I visited Powells yesterday in Portland, Oregon.

What an amazing bookshop! I was hyperventilating trying to figure out how best to visit all the sections that looked interesting. I started at the A-Z of Western Philosophy in the Purple Room and it was an hour before I arrived at Wittgenstein. Powells section on Aristotle is bigger than the entire Phil section of most other bookshops I've been in (with the exception of the wonderful Blackwells in Oxford.

I have a weakness for classic art instruction books of the Andrew Loomis, Victor Perard variety. By the time I got to this part (in the Pearl room, 3rd floor), my arms were already laden with books. I "escaped" from that room having added just two more.

By the time I arrived at the technical books shop two blocks away from The City of Books I was a giggling wreck.

I didn't buy anything in the computer section (time for a change of career perhaps?). I did however, spend a very enjoyable few minutes in the little computer museum they have there. They have a Sinclair ZX80 (One of the high end ones - the one with 16k of RAM. Mine had 1k.). They have a Commodore 64 (I hated those things), an Apple 2 (CP/M - I remember it well. I was a Visical programmer in 1985), a trash 80, a fat Mac...

A very enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. Eat something before you go and wear confortable shoes.

posted by Sean 2:51 AM

[Link] . . .