Bildschöne Bücher - Less is more

Locally we have a Barnes & Noble, a Books A Million, and a sprawling used book shop called Mr. K's (any locals know of any good local bookshops?).  I just can't be bothered most of the time to browse there, they are just too overwhelming.  If there is a book that I really want, and don't feel like waiting on Amazon to ship it to me I'll run by one of the mammoths to see if they have it but otherwise I generally steer clear.

Recently, via a Monocle Magazine video podcast, I discovered 25Books.com and the real life counterpart Bildschöne Bücher.  The idea?  The curator picks a rotating monthly selection of 25 books, mainly dealing with photography, art, and design.  These 25 are displayed at a central location in the store, with the best at the end of the month getting added to the store's permanent collection.

Personally I love this idea.  Granted, you are going to be looking at what the curator thinks you should be looking at.  However, I'd say they probably would locate a lot of books I'd probably not run across on my own.  And you would be free of that overwhelmed feeling you get when walking into a B&N or BAM.

Here's the link to a page at Monocle where you can watch the video.