This is going to be the first in a series I’d like to call “rant of the week”. Basically, I’ll use this as an opportunity to vent any frustrations I might have. There’s a lot of beauty in this world, but sometimes you just have to wonder…

I was actually looking forward to going to Borders this easter weekend and finding something interesting to read. To my disappointment I found six different books on Barrack Obama, endless piles of Ben Cousin’s biography and a feature section full of Justin Bieber.

Blocking out all that irrelevance I finally got to the science section tucked away in the far reaches of the store only to find it featuring a very tiny selection of books. And not a single one by Carl Sagan!

Worse still, stretching a massive four shelves right behind me and packed with literature was the cooking and food section. Who needs that many books on food? The story was much the same in the philosophy section, yet the self-help area stretched on forever.

That’s just messed up! And I’m not blaming Borders. They’re just supplying what their customers want. But what’s wrong with these consumers? Are they seriously just interested in gossip, food and self-help? Maybe if they read books with more substance they wouldn’t need all that self-help.

No, that was a serious disappointment. If you’re looking for a good bookstore in Perth, go to Boffins. I didn’t even know about this store up until last weekend, but man what a difference a store makes! They got everything a real reader could want; science, history, design, reference books… the list goes on. Boffins!

Illustration: Chris Harding