Books in Motion

Watching people spend money is usually not much of a sport, but when that money is being spent on books, it is strangely compelling. The fast-growing UK Internet bookstore The Book Depository has a google map page that tracks 'live' purchases of their books from around the world. Someone in Israel buys a book on civil governance, another in Finland buys a murder mystery, a Lithuanian picks up "The Housewife's Tarot" and an Irish reader purchases "Fine Motor Fun". There's something touching about seeing all those books flying over the globe, defying predictions of their impending obsolescence.