In NY, I’d say take a look at Left Bank books (rare, old literature, photography, art books - some are even early editions of classics), Codex (little used shop with a fantastic selection), Mercer St Books and Records (basement hole in the wall), Westsider Rare and Used books (an UWS classic), Unnameable Books (good events and a literary selection).

For new books, McNally Jackson is the preferred one for the reading public. Their staff selections are useful and they have a dedicated poetry and chapbook section.

The last time I was in NYC, I was really hurting because of not one but two bad hamstrings cause by hockey. I could barely walk--which is not a great combination with NYC. I had some time and took a Circle Line cruise. It was delightful and I hadn't done it since I was a child!

Also I think is faster to evaluate the book if you have it in your hands, you can immediately notice if the quality is bad or good, if the fonts are maybe too small so it would be hard to read, if the content feels padded with tons of irrelevant stuff, if you like the art style or language of the author. Is the same like when you want to buy a phone or monitor, if you have it in your face you can imediatly spot things you don't like and see the real dimensions where if you have just some pictures and numbers in your face it is harder.(I bought a watch as gift for someone and when it arrived I was shocked how small it is in reality, there were numbers in the description but numbers felt ok for me at that time)

I just tried browsing Goodreads and it slapped me in the face with a gigantic Please Login Right Now You Terrible Person modal. Not very browsing friendly either, I guess.

There is a charm to browsing a small bookstore. 2nd hand or otherwise. You dawdle in the aisles, meander between sections you'd never think to look at, catch your eye on interesting covers, try the heft of a book, see which ones are long and which are short, the design and the font give you a sense of character, tell you a little about what this book is like to read. You turn it around, read the back to learn more ... there is a spatial component to your search. When you stumble into a book that draws your attention, you're likely surrounded by similar books you might also enjoy.

The experience is distinctly inefficient. Good for when you don't know what you want. Might not even realize what you're in the mood for until you find it.

And somehow you never walk out with fewer than 3 books.

Then you should broaden your imagination.

Amazon and Goodreads have barely a fraction of one percent of the books that were published. And that's just in English.

It's like saying "Anything worth watching is on streaming," even though less than 5% of the world's video content ever made the translation from film to VHS to DVD to streaming. Or paper to records to tape to CD to streaming.

There's a whole vast world of content out there beyond the internet. Once you discover this, it's like taking a pill in The Matrix.

(My metaphor might be off there, as I've never seen The Matrix, but from what I understand from other people's conversations, that should work.)

Additionally those are very good points about English and streaming. There are books out there which are not translated and not digitized, which are absolutely worth reading, and will not be found anywhere besides private collections, used bookstores, flea markets, estate sales. Some of these books were originally purchased long ago and/or far away, just because they are not popular enough to be easily found does not mean they are not worh finding.

I'd be curious how this compares with LibGen / ZLibrary (about 4--5 million titles).

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31604033

Keep in mind that a largish municipal library is on the order of 250-500k items.

The Library of Congress includes ~40 million catalogued books, of which ~360k circulate annually.

Again, the question is what Amazon offers.

Source?

Computers can fill some, but not all of this role. We are social animals. We are hard wired to feel good when we are in community with other humans, and to (in cases) develop psychosis when deprived of that contact[1].

The price of a book is trivially easy to compare, while the value of social interaction is hard to quantify. Replacing in-person commerce with online shopping because it is less expensive or more convenient may not be as good a deal as it seems.

1: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8131183/#abs000...

I think if I had “fuck you money” and were to give up tech this would be the perfect hobby business for me.

Besides being an experience in and of themselves (used bookstores are often very unique and individual, sometimes operated by interesting people who do it out of a love of books or history), you can find some real gems and sometimes even terrible unbelievable books of decades past that would never be something you could find in a regular commercial/corporate book shop selling for profit and catering to whatever is on the bestseller list, what critics recommend, and what publishers want to sell.

Besides the experience and obscure books, used bookstores often are the best places to meet interesting people. Some people, myself included, love the atmisphere of these shops- the smell of old books, the piles of otherwise discarded tomes, shelves where you can find books that were once part of collections curated by bibliophiles- some of these books have annotations on them, some of them are on very niche subjects not easily found elsewhere, some so old if you look for information online you won't find anything. I've had and heard some really fascinating conversations in second hand bookshops I don't think I would ever have experienced otherwise. Some of these shops are a place of community, where people post business cards and event posters for things you wouldn't readily find out about easily- some host events in the store itself (discussion groups, games, book clubs, etc). Some have very comfortable atmosphere and welcome people coming to just hang out, no pressure to spend money. Additionally there is the possibility there for you to build a bond with the owners/keepers, who sometimes will bring out books they keep off the shelves just for you.

Some old book shops are absolutely packed with everything from textbooks to catalogues to literature- unsorted treasures waiting to be found. Books with no ISBN, no online presence whatsoever, items that cannot be found otherwise (unless you were looking for them specifically, and even then they would be really difficult to procure). There is a charm to be found in these shops that just cannot be replicated in common bookstores.

Also I’d suggest checking out a good local bookstore, it’s a whole different and IMO a more wholesome and relaxing experience.

Browsing a second-hand book store is just one surprise after another. I've found books I never knew existed, but instantly fell in love with. I whiled away many hours in second hand bookshops when I visited Edinburgh.

When it comes to new books, making a purchase at a local book store can really make a difference. Last year, I wanted to upgrade my ebooks of The Art Of Programming to the print editions. I could buy it from Amazon, but asking my local book store to order in the items was a wonderful experience on so many levels. The cost was a little, but not a significant amount, higher, but it allowed for some great interactions in the shop. Now, I pop in every couple of weeks, have a chat with the owner and get fantastic recommendations.

Also, the second hand bookstore isn't maintaining a secret police file on every micro-action and momentary impulse you exhibit while inside their property.

Unfortunately, Fox Books put all the small, independent stores out of business.

George Whitman, who founded the current Paris bookstore, and Sylvia Beach, who founded the original, were very close friends. She even toyed with reopening her original shop with him, again under the name Shakespeare and Company. Two years after she died, he renamed his bookstore (Le Mistral) to Shakespeare and Company in her memory in 1964, as he thought that's what she would have liked. He also named his only daughter after her. As it happens, the second Shakespeare and Company also became a hub for authors like Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, and many of the Beats. It's the sister shop of City Lights in San Francisco, with a similar author history. Whitman was awarded the Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His daughter now runs the store.

So in Paris there were two Shakespeare and Company bookstores, both extremely famous at different critical times in literary history, whose respective owners were very close, and which were both basically set up the same way. I think it's reasonable to say that they're both the "real" Shakespeare and Company. That's a far cry from the NYC situation.