Sam Gee and Jeff Deutsch at The Point:
I’m not convinced by moralizing, I’m not convinced by “Amazon is terrible and Netflix is terrible and you should all read more, because movies are stupid.” I don’t believe any of that anyway, and even if I did, it’s not persuasive. We live a completely meaningful life without ever reading a book, full stop. You don’t need books to live a meaningful life. And yet, many people will live a more enhanced life if they read even just a couple more books. And some won’t—I mean, it’s not for everyone. So the work became articulating the pleasures and the purpose and meaning of these spaces, and hopefully doing it in a somewhat entertaining way.
I think that one of the key qualities of any bookseller, certainly a great bookseller, is enthusiasm. And so it’s not lamentation—we don’t lament the state of the world, we’re enthusiastic about the state of books, or particular books, and share that enthusiasm.
more here.