Thursday, January 12, 2012

The joy of books

So, I have already admitted that I am now a Kindle owner, and am enjoying it. You can look up words (English or German) by clicking directly on the unknown word; you can switch between books depending on what you feel like reading; and it's super light and easy to read. But this article on "Amazon's Jungle Logic" did make me feel more than a little guilty  ("scorched earth capitalism"!). I don't want to contribute to Amazon taking over the world! I don't want to take my money out of local economies! I've become confused and rather hypocritical about my book values. I still want the best of both worlds...print when I want it, and e-books in bed at night or on the train.

Jessica just sent me this video and I had to re-post. Oh, I would be sooo sad if bookstores disappeared! My hometown, Duluth, just lost its local downtown bookstore this past year, and it was like some kind of sign of things to come. It's like all the local cafés with character being replaced by Starbucks, or all the bakeries and cheese-shops being replaced by supermarkets.What will the world look like 10 years from now?!

3 comments:

  1. Bestimmt ist das aber schade!!!

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  2. It's so hard :/ I might not have bought a Kindle yet, but even today I bought new running shoes on Amazon for $30 - as much as I love Running Fit, how could I pass up a deal like that?!
    My dad just sent me a really sweet article that was in Money magazine about a man who just left an IT job to open a bookstore in New Jersey, though, so perhaps all is not lost.

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  3. Amazon is taking over because they do everything right. Why does that make them the bad guy? If people love their little local shops and bookstores so much, they'd provide enough buoyancy to keep them afloat.

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