The survival/revival of the local bookstore.
The written word is mysterious, it has pushed people to wars, to peace, the fail, or to succeed.
Even love has traversed generations through writing and story-telling. The love of books and reading should fuel us all. Knowledge has been secure in the past by gatekeepers providing only the privileged to acquire more thoughtful knowledge. Now we live in a different world where knowledge is free to consume at any rate possible. This is great and we should be grateful of the privilege to consume. However some knowledge, actually all knowledge, leads to an action upon the reader. Then a better consideration of the material should be scrutinized as to what the intention of the author is/was. Thant should should be the first thought before any action.
Action that was once hidden in castle libraries saved for dignitaries is now in the library down the street. Morre than that, libraries led to book stores offering to share knowledge for those that may not be royalty but middle class. Finding the value in offering books to everyone not wanting to share a libraries weath big box stores started consuming the local shops in hopes to suck up the profits of small towns. Actually sucking the wealth out of local communities and into the hands to much larger coporate hands.
I’d prefer to keep the money flowing into and around communities by supporting small bookstores. THe small bookstores are the driver for first experiences with readers, the trusted person in the community that can share stories, those unexpected places in the stores that house new mysteries without the corporate burden impulse buys.
Plus they are just cool.
https://bookshop.org/shop/handprintcontent
Book stores like Bookshop help those small book stores in hundreds of locations, plus you can get specailized book lists that can same you time on getting your favorite authors to you door. I recommend checking out this link: https://bookshop.org/shop/handprintcontent and see my lists for fun, business, and cooking. I can also add any book you don’t see.
My latest recommendation is The Story Paradox, by Jonathan Gottschall. This is a dynamo of a read. There are so many examples of manipulative writing throughout our history, and the reason why we need that drama. A primary example of the presense this book can make:
“Sway is the primary function of communication
Storytelling is a form of communication
Therefore, the primary function of storytelling is sway as well.”
Besides scaling the wall of moral behavior in writing through examples so clear I realize I have been unknowingly doing some wrong stuff in my writing the bulk of the book is about the delineation between narrative stories, transient stories, and shape narrative stories. This lesson repeats itself in a couple of sections throughout the book to drive the message home that “It’s the best and most transporting stories that rule”.
Controlling the message to the public has been a method for centuries to controlling the masses. It’s been understood since the 60’s that history has always been written by the victors. The other story, the real story, is not the other unheard side but rather a mix in the middle. The caution is that the message most spoken tends to be the one thought to be the truth. Read this for yourself and see what message you are putting out into the world.
