11-25-2019, 07:15 AM | #61 |
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Same - I have never seen a bookstore arranged like this in the Anglosphere (Australia, the UK, USA, Canada anyway).
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11-25-2019, 08:25 AM | #62 |
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The only time I had ever seen books displayed in (actual) series order, was when THE STORE created a special event display.
All the rest of the time, books (not in a specific genre section) (even those) were filed by Author-Title |
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11-29-2019, 01:38 PM | #63 | |||
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Incidentally: keeping an eye on other markets (other countries/languages) is relevant for the theme of "completeness". I found for example that it is good "to keep an eye on the French" as they may publish pearls that will hardly pass their borders; I was thinking of data science as the trigger of this sentence, but really they are for instance very attentive towards data-oriented geopolitics... Material that if not actively met, if you do not move to find it, will be missed (largely untranslated). About "different publishing practices", as I wrote that list, none of the anglophone books I could immediately find in my shelves seemed to contain series references. It is very typical instead in other regions - "strict monographies" typically occupy a specific series (which I could name "Flamboyant Coverpages"). Quote:
I understand looking for a specific title would normally require asking for assistance (as I do when I cannot immediately locate it myself) or checking the catalogue. But on the other hand, the publishing enterprise, the intellectual work behind the publications, emerges. I have the same issue you indicate with the other classification method: I entered a bookstore which would be supposed to be the most interested in hosting series X, say, as the owners of the bookstore itself published it, and it was scattered on many tables... Now, I wanted to see what I was missing of the series, titles I did not know - I wanted to have them all together, and I gave up. I did not even think to ask for the catalogue... But then, the catalogue at hand, I would have needed constant assistance and 50 trips to check them. If you are not looking for a specific title, it is much better to have a well done grouping in front of you. And to my experience, "Series [professionally done]" beats "Dewey" (which certainly beats "pretty much sorted in broad categories only, we only have a thousand books here"). Quote:
I think it is also a matter of the quantity of your collection. Most bookstores I meet have a meager selection: it is meaningless then to organize it outside broad categories. But when you have books in the order of the hundreds of thousands, you need a very good grouping system... And there is where the factor of completeness, which you can benefit from, emerges. Browsing what you have in front in this case is already, so to say, "bibliographical research". Last edited by mdp; 11-29-2019 at 04:48 PM. |
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11-29-2019, 02:15 PM | #64 | |
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Online catalogues (e.g. from resellers) are somehow like peeking through a keyhole (unless I am missing good resources). Publisher's catalogues are not as good as having them books at hand. This is why the physical collection in front of you - when rich, complete, well organized - is priceless. Last edited by mdp; 11-29-2019 at 03:03 PM. |
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11-29-2019, 05:39 PM | #65 |
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What problem? I have no problem finding ,ore books that I want to read than I have time to read. I prefer the ebook reading experience by far...and the ebook buying experience...by far.
Personal preference. Doesn’t extend to anybody else. The point of the post is that I went back to a book store and found fond remembrances of when I used to go to book stores. It was nice to browse books and to see them visually. Even the smell of the books. Getting the books gift wrapped to actually hand a physical present instead of a gift card. It was nice. Nice enough to bring me back into normal patronage? No. Not even close. I’m just glad that enough people still buy physical books such that my local book store still exists. |
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12-01-2019, 01:09 PM | #66 | |
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As I wrote: those who just can read without a need to put much priority in picking what to read can be content with a list that does not result from extensive exploration (of what is available). Others may have a benefit, or just a wish, of exploring thoroughly what is available. For the latter, my point is, a properly furnished and organized bookstore is invaluable as it gives you a full physical catalogue - a catalogue not made by pictures and summaries but of the actual items. You wrote «I have zero problems finding more books that I want to read but won't have time to read», so I pointed out that the scarcity of time immediately suggests defining priorities. Defining priorities imposes an "exploration" exercise. Well furnished and organized bookstores, I stated, can be precious for that exploration. This, in general: in your case specifically, it was clear that you are already set; I wanted to show the other side, for which online alternatives (those I know) do not seem to work. This, as a further point from the many more that make good bookstores a good thing to have:
And my point was that the «ebook [titles browsing] experience» may leave much to be desired if compared with browsing a «full physical catalogue [...] made of the actual items». Not in terms of personal preference: I am stating something is missing. |
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12-01-2019, 02:52 PM | #67 |
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Well...in my experience, it’s the physical book store that’s limited compared to what’s online. However, the rest I agree with. Not that one is better or worse....but that there are enjoyable experiences about being in a book store gives that aren’t found online.
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02-08-2020, 04:05 PM | #68 |
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(I got slowed down, but I wanted to write the following much earlier.)
