Back when I was shopping From Sun Tzu to Xbox to publishers, one of them brought up a question I hadn't thought of: where would such a book get shelved in a bookstore? After all, even if a bookstore does have a video games section, it's there for game guides, not nonfiction works. And the list of nonfiction books about video games has been somewhat limited: there are probably only a handful in print at any given time, though the list of academic titles does seem to be growing.
After surveying bookstores in San Francisco, New York and elsewhere, I found that my book wandered from section to section, probably depending on the store manager's whim:
A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, San Francisco: Games section
Modern Times Bookstore, San Francisco: Featured Nonfiction
Borders, Union Square, San Francisco: Military History-General (pictured above)
McNally Robinson, New York: History
St. Mark's Bookshop, New York: Science (!)
Powell's, Portland: one branch stocks it in Current Affairs, another in Featured Titles-General, another in American Studies-Popular Culture, and yet another in Military History-General
In other news: if you're in New York, feel free to stop by the book party tomorrow night, at the New Museum Bookstore, 6:30 to 8:30. Free cocktails!
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