San Francisco Bay Area's favorite independent bookstore, Book Passage is blazing a trail of savvy survival instincts in today's e-minded reader's market. Embracing the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" mentality, the innovative book merchant has made a bold partnership with Google ebooks to offer readers the option of browsing and purchasing electronic titles through the store's popular website.
It makes sense to stick with your favorite book seller when sourcing quality reads for iPads, iPhones, Android, smart phones and other electronic readers. The only device that doesn't make the grade is the Kindle, proprietary tool of Amazon.com - antithesis of the independently owned and managed, neighborhood bookstore.
If you are often out of town traveling it's going to become increasingly tempting to stray from bulky print to e-book. Supporting local businesses by utilizing your google account to purchase titles from a trusted source makes total sense.
No doubt other bookstores in the region, such as Copperfield's here in Sonoma County will be following the Book Passage example some time sooner rather than later.
In the meantime, thanks to photographer/writer pal Frank Simpson over at Petaluma Spectator, I've been loaned a reportedly gripping, old fashioned paperback copy of Ken Auletta's New York Times bestseller Googled - The End of the World as We Know It. As Google continues to astound in completely transforming modern business and media reality, one has to wonder whatever is coming next.
As I once read in a book, a paperback version not a hard, plastic, colorless, boring version.
"Google is not a synonym for research."
Posted by: Lesley | Tuesday, January 11, 2026 at 10:41 AM