Some people know exactly what to look for at the bookstore – others spend hours without finding what they have in mind…
Did you ever mistake the body lotion tube for the toothpaste a sleepy morning? No? Good, it’s not the best way to start the day.
This might be an awkward approach if you’re aiming at the problem of choosing literature, but frankly, haven’t you too picked the ‘wrong’ book by a random grab at the bookshop or at the library? The book you put away with a sigh after three chapters.
It might have been the perfect choice for someone else. One of my friends reads nothing but books about religious history. I tried one. Though I don’t mind the subject, I had a feeling of pedaling a bicycle with a leaking tire. You know how that is, you want to get as far as possible before the tire is empty, but you know that if you speed up, it leaks faster.
The first impression of a book is the cover, so the eye leads us to the next step – the time consuming intellectual process. At the rare occasions when we have the time, we would like to read full chapters from some books at the bookstore. The problem is we would feel like shoplifters if we did. Besides, the book dealer would fear that the book might look used if too many pages have been turned. Not everyone is careful. This is where Internet enters the scene.
Alone with our computer we can spend days reading free chapters. And the people who provide the service are happy if we do. The opportunity to form an opinion gives us a freedom that older generations of book readers could only dream of. And when we eventually have found the book we want to read, we can still ask our local retailer to order it for us.
Thank you for taking your time to read these lines.
Word count: 330