You know the feeling - there’s something that you enjoy or appreciate that you feel in your bones is out of step with the modern world and probably on its way out. Maybe it’s a brick and mortar store, maybe it’s a software program, maybe it’s a restaurant. Maybe it’s a way of doing things, or a style. Whatever it is, here’s the thread to wax lyrical about it, and how you’ll miss it when it’s gone.
Oh, I know - there are those of you who are impatient with sentimentalists like me. You embrace the changes and mock people like me as outmoded dinosaurs clinging to our buggy-whips and spats. Luddites, you cry, your noses in the air. Well, all I can say is - this is not the thread for you!
My first (I have many, but I’ll try to keep it to one per post…) is a favourite book shop - The Sleuth of Baker Street - an entire book store devoted to mysteries.
The thing I love most about this store is that everyone who is working there is someone who knows the genre inside out, who admires writers, and who will happily recommend new authors and new titles. They aren’t going from some online book.bot that says ‘people who bought this book also bought this other book’; they are actually listening to what it is you enjoy about writers A, B and C and suggesting writers based on your tastes. You can spend a lovely hour or two browsing and chatting about mysteries to kindred souls, while petting Percy the dog.
I have been known to get them to order non-mystery books that I couldn’t find except online because I’d rather give them my business than any of the big online chains. Alas, I know the writing is on the wall for all brick and mortar book stores. Who cares? I will continue to visit there as long as I can because it’s exactly the type of book shop I love.
I have hundreds of them. It seems all the Rand McNally titles are going out of print except for the largest cities, so I see my hobby coming to an end in 15 years or so when the ones I have become obsolete.
Although I’m digital now I always like the way film looked, even standard C41 negatives. They had a smooth, organic look and handled high contrast scenes better than digicams.
Vacuum tube audio. I have a 5.1 channel home theater setup with vacuum tube amps. Like a lot of people I’ve lost a lot of my high frequency hearing over the years (I’m almost 40) but I still like the sound.
Physical records. And I include CDs. I want a physical copy of something, so I can have something to display and talk about with dinner guests, so I can admire the artwork and read album notes, to fill my shelves with a statement about me.
Stars Our Destination was a fantastic sci-fi/fantasy themed bookstore in Chicago, and the fact that I have to type “was” in this sentence grieves me deeply.
Boom Box - I still use mine outside when I’m working in the yard or garage. It was a smart design with speakers on each end, cd player and radio. Later ones had tv screens.
Oh yeah. I also have a collection of road and trail maps. On my first couple of cross-country trips I didn’t have a computer, so paper maps was the only option. I used to stop at AAA offices and visitor centers to stock up on regional maps and tour books. They really offered a lot of information to the traveler, no wi-fi required.
Perhaps, in the future, actual paper books will become so uncommon, and yet still loved enough by some, that small local bookstores will make a comeback. At some point in my college education, I was told to envision my future, and draw it. I don’t remember everything that was in that picture, but I do recall that a room filled with shelved books was in it. I’ve loved reading since I was a child, and always wanted a home with thousands of my favorite books displayed.
There’s a warmth, a nostalgia involved with the look, feel, and smell of books. I’ll miss that, but that many books, as often as I move, are impracticable to keep and transport. My new Kindle will allow me to keep thousands of books in a space smaller than a single book. As a book lover, I can’t get upset about that. I’m looking for a nice leather cover for it, to give it a more organic look, feel, and smell. That should help a great deal.
Oh, I’m a map lover, too, from a long way back. I have a large collection of maps from cities I’ve worked in, some of them dating back about 20 years. It’s quite fun now to compare what existed then with what exists now, and what was drawn in as ‘completion expected by…’ that may or may not ever have been completed.
My favourites were the record stores where the album came in a plastic sleeve from the store, and someone would have written in all the details that weren’t necessarily on the outside of the album cover - details like the exact line-up of the band, or the fact that ‘this was the only time that Jon Anderson (of Yes) sang with King Crimson’. I could spend hours in a shop like that (and often did!), mentally charting out the family trees and career paths of dozens of jazz and rock musicians. I had friends who had learned most of their classical music history from the back of record jackets.
I buy downloads for the convenience, but I’m looking over at a few hundred vinyl records as I write this.
You need to come to Toronto before Bakka Phoenix gets run out of business… Actually, they’re doing pretty well in the current location; it’s right off the University of Toronto campus, and once upon a time, there were about 15 good used and new bookstores within 1/4 mile of their current location. I’m doing my best to keep them going…
I’m generally a huge proponent of tech and will abandon Old World things in a heartbeat, but I do miss using a tactile, ergonomic phone for phone calls. I appreciate the convenience and utility of cell/smartphones, but damned if these pocket-sized touchscreen devices don’t suck for making and receiving phone calls.
I’m a serious reader and bibliophile. About two years ago I got a Kindle and never looked back. It’s just such a quantum leap over physical book buying - cheaper, faster, lighter, easier. I’ve bought exactly two physical books since buying a Kindle. Both were photograph and illustration heavy. I’ve bought dozens of electronic texts in the same timeframe.
But physical books will never go away. Yes, they will diminish in popularity and number sold per year. But there really is something about them - the tactile feel of turning pages, the permanence of a well-bound and printed book. They will become something only the hobbyists and the historians collect, but they will be around for another thousand years. Because a physical book, done right, is a thing of beauty.
