The Children of Gutenberg

A few pressing words about the world of books.

Over the past weekend we’ve taken the time list over a hundred rare books from the classic TARGET series of Doctor Who books. There’s lots of hardbacks and 1st edition paperbacks, most in mint condition!

The TARGET series has always been a staple of Sci-Fi collections around the world. Printed from 1973-1994, they had a run that was almost as long as their on-screen counterpart: 21 years! For an excellent and thorough guide to these books, check out Tim Neal’s amazing site: On TARGET: The Changing Face of Doctor Who.

Aldous Huxley’s novel is a literary masterpiece; most critics won’t deny this. It’s cold, flowing style and message relate closely to each other; it’s deeply philosophical locus peers in a different way at the same topic written about by Thomas More, George Orwell, and Ray Bradbury; it’s impact - timeless. Huxley has left a legacy through this novel which only few could dream of, and yet it feels as though it may no longer have the potency it once had. Perhaps this is because our society is closer to Huxley’s than we realize.

Of the three other novels mentioned above, the government in Thomas More’s Utopia is probably the most similar to the one in Huxley’s novel. Orwell’s 1984 features a society controlled through fear, and Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 one that is controlled by knowledge, but More’s and Huxley’s worlds are controlled by the most fascinating and frightening force of all: pleasure.

Are soma and the feelies such foreign ideas to American minds? Or are they all too familiar? We all know that our “Freedom for all” society has morphed into a ‘drive-thru,’ ‘microwave’ society, and I think, in turn, that under our very noses our society has turned into a ‘never-a-care’ society.

Why worry about pregnancy? You can now have sex whenever you want. In fact, now you don’t even need another person to feel good - you can just stare at stimulating images whenever and wherever you want to.

Have some kind of health problem? Here’s a pill! In fact, have three more! Maybe you can even have some pills for that problem you think you have. Does your son move a lot, make a lot of noises, and have trouble concentrating; in short, is he a boy? Then he’s probably got ADD, but we can take care of that too, just like the millions of other boys we’ve helped.

I’m purposely trying NOT to drag the government itself into this because I think that anyone can already infer what their involvement will be, if they aren’t already involved. My purpose is to take this classic and learn from it, because there is definitely plenty to learn. Hopefully, you’ll take from this book what the Savage took from his experience: that pain and suffering have their place in society. And you can always have too much of a good thing.

July 4th through July 31st join us at our eBay store for 25% savings on over half of our stock! Every week will bring marked down prices on new items, so if it isn’t on sale now it will be sometime in July. In other words, be sure to keep an eye out!

And Then There Were None coming next week!
Also, as promised, we will begin our review of Agatha Christie’s murder mystery classic, And Then There Were None, starting at the beginning of this coming week. Arriving at our blog twice-weekly, the review will last several weeks and cover various aspects of the story’s construction from the plot and characters to the irony and parallelism evident throughout the book.

…although I definitely hope that won’t become none, as the nursery rhyme famously used in Agatha Christie’s novel Ten Little Indians would naturally do.

But what is there one of?

There’s a new kind of bookstore online, and it’s us, Pockets! How are we different from other online bookstores? Here’s some figures:

• We’re a bookstore that’s got a blog - now that’s gotta count for something! Our intention with this blog is to highlight one of the used books we currently have in stock and review it. Little bits of news will pop in here and there as well.
• We’re a bookstore that deals with a lot of rare and collectible volumes, but also the more commonly found used books for a good price. So, if there’s a book you’re looking for, but we don’t have it, you’ll soon be able to submit a request for it via our website. Keep a lookout on this blog!
• We’re a bookstore that strives to be fun and interactive! While such may be fairly difficult to pull off due to our sole internet presence, we’re going to still try to pull of a few fun things every month. As with the previous, keep your eye on this blog for future details!

We’re just starting out, of course, but we’ll be going full force sometime in July. Be sure to head over to our actual website (on which there isn’t much) or our eBay store. Send a hello, too, with a comment while you have a chance!

Next post: Review of And Then There Were None.