For books and bookshops, matter matters
One of my favorite Parisian bookshops for computer literature, Le Monde en Tique, has just been closed. Nearby, Eyrolles, a technical publisher but also a large bookshop, is diversifying it sales with Arduino and Raspberry Pi cards, along with some scientific gadgets. Fnac does the same, with toys, but also cooking books with kitchenware included.
Conversely, Lego (*) sells (for instance at Smith's, Rivoli Street) books that include the parts to make figurine and small space vessels. For instance StarWars Brickmaster, Battle for The Stolen Crystals.
Note also that more and more bookshops propose drinks... and more and more pubs garner their walls with second-hand books (more or less for sale or "self-service" to be PC).
Conclusion: hardly threatened by the web and electronic readers, the good old paper book and is traditional points of sale are converging towards new kinds of objects and meeting places. Let's hope it will be a sustainable development.
Pierre Berger
Feb. 9, 2014
More info: our general notice about books.
(*) In diccan, rather than use exotic typograhies and trademark symbols we use the names, logos and images in editorial fashion, to the benefit of typographic coherence as well as of the trademark owners, with no intention of infringement of trademarks of intellectual property.
DICCAN'S PARTNERS:
Paris ACM Siggraph, the French chapter of ACM Siggraph, worldwide non-profit organization of computer graphics.
Les Algoristes, an association of artists using their own algorithms in their work.
