Eric's Beijing Diary

Books. Funny how they just sort of tend to increase. Beijing doesn't have an abundance of used bookstores, especially for English language books. But there are a few, and new books are often quite cheap. I don't know...somehow they gather. Before I came to Beijing, I was worried that I would not be able to get books, but I have not had any problem. I went through these the other day, but I couldn't manage to find more than a couple that I was quite sure I would never need. Every time I move, I end up selling or giving away lots of books. But as time goes on, the number of books I am not quite ready to part with also tends to go up.

Now the current rage is e-books, and the much of the discussion is how they will replace traditional paper books. I am skeptical, but I have to say, I wouldn't mind seeing it move in that direction at least a little. I don't like reading online, though. The Internet is a great source for books, but I tend to print them out one chapter at a time and read them at the coffee bar or something. I rather think books will be my curse for sometime to come.