How long will it be before there are no brick-and-mortar bookstores anywhere? I receive emails regularly from Borders and today was notified that their store in Sacramento is closing. Why they would send such an email to someone who lives on the opposite coast I don't know - 40% off is not enough of an enticement for me to fly coast to coast.

I digress. Borders has been in trouble for a while now and will probably go belly-up soon. I've heard the same regarding Barnes & Noble. Even the campus bookstores - which once had captive audiences - are now losing enterprises now that many students buy their textbooks online at big savings. Of course, the mom-and-pop independent shops are nearly gone by now.

How do you feel about this? I don't know how many thousands of hours I've spent in bookstores over the past 5 decades. They were always sort of a refuge where I could spend a whole afternoon discovering new authors or looking over the bestsellers or perusing magazines and newspapers. I suppose their disappearance is inevitable, and the long term prognosis for the publishing industry in general is just as dire. What are we losing? Anything of importance?