Review of IN PRAISE OF GOOD BOOKSTORES
A delightful short read on our experiences in bookstores
There is something special about browsing a bookstore and discovering something new. Something that you didn’t see online and that no one told you about. You searched the spines of countless books, exploring new sections, and something about this book caught your eye causing you to pick it up. A chance encounter with something unknown.
Contrast this with my Amazon book buying experience. No browsing, no discovery, just me searching the exact title of a book I heard of elsewhere so I can add it to my “book list” on the site. I’ll admit that I buy many books this way (and also buy many books in bookstores in an effort to help keep them around), but it is not delightful. It is not an experience. It’s just a transaction.
When I came across In Praise of Good Bookstores by Jeff Deutsch in Princeton Press’ newsletter, I bought it immediately. It’s a charming little book with an even more charming cover design (flip to the inside of the covers when you get your hands on it).
The book is a brief philosophical reflection on what makes a bookstore what it is, and why we should keep them around. Deutsch, who runs the Seminary Co-op Bookstore in Chicago, weaves his own experience in the industry with historical perspectives to describe aspects of the bookstore experience: space, abundance, value, community, and time.
He draws attention to the ways in which good bookstores are designed for you to get “lost in the stacks” of curated titles by dedicated staff who know their communities. There is something inherently valuable about the experience of browsing a bookstore, one which Deutsch argues should be protected, rather than succumb to the Amazon retail model. To combat this tension, Deutsch’s bookstore became a non-profit, whose mission is selling books.
The value is, and has always been, at least in the good and serious bookstores, in the experience of being among books – an experience afforded to anyone who enters the space with curiosity and time.
In Praise of Good Bookstores is a delightful read that articulated many of the feelings I have when I make time to discover and browse in bookstores – an experience I highly value. It’s a short read that you can knock out in a day or two. Some reviews complain of the number of quotes in the book. There are many, which I usually find quite annoying in books, but they are used well here, and I don’t think they distract from the book; rather, they make it what it is.
Published: April 2022
Format: Hardcover
If you think this sounds interesting, bookmark these other great reads:
This Is Your Mind On Plants by Michael Pollan (2021)
Sustainable. Resilient. Free.: The Future of Public Higher Education by John Warner (2020)
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