I HATE Barnes & Noble

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Kyler
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I HATE Barnes & Noble

Post by Kyler »

So after my banking class tonight, I decided stop by Barnes & Noble to look around for a new book to read.

In recent years the selection of warfare and military history books have been on a decline, but I went in tonight hoping to find something new about naval warfare to read that would interest me. They had hardly anything to speak of, only a couple of books about naval warfare (Massie's books), a few books about the USN (some I already own), and a few specific books about particular naval battles in World War 2. There was not one book about the Bismarck, the RN, Kriegsmarine, only 1 about the IJN dealing with submarines, but I easily find 20 books just about Panzers, more about other tanks, infantry tactics, the Luftwaffe, US fighter aircraft, and much more. It seemed for every 20 or 30 books either about Aviation or the Army there was a book dealing with Naval warfare or history. It frankly pisses me off that such a large retail chain would have such little naval material in their military history area, especially since it has been just or more important then other types of warfare depending on time period.

Don't get me wrong I ordered a lot of my books from amazon, since it is the only place to get some of the more specific titles but a retail chain store not having one book about the Bismarck is crazy.
"It was a perfect attack, Right Height, Right Range, Right cloud cover, Right speed,
Wrong f@%king ship!" Commander Stewart-Moore (HMS Ark Royal)
Byron Angel

Re: I HATE Barnes & Noble

Post by Byron Angel »

Kyler wrote:So after my banking class tonight, I decided stop by Barnes & Noble to look around for a new book to read.

In recent years the selection of warfare and military history books have been on a decline, but I went in tonight hoping to find something new about naval warfare to read that would interest me. They had hardly anything to speak of, only a couple of books about naval warfare (Massie's books), a few books about the USN (some I already own), and a few specific books about particular naval battles in World War 2. There was not one book about the Bismarck, the RN, Kriegsmarine, only 1 about the IJN dealing with submarines, but I easily find 20 books just about Panzers, more about other tanks, infantry tactics, the Luftwaffe, US fighter aircraft, and much more. It seemed for every 20 or 30 books either about Aviation or the Army there was a book dealing with Naval warfare or history. It frankly pisses me off that such a large retail chain would have such little naval material in their military history area, especially since it has been just or more important then other types of warfare depending on time period.

Don't get me wrong I ordered a lot of my books from amazon, since it is the only place to get some of the more specific titles but a retail chain store not having one book about the Bismarck is crazy.


..... I can sympathize with your disappointment. I remember when Barnes & Noble first opened their doors, billing themselves as the place where you could find just about anything worthwhile in print on their bookshelves. Back then you could find some really obscure and exotic titles on a variety of subjects. Borders bookshop chain had an impressive military history section when it first opened, included a very tasty selection of Schiffer titles. I used to make special "browse & buy" excursions at least once a month and would customarily return home with several genuinely interesting books. But those days are LONG gone. Today Barnes & Noble and Borders are lowest-common-denominator profit-chasing general-interest book-floggers who ignore specialty titles.

A shame really. Money doesn't necessarily read very well, but it apparently sure does talk loudly.
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Karl Heidenreich
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Re: I HATE Barnes & Noble

Post by Karl Heidenreich »

That´s nothing: in Costa Rica you walk into a Library and you will find ZERO (0) books on warfare or History. A lot of books about self help, Pablo Cohelo stupid fictions and a good collection of biographies in which they put Che Guevara alongside Churchill and Gandhi.

Best regards,
An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.
Sir Winston Churchill
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RF
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Re: I HATE Barnes & Noble

Post by RF »

Barnes & Noble will reflect the state of market demand, which inevitably focuses on the land war, the tanks and the planes. The naval war is shunted aside as the ordinary public is less concerned and has less knowledge of it. Hence the concentration on the one area of public knowledge, the U-boats.

The Bismarck might get a look in - because it sank Hood. But the hilfskreuzers and blockade runners are air brushed out of history. Even the commando raid up the Gironde by the ''cockleshell heroes'' is often represented as an attack on ''battleships'' - as if descibing the true target is a little embarrasing......
''Give me a Ping and one Ping only'' - Sean Connery.
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RF
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Re: I HATE Barnes & Noble

Post by RF »

By the way Kyler, as I see you do banking classes, I presume you study financial economics. What you have hear is the classic supply and demand equation, the public gets what it appears to demand.
The internet is a much better market place, because so much material is now available electronically, and the response is so much faster. The ordinary bookstore becomes a dinosaur in comparison. It cannot react quickly to new or specialist demands.
''Give me a Ping and one Ping only'' - Sean Connery.
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Kyler
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Re: I HATE Barnes & Noble

Post by Kyler »

RF wrote:By the way Kyler, as I see you do banking classes, I presume you study financial economics. What you have hear is the classic supply and demand equation, the public gets what it appears to demand.
The internet is a much better market place, because so much material is now available electronically, and the response is so much faster. The ordinary bookstore becomes a dinosaur in comparison. It cannot react quickly to new or specialist demands.
I am a banker by trade, but by eduaction I am a historian, hense the reason why I am taking a banking class.

My city has had a Barnes & Noble for over 10 years know, it used to have a fairly good selection of naval books, but in recent years the selection has gone down a lot. Though all the history section have, it seems the in the military history section the naval aspect has taken the biggest hit. I don't doubt why tanks are a fairly popular topic especially since Evansville is located near Ft. Campbell & Ft. Knox. I still disagree why naval history some how has seen a dramatic drop in amount of titles on shelves.
"It was a perfect attack, Right Height, Right Range, Right cloud cover, Right speed,
Wrong f@%king ship!" Commander Stewart-Moore (HMS Ark Royal)
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RF
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Re: I HATE Barnes & Noble

Post by RF »

Tanks win wars, so it is easy to see why books on them are so popular.

As for naval titles, I think it is a matter of supply and demand. Do customers actually ask for naval titles, or stay silent and take their business eleswhere?
I believe in free market economics, and as an accountant by profession, I readily tell businesses that can't or won't supply me that their competitors will.
''Give me a Ping and one Ping only'' - Sean Connery.
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Re: I HATE Barnes & Noble

Post by Bgile »

We are fortunate where I live in having Powell's Books. Their stores are much larger than B&Ns and they carry a lot more military titles (as well as everything else).
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Kyler
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Re: I HATE Barnes & Noble

Post by Kyler »

I finally got my copy of "Conway's Battleships" today from Overstock.com.
It is a great book, much improved over the old version our central library has.

It was about $10 cheaper than Amazon, though their shipping through UPS mail is slower then hell so be warned.
"It was a perfect attack, Right Height, Right Range, Right cloud cover, Right speed,
Wrong f@%king ship!" Commander Stewart-Moore (HMS Ark Royal)
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