Tyler Cowen has a Slate article on the decline of the independent (and generally speaking) used bookstore. I agree that the rise of the superstore is a good thing. Few markets have anything like Powell's. Instead they have small, poorly stocked stores with limited choice. Today, nearly every major metro has a Borders or Barnes and Noble where you can find almost any book you want.
Still I do like the character of the independent bookshop. It just has to earn your custom, as the really good ones do.
Cowen also tells people to head down to the library, to which I can only add "Huzzah!"
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Not standing up for the little guy
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1 comment:
We are probably closer in agreement that you think.
As a GMU Econ prof, you know Cowan is pro-market. When you peel aside his anti-elitist rhetoric, he is arguing that a lot of independent bookstores aren't that good. I agree that if a bookstore is as good as Powells or Shakespeare and Co, or Codys or the Tattered Cover or (on a different level) JM Prince in ORF, then that is all well and good. I don't want to give custom to an independent bookstore merely because it is independent. I would argue that most towns don't have one of these and probably can't support one.
I hope, but I may be wrong, that the big bookstores are promoting a broader appreciation of books and the good titles. Those like you and me who are looking for something really good may have to search out that good bookstore, but if there are enough of us in a given town then there is probably a bookstore.
And please Steve, the Internet is a vast repository of book opinion. You yourself utilize metacritic, which is a great means of finding new items.
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