Keeping the Book(store) Alive

After my tirade about e-readers* trying to supplant regular books in the affections of bibliophiles, I went online to see what Kindle and other ads were saying nowadays. The results on the part of the "DIE E-READER DIE" supporters was astounding. Two small bookstores approached the problem of selling physical books in a technical world with two very disparate methods. 

In ten short videos, Green Apple Books laid out the ways that books are irreplaceable. The results are undeniably biased, but also undeniably funny…and true.* 

In a show of more "positive-persuasion," Type Books allowed stop-motion animators into one of their stores at night.  In the less than two minutes that resulted, "The Joy of Books" reminds readers of the magic, the mystery, and the allure that holds us in thrall whenever we enter a bookstore.

Oops. I forgot that I was trying to be more fair to e-readers in this post. 

Source: http://img.labnol.org/di/ebooks-printed-books.jpg

That should do it. 

Source: http://thecreativefinder.com/userfiles/members/columnfivemedia/6638/optimized-maxW950-GOOD-theRiseofEReaders.jpeg

I actually don't hate e-readers, since I own a Kindle myself and enjoy it very much. I simply think that e-readers and books need to work together to do what they do best (tell stories), rather than one trying to supplant the other because it’s more technologically advanced.***

* Yes I did just shamelessly self-promote this blog by linking to a my previous post. I take after Robert Louis Stevenson.  Got a problem with that??

**Except for the used book buying clerk being so happy to shell out money. That has never happened to me. Then again, maybe it's true at Green Apple Books. Guess I'll have to try them out.

***Because fat lot of good an e-reader will be when the aliens invade and sap all electricity from civilization to power their mothership’s big screen TV. Keep your old-school books for just such an eventuality.