the bookstore, wasting gas, looking for a parking spot, etc. But I wonder what books I am missing.

On the one hand, I am no longer able to judge a book by its cover. But what does this mean for us as a society? Of course, the bookstore was censoring what I would see, so I guess we are just switching to another censor, perhaps a more egalatarian one in the internet.

But maybe that is just the way shopping is evolving - I haven't been inside a yarn shop, for example, in five years - all my shopping is over the internet. And knitting is a more tactile activity than reading.

I see a big shift in how reading material is delivered. I guess it is no different than the shifts we have seen in other delivery models, such as yarn buying. The internet put the local yarn store out of business, and it will probably put the stand-alone bookstores out of business.

I would appreciate any further education - I am slow, but maybe I can join the conversation.

Thanks, Debra