Online Bookstores

Online bookstores really are a great convenience, one that just a few years ago we could not have even dreamed of. At an online bookstore, you can do anything – you can order books for cheaper than you would otherwise be able to do, you can browse for books on topics of similar interest, and even check out other users recommendations. The online book store is a great innovation, but there is a drawback to all this. Online bookstores are driving regular bookstores out of business. And despite the usefulness of online bookstores, that is sad. Because there is so much that is nice about a traditional bookstore that you don’t get at online bookstores.

I remember always being excited growing up when my parents would take us to the bookstore. In online bookstores, you don't get to see the impressive shelves lined with every conceivable kind of literature, or smell the unique aroma of new and used books. There is no nice clerk at online bookstores to answer your question about what is the best book by a particular author, or what is a good book within a particular genre. Although online bookstores strive to make some similar kind of information available, it is the personal contact that you really miss out on. An online bookstore may have all the variety, or even more, but there are no other people there to share your love of reading with you.

Of course, there are still and always will be libraries, since they will never be replaced by online bookstores. How could an online bookstore replace a library? Nothing replaces books for free. My favorite place to get books though is not a library or one of the online bookstores, but actually in the garbage bins behind a regular bookstore called Pegasus books. They are a used bookstore which throws out so many things you wouldn't even believe – great works of fiction, encyclopedias, and even scholarly books. Of course you have to be willing to take what is there, and there isn't the selection of online bookstores, but there is something exciting about going to Pegasus, never knowing what you are going to find. Rummaging for books has a thrill that few other things have, if you love books as much as I do. It is like reaching your hand into the dentists treasure box when you are a kid and pulling out something new and mysterious.