I loathe Amazon as much as the next person who relies on it. But on recent visits to The Strand I have left empty-handed and had to revert to the dreaded competitor-destroying behemoth. Because there are very specific problems with The Strand and if it doesn’t make it to its century then it will be its own fault.

Douglas Murray, Why should The Strand survive? | Spectator USA. Murray expands that the Strand seems to be hell-bent on pushing books that everyone needs to read for the sake of cosmic balance (by the Strand’s lights).

Murray is right so far as I can tell (a big caveat). I went to NYC last November, and made my first pilgrimage to the Strand. Granted, I was looking for nothing in particular, but there was no moment of serendipity when a book unexpectedly reached out and grabbed me.