So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[2jakes]

The loss of the small bookstore ended one of my favorite pastimes. In NYC, twenty five years ago when I first moved here, there were so many of them - staffed by book lovers - that many of my reading choices came from the "staff's selections." It might be silly, but I loved the physical nature of those places - most where old, dusty, stuffed to the gills with shelves of books (books on piles on the floor, etc.), marginally organized and great places to browse and chat with fellow book lovers. Within almost any few blocks, you could walk into several very good ones.

What amazed me is that after grumbling, but finally "learning" how to shop at Borders and Barnes and Noble (I hung in with the old book stores as long as I could, but by the mid-to-late '90s, they kept closing to the point that I needed another source for books) - and never really liking it - they started going away too and, now, I buy and shop for almost all my books on-line. I've "learned" how to find interesting books, where to look to get ideas for new books to read etc. on-line, but it isn't the same at all. It truly tok away one of my favor hobbies.

I do still frequent used bookstores that don't really carry new books and only sell used books. They are fun in their own way, but they are not at all like what small bookstores were.

I also gave up reading the physical paper as more stores not only stopped carrying them, but more importantly for me, they stopped getting them in early. I read my papers at +/- 5am and, in NYC, I used to be able to get them that early - now that I can't, I've been forced on-line. That was a very, very hard transition, and I still miss both the physicalness of the print edition and the closed-content reality of a physical paper (on-line, you just keep reading as stories get published throughout the day and are linked to other related items, so there's is no beginning or end, just a constantly changing stream of information).

All of the above plus the old public library. I remember the encyclopedia books that Lizzie mentioned in the past.

 

[Harp]

The loss of the small bookstore ended one of my favorite pastimes. In NYC, twenty five years ago when I first moved here, there were so many of them - staffed by book lovers - that many of my reading choices came from the "staff's selections." It might be silly, but I loved the physical nature of those places - most where old, dusty, stuffed to the gills with shelves of books (books on piles on the floor, etc.), marginally organized and great places to browse and chat with fellow book lovers. Within almost any few blocks, you could walk into several very good ones.
...I do still frequent used bookstores that don't really carry new books and only sell used books. They are fun in their own way, but they are not at all like what small bookstores were.
...I also gave up reading the physical paper as more stores not only stopped carrying them, but more importantly for me, they stopped getting them in early. I read my papers at +/- 5am and, in NYC, I used to be able to get them that early - now that I can't, I've been forced on-line...

Chicago still has used book shops, thankfully. I understand NYC retail space commands a high premium and many book stores were consequently run off.
I occasionally will buy a New York Times but more typically search for domestic and foreign papers online. Lazy I guess.

 

[JimWagner]

I read all the time and always have. For me, and I realize that many won't feel the same, my Kindle had been great. If I can get what I want to read on the Kindle that's where I read it now. If anything, I read even more there than I did with physical books. And my house isn't sinking under the weight of old books any longer. I've pretty much gotten rid of most of those the past few years.

I still order a few physical books that I can't get on Kindle for one reason or another, especially if they are special interest (like repairing older cameras) and not likely to show up in electronic form.

The Barnes & Noble was where I used to go a lot, but in the past few years they've started carrying fewer of the books I'm interested in and they almost never have the book I go in there looking for it seems. I really hate being told, "We can order it for you" at any store. I can order it, usually cheaper and with free shipping from Amazon. About the only thing a brick and mortar store can offer me is having it in stock and if they can't do that then it's not worth the trip.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The best used book store I've ever been to is about sixty miles from here, in a converted chicken barn. Commercial chicken barns are very large -- this one's longer than a football field -- and this one has antiques and flea-market stuff on the first level and every conceivable type of book or magazine on the second. The magazine selection is especially rich -- every issue of Life, for example, from 1936 to 1972 and again thru the revival in the eighties and nineties is available in multiple copies, making it possible for one to track every twist and turn of the Luce worldview. Most other popular magazines of the Era are also very well represented, as well as more obscure publications. If you want a copy of the Sporting News from 1959 or a bound volume of "Casket and Sunnyside, the Trade Journal for Morticians," you'll find it. There's also a very deep selection of 1920s-40s sheet music. I've been going there since the mid-1980s, and have never left emptyhanded.

I can't imagine how empty my house would feel without books. In addition to reading material, a full bookcase makes excellent insulation.

 

[HudsonHawk]

We've had traffic roundabouts since 1909.That's why we find them so easy, grown up with them, encountered them on the driving test. Now if you want complicated.

A lot of countries have them in place of traffic signals, and if you've ever seen them navigated routinely by the locals, it's a pretty amazing sight. Of course, you have to have a different driving mentality. If you're the type who wants to jump out and fight the other driver every time someone cuts in front of you, it might not be for you.

 

[Fading Fast]

I read all the time and always have. For me, and I realize that many won't feel the same, my Kindle had been great. If I can get what I want to read on the Kindle that's where I read it now. If anything, I read even more there than I did with physical books. And my house isn't sinking under the weight of old books any longer. I've pretty much gotten rid of most of those the past few years.

I still order a few physical books that I can't get on Kindle for one reason or another, especially if they are special interest (like repairing older cameras) and not likely to show up in electronic form.

The Barnes & Noble was where I used to go a lot, but in the past few years they've started carrying fewer of the books I'm interested in and they almost never have the book I go in there looking for it seems. I really hate being told, "We can order it for you" at any store. I can order it, usually cheaper and with free shipping from Amazon. About the only thing a brick and mortar store can offer me is having it in stock and if they can't do that then it's not worth the trip.

