People are not browsing in bookstores like they used to, according to booksellers just winding up their annual New York convention. More customers phone in orders or double-park while they dash in to make a purchase. [1]

"People are spending less time in the back of the store, looking through the philosophy section, and more time at the tables for recommended books in front," said a California bookseller.

So what's the moral of the story? People love recommendations!

The old-fashioned bookstore browser who picks and pokes and doesn't care about the critics or Oprah or the bestseller charts may wind up on the endangered species list.

"I'll have what she's having!"

[1] Po Bronson wrote recently:

Starbucks put a quote of mine on 500,000 of their tall cups, as part of their "The Way I See It" program, meant to bring provocative discourse back to coffee shops. The quote on the cup reads: "Failure's hard, but success is far more dangerous. If you're successful at the wrong thing, the mix of praise and money and opportunity can lock you in forever."

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