The (Book)Worms Turns: An Author Comments on the End of Borders

Best-selling sci fi/fantasy author Larry Correia does not lament the end of Borders.  He's convinced that the chain's own bad business practices did it in.  Me, I'm not lamenting either. In fact, I've never spent as much time in Borders as I have in the last few days picking at its corpse like a big bibliophiliac vulture -- and even amid the liquidations I didn't find too many real bargains.  People who are bemoaning the demise of Borders as if it's THE END OF LITERACY AS WE KNOW IT AND WE'RE ALL TURNING INTO GRUNTING MORONS!!!!!  are totally misreading (ha) the situation.  Borders ran a business badly, and their competitors did a better job.  I'm just going to get my books elsewhere ... as I have always done.

If you will permit me a bibliomaniacal digression: 



I almost always find better prices for new books at my beloved Amazon and for used ones at my also-beloved Better World Books.  If I want to go hang in a physical bookstore, I go to Barnes and Noble.  Much better done overall, plus the Cine-Sib and our friends love chilling out in the attached Starbucks (I mean, Satan Coffee!) -- books + coffee + good company = a great thing.  Oh, and while I love me some British bookstores, biblio-legend does say that the best of them is Blackwell in Oxford on Broad Street... and it is pretty impressive.  Nerd heaven!  The one brief, magical time I was there, I practically had to be dragged out of it. Those Blackwell guys -- get this -- even do walking tours of Oxford locations frequented by Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. But for everyday use, Amazon's my favorite book source.

Oh, as for the predictable neo-hippie anti-capitalist activist dipsticks who don't like Amazon because it's a big operation and therefore immoral and whatnot:  Tough.  The glorious thing about my money is that it's my money and I'll do with it as I please.  I'm not going to pay full retail for the exact same book at some boutique bookshop just because some trendy windbags think it's morally superior.  I haven't got a lot of pennies, so by golly if I can save some along the way I will.  In fact, thank you, Amazon, for the opportunity to get great books at good prices (with free shipping!), so I can save some pennies and use them for other things -- like groceries and the electricity bill, both of which are skyrocketing in this miserable economy.