The joy of browsing

There is enough money in the music and movie industries to ensure that we get to hear about most things that might interest us; books have to remain a secret, to be discovered only when you spend time browsing.

Nick Hornby, The Polysyllabic Spree

James Patterson is the only author I can think of whose books are advertised on television. Being practically an industry all to himself (and his various co-authors), he may be the only one who can afford to. Otherwise Nick Hornby is correct. New books that might interest us have to be discovered, usually by browsing in bookstores.

Oh, sure, some of us read reviews of new books. Others listen for the buzz from friends and acquaintances to learn which books are bestsellers and are deemed worth reading simply because other people are reading them. For the most part, however, interesting books are discovered in bookstores by those who browse.

This is not a bad thing. Those who browse are likely to browse past the prominent display of bestsellers to discover promising books they've never heard of, perhaps even by authors they've never heard of.

One way I measure the quality of a bookstore is by the number of books I find that I have never seen before and didn't know existed. I visit bookstores frequently and so have a good idea what's out there and which books have sold well. (Those that don't sell tend to disappear quickly, so it pays to browse often.) Finding appealing books I haven't seen before is something like a prospector discovering gold. I feel like I've found riches, even if my discovery costs me a share of what few riches I already possess.

Discovering something for ourselves, whether a new book or a new restaurant, may make that discovery all the more special to us. I am usually more eager to read a newly discovered treasure than a book recommended by a friend or sent to me for review by a publisher.