The Bookstore

Last night I spent some time at the local bookstore. There is something nice about being able to leaf through a number of books trying to decide what you are interested in reading. It would be a shame if electronic books completely displaced all bookstores. Don't get me wrong though, I am a huge fan of electronic books.

When I was in college, I used to carry around an overloaded backpack filled with my engineering textbooks. We had the technology back then to reduce all of those books to their electronic equivalent and I would have paid extra money to do so. Electronic books should cost a fraction of their printed equivalents. There is no need to cut down a tree for the paper. There is no need to do elaborate four-color printings. There is no need to ship the heavy product to warehouses and then onto stores.

Lately I have found myself doing a lot more electronic reading and less magazine and book reading. I'm not sure what is causing the shift in my reading habits. However last night it was comforting to go back to the bookstore and read the old fashion way.