Word Up

Perhaps in a sign of both economic and, perhaps, just changing times in general, Stacey's Book Store announced its closure in March of this year after over eighty years in business.

I admit I probably don't read as much as I should. And a recent visit in here, to take advantage of their 30% sale on all merchandise, confirmed to me why.

Shelves were still stocked full of books. In fact, it's overwhelming to my mind how many selections there really are.

One of my goals for the visit was to pick up a cookbook or two. Now I am no master chef or baker; I'm much more of a dabbler. But I would like to learn to cook more, if nothing more to add some badly needed variety to my diet.

But I didn't know where to start. Should I grab a recipe book from one of the famous local aficionados of popular neighborhood hangouts? There were multiple examples available, and they all looked enticing to one degree or another.

Same thing with the vegetarian/vegan cookbooks - there were at least 30 titles available for browsing, from the fancy-schmancy to ones that preached simplicity.

Baked goods? How about a dozen titles for cookies, several for pies, and big behemoths that covered the gamut of sweet sinfulness.

After much deliberation, I made out with a vegan cookbook with 200 simple recipes and a breakfast-specific book - my first meal of the day has become woefully samey, and I'm need some fresh new ideas in this field.

The political section was on its own a beast to navigate. Dozens upon dozens of biographies of figures famous and obscure took up three longish shelves. A couple more sections were devoted to the Obama phenomenon, dealing with everything from his life and times to what the pundits a plenty thought our new President should do with his opportunity. Another section soon to be fading away into the dustbin of history was the George W. Bush section; with this being San Francisco, most if not all of the selections were geared toward the negative, from the factual to the scathing to the humorous (depending on your point of view, of course.) I noticed one of the probable last examples of this "genre" displayed prominently in several places in the store.

Geography was always one of my unofficial hobbies, so the book "How The States Got Their Shapes" stuck out like a bright beam of light amidst the rhetorical clutter. Bet you didn't know that the state of Delaware actually owns a small chunk of the western New Jersey shore...not that you would want to set up your homestead on a pile of dumped sediment from the Delaware River/Bay.

"Easy Arabic Script" is my effort to try to keep whatever Arabic ability I picked up during my stint in Syria alive and functioning. As I read somewhere, it probably makes no sense to learn a language if you can't read the script, especially when you're an adult and especially when the alphabet isn't anything remotely close to what you're familiar.

Finally, I figured something that was lacking lately for me was exercise for my brain. I picked up "The Everything Brain Strain Book", a book loaded with various mental puzzles, mind-benders, and logic tests. I used to love these kinds of books as a kid, but that was long ago - upon glancing through it, I realized I'd need a good dozen minutes to get my mind warmed up properly; heaven knows I can't afford to blow a neuron or three.

I ended up with five books for just over $60 bucks this day. The thing is, I could have ended up with many more. There were plenty of books available related to my main driving forces fitness-wise of running and triathlon, and lots of options to possibly whet my bug for future travel. Graphic novels, the literary version of one of my childhood favorite comic books, had the young-at-heart part of me salivating for awhile.

Thousands upon thousands of selections were there for the choosing. And to think, the local library has even thousands and thousands more selections that just requires a little plastic card and a promise that you will provide a timely return for your little treasure.

Taking my Arabic script book, thousands if not millions more options in other languages exist to stimulate your cerebral cortex, should you have the linguistic capability.

Technology, one of the main reasons behind the demise of the brick-and-mortar model, continues not only to reach back to the past (such as Google's Book Search engine) but also lives comfortably in the present (the millions of folks on the blogosphere) and strives toward future, still unwritten frontiers. It even has room for a modern take on the past model (the Sony E-Reader and Amazon.com Kindle devices.)

And to think, more ideas, stories, topics were proposed to publishers all around the world, and never ended up seeing the light of the day.

This virtual Everest of selection is enough to put a serious strain on anyone's brain. Where the heck do you start?

Heh, this little math teaser doesn't seem so bad after all in comparison.