Skip to main content

‘I love the whole atmosphere and can spend hours browsing’: how did bookshops suddenly become cool?

A new survey suggests that young people are shunning AI algorithms and online retailers to experience the joy of visiting bookshops

Gen Z’s cultural tastes are heralded, maligned and mythologised in almost equal measure. But one stereotype persists above all: that young people are addicted to their phones, keen to live their lives primarily through a screen.

But is this the whole picture? A survey commissioned by the Booksellers Association ahead of Bookshop Day tomorrow has found that gen Z and millennials are more likely to buy a book based on a bookseller’s recommendation – in person, in a bookshop – than older age groups: 49% and 56% respectively, compared with 37% of gen X and 31% of baby boomers. Booksellers from around the UK told me this wasn’t surprising – that, in the last few years, they’ve noticed a sharp rise in young readers coming into their shops seeking out human guidance, eager to be in a physical store rather than filtering through AI and influencer-recommended titles online.

Continue reading...

from The Guardian https://ift.tt/S7uak8C

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Details of F.B.I.’s Kavanaugh Inquiry Show Its Restricted Range

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR, SHERYL GAY STOLBERG, MAGGIE HABERMAN and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2QhwZyw

The Guardian view on Labour’s difficult year: denial of hard choices is no longer an option | Editorial

All the incentives in Westminster politics militate against confronting difficult issues, but a failing government may as well try honesty The formula for stable government, according to Britain’s constitution, is a big parliamentary majority and divided opposition. Sir Keir Starmer’s predicament proves that those conditions are not sufficient. The prime minister’s inability to convince voters that he has an agenda for national renewal, and the demoralising effect that has had on the Labour party, make a leadership challenge look plausible after local elections next May. Maybe sooner. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/JQljg0U