I can propose that something which is missing is a sort of an IKEA model. (I do not intend to promote the brand - I need to highlight the clever completeness, freedom and benefits of a system it uses.) IKEA covers a complete range of exploration facilities. It offers catalogues; you can explore items it sells online and you may order them online and have them shipped. At the same time, they have warehouses you can visit, and check the items directly: touch, see, browse, check, compare, look around, take your time, possibly buy. And those warehouses are pretty complete, maybe showing 99-ish percent of the catalogue. And organized twice (stretching the metaphor a bit) - thematically (living, kitchen etc.) on some floors and by storage order (series_AAA-code001 etc.) on some other floors; so: "by topic" here and "by series" there, by room display here and by shelf there, open here and compact there. And it would not matter if you then bought online afterwards: to check the items is part of their promotion. Some intelligent variation of the same model* may be missed about books. There are reasons to have their catalogue available online, to have them purchasable electronically, to have them in an electronic format, and there are reasons to have places where to find their complete (or almost complete) offer reflected physically. And in fact, some businesses work similarly. *(Of course, the parallel of the two worlds of furniture and books is not strict and dumb, 1:1. For example, IKEA diffuses music in the warehouses, which is a focus-limiting Gruen transfer trick. That would be criminal or abysmally ignorant in a bookstore - where focus is highly relevant. And of course the furniture has to be finally physical - but this is not relevant to the promotional model and the freedom and possibilities offered to the customer; books just happen to be available in more forms.) Last edited by mdp; 02-08-2020 at 04:11 PM. |
02-15-2020, 12:00 AM | #69 |
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bookstores aren't going to have everything but neither does amazon either or sites online for that matter. i still buy books and have hundreds of books in all counting all my paperbacks and hardbacks as well. i dunno how many as i've never counted them.
it also depends on where you go as well. there was a bookstore around here that's been gone for years called Bookseller and it's been gone sadly since like the early 2000 i want to say and man do i miss it, they had a really good collection but they didn't have everything no store does i don't think |
02-15-2020, 04:04 PM | #70 |
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I have been checking out YouTube's "walking around" in Japan as it was interesting & nice "time killer".
On 1 episode, I saw around 6 or 7 bookstores (used?) in a block, one after another; the next block had more bookstores with a grocery store sometimes in-between. Don't know how small the bookstores are as only saw the storefronts with shelves of many books. Then encountered an episode featuring a "Kanda (sp?) book festival". Could have been the same stores previously seen but in this case even the sidewalks had shelves of books. AND people were looking/browsing the various bookshelves/cases. As I saw in Tokyo & other cities, the people seem to walk around holding smartphones & some were looking at the devices all the time; or talking on the phone which is surprising as there were lots of phone booths, still; encased in 4 sided glass & the booths had a small shelf for writing notes or whatever. An anomaly. Wonder if there are still many bookstores in other countries or even phone booths still in good operating condition. I consider that Japan is a very "hi-tech" country but still having so many bookstores just boggles my mind where people are still reading printed books & buying them. But they still have unvandalized phone booths. |
02-15-2020, 09:52 PM | #71 | |
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I did go to a couple of Japanese book stores. Neat to browse, though of course I couldn't read a thing. I remember Stephen King's It was divided into three books. Their books looked very nice, what we would call a mass market paperback still comes with a dust jacket. Here's one of the covers I remember seeing for It. |
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02-22-2020, 04:46 PM | #72 | |
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The point is to strive for completeness - the vastest majority of shops have too poor a collection. A million is unhoped for, but ten thousand is acceptable only on a clever selection - the (almost) complete work from one or two publishers, or the maniacal coverage of one or two topics etc. Not ten thousand as in "You are looking for Orwell, sorry I do not have it but I can sell you Huxley" (and I have witnessed much worse than that. I have actually witnessed a «I would like to buy a copy of the I-Ching». The clerk turns to me and goes «And to think I have so many good cook books, why did that customer need to be so stiff on her interests...». He was apparently serious on the idea that people "come and pick" - wandering "customers" without a direction which are there to be attracted by random objects). Last edited by mdp; 02-22-2020 at 04:59 PM. |
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02-22-2020, 05:15 PM | #73 | ||
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People do not buy paper after a reason that they cannot buy bytes. The experience is not the same, nor are the pros and cons. Quote:
Those two points - containment of unrequired pollution and privacy as a default - indicate "civilized" to me. Japan is, according to the 2016 OECD report about literacy, the current pinnacle of the distribution of intellectual skills - and well higher than second-placed Scandinavian - Benelux countries. They probably have, in general, an idea of what they are doing. |
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02-22-2020, 05:31 PM | #74 |
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I don't find that so strange, I mean, look at the resurgence of vinyl records in recent years.
Also, I think Japan also has a higher proportion of older people who are perhaps less tech savvy than some countries? EDIT: Ironically, a lot of the benefits of eBooks would help older people more such as variable text size. |
02-23-2020, 05:19 AM | #75 | |
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The marriage of Japan with hi-tech, the cultural ease, was already there when those old people were young or mature. I am sure most of them are also capable of going electronic and enlarge their fonts, when they so wish or require. Since I mentioned the high literacy recorded in Japan, one can suspect, also for historical reasons, that it should be higher for the younger generations than for that of the eldest - illiteracy in Japan is in fact the lowest for the "late twenties" but it doubles approaching the "sixties" and triples after that, reaching around 20%-25% in the "eighties and over". So, the distribution of of reading habits in such aging population is probably mitigated - the "tech un-savy" for reasons of age were probably less concerned in the first place. That parallel between paper and vinyl has some correct and telling aspects. You should not just consider the item (the design quality, the ownership, the experience), but also the experience of the vinyl records shops (the browsing and sieving, the collection etc.). |
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