The bookshop is dead

It's ten years since I started looking for computer textbooks in Dublin's book stores. It used to involve quite a lot of hunting, but after wearing the soles of my shoes a little thinner, I usually found what I was looking for. Hodges & Figgis, Waterstones and Eason's were the main players, but there were a few others. They kept a decent stock of books, usually around the cost of book + shipping from Amazon.co.uk, so if you needed the book right away, it made sense to try and get your hands on a copy in a physical store. At least you could leaf through the pages for a while and get a sense of whether or not it was worth the paper it was printed on. If it turned out to be cheaper online, then you could always do that.


About four or five years ago when I was working on several projects in college and work it made sense to subscribe to Safari Books Online, because I was going to need to build myself an up-to-date reference library, but you could still walk in to one of the big book shops and find what you needed - only it might just break the bank.


Just this week I returned to college to do some post-graduate study and got the usual reading list. Crossing most of it off my list, because having the very latest edition wouldn't matter, and I could just pick up older versions in the library, I was left with just one essential book. It was available on Amazon.co.uk and Waterstones.com. The lecturer thought it was safe to assume that it would be available in the main Waterstone's store in Dawson Street, so I planned to go in on my Sunday morning and get it.
Arriving to the store just before midday (still technically morning!), I was surprised to see an enormous café, where there once were a lot more bookshelves. Unperturbed, I strode on to look around the various anterooms and mezzanines where they used to tuck away the reference books. I saw that the computing section was down on the lower ground floor and headed there only to find to my amazement that it wasn't quite the size I was expecting.

One measly bookshelf. One solitary, lonely, neglected bookshelf with perhaps less than a hundred (not unique) overpriced books. The chances of finding the book I needed in that sorry collection were pretty slim, but I had a look anyway. Aside from the usual "X in 24 hours" I could hardly see anything of value.
The CCNA Exam Preparation boxed set seemed to be just about it. At just over €60, it wasn't exactly reasonably priced, either.



Feeling discouraged, I decided to leave and cross the street to  Hodges & Figgis, Ireland's largest book store (at least, as far as I know; it's certainly the best), to see if I'd have more luck there. I usually did in the past.
Their computer section used to be pretty large, and comprehensive too. Their buyers were obviously good at what they did, because I rarely had trouble finding any of the books that would be on the typical college reading list. Unfortunately, over recent years it seems as if shelf space for computer tomes has dwindled there too. What once covered a third of an entire floor has been reduced to perhaps 4 full bookshelves and 3 half-sized ones. About half the books are about Facebook, Twitter, or MS Office applications. On the plus side, they had most of the books I'd seen across the road in Waterstones at a lower price, and a lot more besides, and there were good books on many subjects, including the one I was interested in.
Needless to say I didn't find the book I needed amongst them.

It seems that the bookshop as we once knew it is gone, and what is left pales in comparison. Computers are now considered "niche", and the shelves are filled with pseudo-science books instead. Sadly, it seems we've dumbed down; way down, to plumb previously unknown levels.
Thank {randomDeity()} for Amazon Not to mention bit torrents.

Read on

• Waterstone's has forgotten what bookselling is about (guardian.co.uk)
• Waterstone may take back book chain he founded (guardian.co.uk)
• What's Your Favorite Bookshop Website? (bookshopblog.com)
• College textbooks: Forget the campus bookshop, shop online (zdnet.com)