It’s personal, not business

I was never a big fan of independent bookstores. I probably developed my bias against them even before I encountered my first independent book store. Thinking back, I can trace this bias to when I watched You’ve Got Mail. I distinctly remember rooting for Fox bookstore and Tom Hanks. Not because of any strong beliefs about how businesses should be run, not because I had anything against Meg Ryan (in fact I actually liked her, kind of), but solely because the character Tom Hanks played quoted extensively from The Godfather. This was a huge deal. At that stage of my life, I was convinced that the sum total of human knowledge was contained in two books – The Godfather and The Mahabharatha*.

Soon after, I moved to the US for my grad studies and fell in love with that wondrous one-breasted woman**! Amazon was all I needed and more. I loved their recommendations and reviews. Much of the joy of reading is in the discovery of books. Amazon’s collaborative filtering ensured that I “discovered” new stuff all the time. Occasionally, I would slip into a Barnes & Nobles or Borders but exit feeling lost in all the brick and mortar.

All this changed the first time I walked into the Harvard Book Store. I am not given to using words like “soul” in any context, least of all when I am talking about businesses. But I realized pretty quickly that HBS had an intangible element that I had no better word for. Friends of mine have often argued that serendipity was the key ingredient of indie book stores. I disagreed. I preferred (or at least I thought I did) the finely calibrated recommendations of Amazon tuned to my preferences to a random walk in an indie book store.

Now I realize I was off the mark. The value of serendipity hit me when I stumbled on a yellowing P G Wodehouse in the “Remainders” section of HBS. I was walking around the fiction section complaining as I always do that American book stores almost never carry Wodehouse. Even as I completed my sentence my eyes fell on a Wodehouse. It was more than a Wodehouse. It was the only Wodehouse in the store. It was also the Wodehouse I had read only the first 50 pages of at a friend’s place back in India a month ago. My left hemisphere instantly started channeling theories about the impacts of synchronicity being exaggerated by confirmatory evidence and suchlike. Nevertheless, I was suffused with a strange and overpowering joy.

In addition to the occasional instances of serendipity, the staff recommendations certainly add to the intangible element. They are erudite without seeming condescending and almost always delightfully quirky. Functionally they seek to serve the same purpose as the reviews on Amazon. But I nearly picked up a book on Lesbian Ethics on the basis of a staff recommendation. I don’t think too many Amazon reviews will swing me close to a purchase so tangential to my tastes.***

I still love Amazon. My wallet still votes for Amazon 8 books out of 10. But I really look forward to those two books I acquire from HBS. I guess Amazon is still my monthly paycheck whereas HBS is more of a treasure-hunt. I love the hunt and I look forward to the hour or so I spend every week doing it. When it comes to books, it’s personal, not business.

* I have since outgrown that phase. I now believe that the sum total of human knowledge is zero

** No, I am not some weirdo S&M perv. Go read up on your Greek myth before judging me:)

*** Well, now that I think about it, it’s the ‘Ethics’ bit that is tangential to my tastes

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