At GONE, Tom Downey writes beautifully about how a visit to Tokyo's Tsutaya bookstore clarified for him why print media remains so seductive:
Thinking of the store as a whole, and the way in which volumes of all kinds are beautifully displayed throughout, made me realize something else I'd been missing. The spine and cover designs of books, which used to be the predominant decoration of most of my friends' apartments, offer a different kind of solace than that which comes from knowing that everything you've read lives somewhere in the cloud. Covers and spines are not just decorative items; they are external, tangible reminders of something that may have transformed you internally, emotionally, intellectually. To be able to call them up on your iPad simply isn't the same as having them surround you — constantly reminding you, when you glimpse them, of the multitudes contained within each one.
How This Tokyo Bookstore Made Me Fall Back In Love With Print
