09.8.2005
Normally I prefer to buy my books online, because most of the time I know
exactly which titles I want, and it is easier and quicker to locate them
on an online shop website than having to walk somewhere in town and scan
all the shelves. Moreover, the specialized books that I am looking for
are virtually never in stock, so that I need to order and have them sent
to me anyway. So - just browsing a bookstore is not something I do very
often.
But whenever I am in Oxford (as I was a few days ago), I indulge myself
in visiting Blackwell's bookshop. This is really an impressive one, and
the philosophy and classics sections, where I spent quite a bit of time
again, are quite good. (The philosophy section is in the famous Norrington
room, as far as I know the largest room worldwide in which books are
sold.)
The downside is of course that it is utterly impossible to leave without a
number of books I wouldn't have bought if I hadn't been there; and this adds
load to my already strained reading schedule ... This time, funnily enough,
both books I purchased are by authors whose first name resembles their last
name (you know, there's method in't ;-): namely by David Davies
(Art as Performance) and Robert Roberts (Emotions. An Essay in Aid
of Moral Psychology). I'll keep you posted about the results of my
reading.
