Doctor Syntax With the Bookseller, Thomas Rowlandson, 1813
Daily Thoughts 09/05/2018
I checked the library Twitter and Facebook this morning.
I finished reading
Crash Overdrive How Gamergate (Nearly) Destroyed My Life and How We Can Win the Fight Against Online Hate by Zoe Quinn.
I have started reading
Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl. It is a brutal account of the holocaust from the point of view of a Jewish psychiatrist in a concentration camp. I finished reading it on the way to the Amazon Bookstore in the Time Warner Building. The author uses his experience and observations to describe how people survive in the worst conditions if they can hold onto meaning and beliefs. Victor Frankl is the creator of Logotherapy or psychiatric based treatment focused on creating meaning in a persons life.
Visiting The Amazon Store in the Time Warner Building.
I went to the Amazon Bookstore in the Time Warner Building. The bookstore is on the third floor of the building. I tried to buy a journal with cash and the cashier told me that they don't take cash, only credit cards and the Amazon App. When I used my debit card, they identified me as an Amazon Prime member and told me that I could get discounts based on being an Amazon prime member. I bought a 240 page blank journal for $7.88 which was an excellent price.
The front of the store had a section for the Kindle Paperwhite, The Kindle Fire, and the Amazon Echo. I looked at them a little bit. There were also some non-book items like cups and journals and similar things.
I found the layout of the store to be quite interesting. It was not a large store. All of the books, graphic novels, and magazines were presented face out. There was a quote card with a rating on it of 4.0 stars or hire. There were no books with less than this customer rating shown. All of the quotes were from customers. There were also a few cards with arrows which said if you like this then you will like this. In addition there were shelf tags for certain sections in a particular area. The graphic novels section had a manga tag and a Marvel tag.
The books seemed to be the core collection of what was selling the most online. It was not diverse, it was very focused on what would sell immediately. A lot of the books were classics that were repeat sellers. The focus did not seem to be on the newest books, but on the books which people bought the most like Starship Troopers in science fiction, or How to Win Friends and Influence People in self help. The exception seemed to be with items like the computer books and the cookbooks which were all very current.
I noticed that the shelves away from the walls had variable heights. I think there were bookshelves with five shelves next to bookshelves with six shelves. This gave a different appearance. When I looked at the ceilings, there were cameras everywhere, LED lighting and track lighting which made the store very well lit.
The floors had a light beige carpeting. There were single seat plush armchairs in a few corners of the store.
The staff was friendly, but not intrusive. They asked me twice if I needed any help and I said no.
The aisles were not that wide. I almost bumped into several people. I will probable buy a few books which I saw at the bookstore as part of my next order.
On the way home, I read some of
Autonomy The Quest to Build The Driverless Car-- And How It Will Reshape the World by Lawrence D. Burns and Christopher Shulg Lawrence D. Burns posits that there are three things which are coming together for driverless cars, car sharing, electric cars, and autonomous driving car.
Web Bits
Lincoln Library Holding 'Drop Your Drawers' Underwear Drive
