OT: Quantum Books closing...

[Tom Buskey]

On 10/9/07, Ben Scott <dragonhawk at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 10/9/07, Paul Lussier <p.lussier at comcast.net> wrote:
> > I suppose the demise of the independant book seller, especially in the
> > technical space, is inevitable.
>
>   It's a fair bet that the demise of the printed book is inevitable.


I think the reference book will go 1st.  Books you read through, like
novels, will have longer legs.

Techies are just a bit ahead of the curve.  When faced with a
> technical question, it's a rare event that the first thing I do is
> reach for a book.  Even if I know the answer can be found in a given
> tome, it's often easier to just try Google first.  We're still a bit
> away from "A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer", but fairly amazing
> electronic paper has already been produced in labs.


My sister-in-law librarian says 'if it's not online, students don't research
it'.  She's at a technical college in Boston FWIW.

  It's certainly somewhat bittersweet, as browsing a bookstore,
> especially a smaller one, can be quite enjoyable.  Doubtless people
> mourned the passing of ubiquitous horse stables in a similar way.


I found that SoftPro and Quantum and Comic shops serve my niche far better
then the megastores because they fit a niche.  It's been awhile since I
browsed a small general bookstore that met my needs better then the mega
stores :-(  It seems like the technical niche is getting too small.

It's similar with Hardware stores.  Most constructions guys I know don't
like the mega stores because they wait in line, the quality isn't what they
want and returns take too long for them.
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