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Striking gold at Moe’s 

I made a quick trip between appointments today to one of my all-time favourite bookshops, Moe’s Books in Berkeley.

I went with a particular mission in mind. Two books had been on my acquisition list for some time and I thought Moe’s just might do the trick. Why didn’t I just order them from Amazon? I’ve been trying to restrain my Amazon habit. It’s too easy to just have the books roll in with barely a thought. And bookshops, particularly bookshops like Moe’s, are a wonderful experience. It’s nice to have a reason to visit.

I’ve come to the conclusion, however, that Moe’s is great only if you have a mission. For me, it’s not a great bookshop to browse idly in. There’s just too much, and I get overwhelmed. A mission doesn’t have to be as specific as mine today. It could have been, say, find a book on pre-revolutionary America. And Moe’s would have done me proud, I’m sure.

In the event, it did me proud with my highly specific search. Jonathan Kingdon’s Lowly Origin, about how we went from being four-legged apes to two-legged, upright hominids: found. Robert Pogue Harrison’s Forest, about the role of forests in western thought: found. Two for two. Fantastic.

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