Books

In Jimbocho, a district in Northern Tokyo, used book sellers stack their goods in alleyways on sturdy wooden tables lit, warmed by heat lamps overhead, organized in a slew of categories, including interest, size, language, nation of publication, even the level of water damage. In Omaha, the largest city in the state of Nebraska, used books are put in cardboard boxes and advertised in front of the Antiquarian bookstore as "$1 bargains". In Baghdad, the used books are sold from the ground, in piles.

Former engineers sell their collection of books on statistical analysis here and whatever else they can find in their house. Books are indiscriminately piled on the sidewalk for people to browse through. Iraq had, before the sanctions, one of the highest literacy rates in the Middle East and the largest number of PhD’s. This is why you will find not only books on mathematics and structural mechanics, but also Hegelian philosophy, Pop Art, and Modern absurdist drama, in Arabic, English, French, German, and even Chinese. I find a nice copy of Tom Stoppard’s play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead; also a beautiful book on Islamic Calligraphy.

When the wind blows down through the street, the dilapidated books on the ground come alive and begin to fly. The poets and tea sellers and the scores of readers who come to peruse and gossip notice. But street magic like this is not unusual in Baghdad. They pay their respects to this magic by smiling, and move on.

Books flapping

In Jimbocho, a district in Northern Tokyo, used book sellers stack their goods in alleyways on sturdy wooden tables lit, warmed by heat lamps overhead, organized in a slew of categories, including interest, size, language, nation of publication, even the level of water damage. In Omaha, the largest city in the state of Nebraska, used books are put in cardboard boxes and advertised in front of the Antiquarian bookstore as "$1 bargains". In Baghdad, the used books are sold from the ground, in piles. Former engineers sell their collection of books on statistical analysis here and whatever else they can find in their house. Books are indiscriminately piled on the sidewalk for people to browse through. Iraq had, before the sanctions, one of the highest literacy rates in the Middle East and the largest number of PhD’s. This is why you will find not only books on mathematics and structural mechanics, but also Hegelian philosophy, Pop Art, and Modern absurdist drama, in Arabic, English, French, German, and even Chinese. I find a nice copy of Tom Stoppard’s play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead; also a beautiful book on Islamic Calligraphy. When the wind blows down through the street, the dilapidated books on the ground come alive and begin to fly. The poets and tea sellers and the scores of readers who come to peruse and gossip notice. But street magic like this is not unusual in Baghdad. They pay their respects to this magic by smiling, and move on. Back