My grandmother gave me a gift card for Powell's Books here in Portland for Christmas and I've been itching to spend it since I opened it. For those of you who haven't heard of Powell's, it's nothing short of a temple to reading--I think the library at Alexandria was their Egypt branch. Their downtown store covers several blocks and is 6 or 7 stories tall. We have one in our neighborhood that isn't quite so large, although it extends the entire width of a block, which it accomplished by tearing out a house on the street behind the store and building on. Now that's some SERIOUS book lovin'! I love shopping there, just to have access to the sheer volume of books--but there is one serious drawback--the SHEER VOLUME OF BOOKS! I go in and get lost, browsing away until I've noticed that it's dark outside, I'm starving, and I have a light beard. This afternoon, I went down to buy a book that was reviewed in the newspaper, but when I got there, evidently everyone else who read the review had beaten me to all the copies. I decided to look around for something else, but not knowing what I was looking for, I started randomly browsing the shelves. BIG mistake!--the last time I did that I came home with the Aneid in the original Latin! This time was no different--I could feel myself getting overwhelmed to the point that I couldn't make a decision. I finally just picked a genre and looked at the recommendations in that section--I picked Sci-Fi, and the recommendation said, "if you don't buy this book, I'll put it in your hand to make sure you get it." That sounded compelling enough, and after several hours of thumbing through books, I was ready to leave. All's I know is that that review better have been legit and not some creative way to con me into buying the book.

I swear--people like to extol the virtues of massive selection, but I've gone to the video store too many times and been so overwhelmed by the choices that I've left without a movie. Curiously, this NEVER happens when I'm buying a candy bar--when I see the chocolate aisle, no matter how overwheming the number choices is, I can still muster some deep source of strength and conviction that helps me decide on a type. My stomach is much more decisive than my brain is, obviously.