Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

To the Editor:

Re “When One of the Giants Falls” (Business Day, Feb. 17):

As both an author and a reader, I bemoan Borders’ financial troubles. Authors like me may now have one less venue for consumers to buy what we’ve written.

But if Borders does fail, many readers like me will have no one to blame but ourselves. After all, it is our decision to buy books from online retailers that is largely responsible for booksellers’ woes.

Sure, we save a few dollars, but we do so at the expense of bricks-and-mortar stores.

So I challenge you, dear reader, to make your next book purchase in your town, not on your computer. If your neighborhood bookstore closes, as mine just did, it will be our own fault.

Bruce Weinstein
New York, Feb. 17, 2011

Note from KBJ: This past October, I went into Barnes & Noble to browse. I found a book on critical thinking and purchased it for $22.66 (counting sales tax). When I got home, I found it for $13.49 on Amazon.com. That's the last time I purchase anything from a brick-and-mortal bookstore. If the letter writer wants to donate money to Borders, he is free to do so. The rest of us will decide for ourselves where to purchase our books.