The Book Oasis

The Book Oasis Blog

Sunday, August 27th

Building the Future

Some customers were in my bookshop on Friday, and remarked, “This place isn’t like Barnes & Noble at all.” Well, no, for obvious reasons. On the surface of it that seems like a throwaway remark but on reflection, it has broader implications than you might suspect.

The speaker was a young man of about twelve; the kind of kid you’d see hanging out near the big shopping plaza—either chatting with friends, or weaving in between parked cars on his skateboard. He’s obviously grown up in the shadow of big box stores, and has little experience with small businesses. Elementary deduction, as Sherlock Holmes would remark. But consider now that this young man is using Barnes & Noble as the baseline by which he will judge all other bookshops, if not all other businesses in general! As such, he will expect a bookstore to have extensive collections of music, new carpeting, coffee or soft drinks, remainder tables, and a staff of a dozen or so employees. Any shop that doesn’t provide these needs is instantly judged as inferior, and unworthy of his attention or spending money. My own 2,000 square feet of books and my thirteen years as a bookseller notwithstanding, the young man left without a purchase.

This boy, and those like him, will be drawn more and more toward superstores and gleaming shopping centers, because they have no a priori shopping experience. As they grow older, and sire their own children, they will pass these judgments on to the next generation, endowing their offspring with a disdain for small businesses. In turn, they will tell others like them, which will discourage people from beginning small businesses of their own, as they will be unable to achieve a customer base. Only the mega-corporations and big box stores will be left to man storefronts, having engendered generations of shoppers who see them as the only worthy destinations.

This is not alarmist thinking. The process has already begun! Independent bookshops all over the country are closing at an alarming rate. The process is aided and abetted, perhaps unknowingly, by the superstores which offer deep discounts to their customers, using their random walk-in traffic to support this action. And in an economy which offers shrinking choices mixed with rising prices, customer loyalty doesn’t count as much as an aid to the pocketbook (no pun intended).

With a monopoly on outlets to buy books, the decision over what can be printed is out of the hands of the consumers (see my blog of 5/19/06). So the question becomes, what will happen to the older books? Some will, undoubtedly, be shuffled through thrift shops and rummage sales, garage sales, etc. Around and around they will move, but eventually to where? Who or what will be the repository of these books; who will care for the wisdom of the ages? And, more importantly, what will the world be like, when only corporations control our reading matter?

I read the other day that our so-called Information Age has now been supplanted by The Media Age. Sound-bites, websites, spin masters, popup windows, Ipods, PDAs, Blackberries, cell phones, MP3s, and online shopping are now the order of the day. Maybe. But what does this herald? And more importantly, where is it leading? Where are we going, as the world races ahead at breakneck speed, and we follow along in its wake, struggling to keep up?

We may well be building a future world that will be akin to that envisioned by Philip K. Dick in The Penultimate Truth; where cities are built one on top of each other and people toil endlessly, with only media feeds for their entertainment. All information, including books, will be filtered through limited outlets which will be tailored to fit the bottom line of an independent power, and not necessarily one controlled by the people!

Such a world is not only grim, it is unnecessary; and it need not come to pass. But for every bookshop that closes, that is one less option available for the consumer, and one step closer to a dystrophic future where the printed word is held hostage to the demands of a balance sheet.

Walk carefully friends and fellow booklovers--for the world of tomorrow seems intent on coming at the expense of the printed word. Consider all that books have done in the last 2,000 years alone, and ask yourself if you want to leave them in the foyer of the 21st century.

Larry Burdick on 08.27.06 @ 04:22 PM PST [link]

Saturday, August 19th

Dune Done!

Greetings friends and fellow booklovers!

It’s here! I got my first five copies of Frank Herbert’s last unfinished book, the seventh book of the Dune series: Hunters of Dune. Son Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson have finished the book. I was up until 2:00 AM last night reading it, and it’s pretty good!

For those who remember the last scene in Dune: Chapterhouse, ghola Duncan Idaho and Reverend Mother Sheeana, the only human able to control the titanic sandworms, escaped in a spaceship just as the planet was being overrun by the invading Honored Matres. The story picks up three years later—the ship is lost, with 150 important refugees aboard.

The story contains many of Herbert’s own unused epigraphs (quotations) and has many of the same props we’ve come to know, from sligs to no-fields. What’s truly exciting is the prospect of familiar faces returning to front and center—very familiar! But, if you truly want more, come pick up a copy. It’s brand-new, and available here at Book Oasis.

ACQUISITIONS:

We recently got our hands on the library of a golfer, so if another of your passions is traveling the links in search of the perfect birdie, now’s the time to come in! The books comprise everything from guidebooks to golf courses, to instructions on improving your swing. The stack is quite large, but they won’t last long.

Also in are multiple titles in the science section, including some hard-to-find books on the subject of optics.

Now, here are some more titles that we recently acquired:

Roughing It, by Mark Twain. This is a second printing of the First Edition, illustrated by period artists from 1872!

The 25th Man. The Strange Story of Ed Morrell, the Hero of Jack London's "Star Rover", by Ed Morell. This is a must for lovers of Jack London’s work.

Velocity, by Dean Koontz.

DSL for Dummies.

The Rabbit Factory, by Larry Brown.

Good Harbor: A Novel, by Anita Diamant.

Mama Leah’s Jewish Kitchen, by Leah Loeb Fischer.

Anatomy of the Spirit, by Caroline Myss.

Paper Tiger, by Tom Coyne.

Lance Armstrong’s War, by Daniel Coyle.

Fiberoptics and Laser Handbook, Second Edition.

BULLETIN: The appearance by Livermore Poet Laureate Connie Post has been cancelled due to a scheduling conflict.

Larry Burdick on 08.19.06 @ 08:52 PM PST [link]