4 Comments

I deleted the app and unsubscribed from its emails. Don’t miss it. I never need anything that fast and I much prefer a chat with someone in a bookshop.

Expand full comment

I love everything about project book shop and this post sums up a major reason why: community. Thank you for sharing the video. Sooooo excited for you and The Book Room!

Expand full comment

I’m so excited for you. Days away! And you still find time to write to us. I hate how dead the high street is. Lucky for me I live in a place where there are still independent shops and a thriving bookshop, which I am often lost in. Wishing you all the very best of luck.

Expand full comment

ouldn't agree more Anna. I imagine we all lament the state of our High streets. But isn't this all just an inevitable consequence, not of progress because that implies linear improving, but brutal, burgeoning human endeavour, with all its contingent flaws, most notably greed and short-sightedness, and we are beset by the consequences not just on the High Street but wherever we look.

H G Wells observed in his day that, "Civilization is in a race between education and catastrophe." We can perceive the disaster, after all how popular are dystopian novels, (no doubt you will stock one or two,) but we cannot it seems, avert it? Always we go for the low hanging fruit, for example, Nasa crashed a satellite into an asteroid recently, congratulating itself that in the event of a potential collision with one in future, we can deal with that threat. But there are far more urgent threats a lot nearer to home that could potentially wipe out life on earth, and for many species it is happening or has happened.

I don't wish to sound bleak but chickens coming home to roost is how it looks, and greedy commerce has much to answer for. It has always been thus, but in the past the punishment was absorbed one way or another. Now it is happening on too many fronts. There is a solution however, and thankfully it doesn't rest with mankind that has shown itself to be patently unequal to the challenge.

Expand full comment