Re: where to buy books

[Chuck Melikian <chuckm -at- MDHOST -dot- CSE -dot- TEK -dot- COM>]

Bill Bledsoe wrote:

# Not to campaign... but there are alternatives to the "big guy" in
# Seattle for books... even on the net... even with prodigidous discounts!
#
# Here in good ol' St. Louis... we're the proud home of the Largest
# Independent Bookstore in the US... You can check them out at:
#
# http://www.libraryltd.com
#
# They have cleaned up on the "big guys" that have come to town to try and
# challenge them... because even though they have 170,000+ books in stock,
# they still feel like a corner bookstore.  And they act like it too...
# check out their calendar of events... they get all of the big name and
# little name book signings here... and they INVENTED the Cafe' in a
# Bookstore many years ago... before it was "cool"

Hmmm. The biggest? I don't know about that. :-) Powell's Books, located
in Portland Oregon, has over 1,000,000 books in stock. They are not
associated with any book publisher or inter-state chain. Granted, a substantial
portion are used books, but hey, when was the last time Grapes of Wrath
was revised?

Powell's didn't invent the Cafe in bookstore bit, but they do have one
in the downtown store. They have several branch stores, including
Powell's Technical Bookstore. I have found a number of books on
technical documentation at Powell's. Powell's is on the web at:

   http://www.powells.com/

# Yep... Library LTD is one of the few examples where a St. Louisan can
# proudly say "We had it first" and gig those "coastal types" a bit ;-)

Oh, you mean the coffee shop in the bookstore bit. Yeah, well, okay. ;-)

I agree with Bill about buying from local bookstores. There was an
article in Salon (www.salonmagazine.com) a few weeks back about Amazon
Books. Amazon claims the title of "Earth's Biggest Bookstore". But,
the article says that is a bit of an exaggeration. Amazon only keeps
10,000 books in stock and the rest are special ordered. That's a long way
from being the earth's biggest bookstore (hey, it's not even the biggest
bookstore in St. Louis).

The author of the article did a little test to see if Amazon really was
as good as they claim. He ordered several books from Amazon, Borders and
a local bookstore (and possibly another store). One of the books was a
bestseller. The other books were less common and one was an obscure text.
Amazon, as best I can recall, had the best price on the bestseller.
Other than that, they weren't as good as the big chains or the local
bookseller. He got the best service from the local store. He had to beat
the sales clerk at Borders about the head and shoulders (figuratively
speaking) to even get them to order the obscure book (though it did arrive
from Borders sooner than it arrived from Amazon). He notes in the article
that the chains and most local bookstores will have books delivered to your
home (if prepayed). And that the independent booksellers have the same
access to book publishers that Amazon does. In summary, the article
suggests that you are better off doing business with your local
bookstore than any chain. The locals will spend time talking to you
that the big guys (including Amazon) won't.

I admit I have bought books from Amazon. Information Architects by
Wurman is only about $28 with shipping ($49.95 retail) while it is
on the Amazon 500. Still, I prefer to shop from local stores such
as Powell's.

Chuck Melikian                                      chuck -dot- melikian -at- tek -dot- com
Worldwide Customer Communications
Measurement Business Division
Tektronix, Inc.

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