To each his own, sincerely, but books probably more than any other physical item make a house a home for me. I love being able to look at the books I've read (and plan to reread) and the ones I haven't yet read, and when visiting friends' houses, looking at their bookshelves feels like another way to get to know someone and kicks off great conversations - "you read that, I loved it..." or "can't wait to read this, what did you think of it?"

Couldn't agree with you more though on physical bookstore, fair or not, if they don't have it in stock, then they have no value in the age of Amazon. That said, I will pay a premium over Amazon to a store that carries the book as I understand their extra costs and, personally, am willing to do that to support their business.

 

[JimWagner]

Oh, I still have physical books. But it's several hundreds now and not several thousands. Much more of a controlled situation now.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Chicago still has used book shops, thankfully. I understand NYC retail space commands a high premium and many book stores were consequently run off.
I occasionally will buy a New York Times but more typically search for domestic and foreign papers online. Lazy I guess.

Is Powell's still down by U of C? That was one of my favorite haunts back in the day. One of their relatives ended up in Portland OR and opened a truly magnificent multi- story new and used bookstore. I spent more time there than I spent at the Louvre when I was in Paris.

 

[Harp]

Is Powell's still down by U of C? That was one of my favorite haunts back in the day...

Last I looked Powell's was still there. O'Gara's gone. Seminary still. And La Petite Folie on east 55th is a nice post bookshop blitz pit stop.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

A lot of countries have them in place of traffic signals, and if you've ever seen them navigated routinely by the locals, it's a pretty amazing sight. Of course, you have to have a different driving mentality. If you're the type who wants to jump out and fight the other driver every time someone cuts in front of you, it might not be for you.

There's a roundabout right by the antique mall where I have a dealer space.

 

[Trenchfriend]

The famous roundabout in Paris:

 

[JimWagner]

Afluenza.

My new most hated word.

 

[Zombie_61]

...Since I have yet to meet the person who likes them, why do they seem to be growing in (if not popularity) adoption by cities? Are they somehow cheaper to build, maintain or do they really solve a traffic problem the best way?

A lot of countries have them in place of traffic signals...

Bingo. No traffic signals to install and maintain equals less maintenance costs for the local municipalities.

We have a five-way intersection here in my home town, and every decade or so the city starts talking about converting it to one of those roundabouts. And every time they do, the public outcry is so negative that the discussion ends until the next time they bring it up. Having had 54 years worth of watching people drive in this part of southern California, I can safely say a roundabout would only be beneficial to the local hospitals, auto body shops, and mortuaries.

Afluenza. My new most hated word.

Strap that kid into Ol' Sparky and throw the switch. And if/when his parents complain, give them a seat as well. I'll be surprised if he ever amounts to anything more than a drain on the local community.

 

[Haversack]

There are a couple of traffic circles here in San Francisco. If you are used to the rule that vehicles already in the circle have the right-of-way be warned. Pedestrians crossing the feeder streets have the right-of-way over vehicles exiting the circle. This causes the traffic in the circle to come to a halt as the crosswalks are placed such that vehicles exiting the circle cannot continue in the circle while at the same time they block the circle traffic. This is especially true for long vehicles like buses. The circle at Townsend and Division is especially prone to this as the pedestrian count there is be approaching 100 a minute.

 

[swanson_eyes]

I don't read a lot but when I do I like to have a book in hand. The electronic form puts me off.

 

[Zombie_61]

I don't read a lot but when I do I like to have a book in hand. The electronic form puts me off.

During dinner last night a friend and I had a brief discussion about the probability that even restaurant menus will someday be replaced by some form of electronic version. We're both currently in our mid-50s, and I gave 50/50 odds on whether or not it would happen during our lifetimes.

I've only tried the "e-book" thing once, when maintenance on my truck took longer than expected and I found myself in need of a way to pass the time that was more enjoyable than watching one of the horrid local morning chat shows on the television in the waiting area, and I remembered I could access free reading material on my not-so-smart phone. The obvious advantage is the ability to access an entire library through a device you can hold in one hand. And for generations who are growing up with electronic devices everywhere, it's clear that they will become the new normal and that books will one day be considered to be as antiquated as cave paintings. But I also much prefer having an actual book in my hands; paper has a considerably more friendly and comfortable feeling in the hands than cold hard plastic and glass. Besides, I don't know of any electronic device that can replicate the wonderful musty aroma of a used book store.

 

[Trenchfriend]

My point of view:

Who need e-books (and net-books), for real?

A classic middle-classed multimedia-notebook and additional nice books and I'm lucky.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think the tipping point will come when you have a generation of people who learned to read on screens instead of on paper, because the actual mechanics of reading are different between the two formats. When you're reading from a printed book, you're focusing your eyes in a specific way on a specific page layout which is quite different from the process of reading on a screen. When a generation arises that finds reading from a printed book to be as tiring and unnatural as some of us find reading off a screen, that will be the end of the line for books.

This difference is the main reason why I prefer print newspapers to websites. In a print paper, the layout tells you much about the relative importance of the story, and there's a certain visual context that comes from scanning an entire page with your eyes. Online layouts don't really capture this, and as more and more sites rework their page layouts to be "mobile friendly" -- a format which I absolutely despise -- the ability to understand that context will be more and more a forgotten art.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Generation 2010, maybe.

 

[Lemastre]

But my biggest pet peeve, . . . , is when the waiter sits down at your table to take your order. I don't remember inviting you to join me.

I eat alone, and waiters often sit down to get the order. Otherwise, they're competent enough. I frequent chain restaurants whose waiters receive minimum training, which doesn't foresee all the annoying things untrained waiters can do. Of course, most of their customers are untrained diners, too.